Cover a duvet FAST & EASY!

This is not the post I intended to write today. In fact, I have 3 other posts half written that I haven't gotten to finish yet. With our vacation looming days away, as with the beginning of the school year, my brain has been consumed with to-do lists and reminders of things needed. A 5 year old, 1 year old, and 3 month old on a plane ride with four days in a far away land is a lot to take on mentally. I'm going to need a vacation from just planning our vacation.

Anyway...

I always dread the time of month when it comes time to wash the duvet cover on our bed. It's a piece of cake to whip off, I love the fresh smell that comes with laundering it obviously, but what a pain in neck to wrangle that bad boy back into it's cover. It almost always ends with me standing inside the cover, trying to finagle the duvet up into the furthest corners with struggles and failure time and time again. I hate it to the point that I avoid putting the cover back on for days in an attempt to psych myself up for it. Ridiculous.

I stumbled upon this gem the other day and lucky for me, it was right in time for bedding laundry day. (I wash the duvet cover and pillow covers about once a month, is that often enough?)

How to Cover a Duvet the EASY Way (The Two Minute Duvet Cover Trick) by Making Lemonade

I'm not going to lie. I had my doubts when reading her post. I just can't wrap my brain around how the process of rolling 2 things up on top of each other and flipping them inside somehow magically get the duvet inside the cover and unrolls perfectly without any effort at all. But then I did it and IT WORKED! I was done in a matter of 3 minutes, without sweating or cursing or threatening to throw the blanket away, again.

She even has this handy video to watch if the pictures just are doing it for you (skip to 1:38 for the steps to start)

*This video is not of me, but rather of the writer of Making Lemonade blog. I have included it in my post as an easy reference but please visit her site to see step by step directions to The Two Minute Duvet Cover Trick*

I am so happy to have found this trick and I hope it leaves you skipping out of the bedroom carefree when you're done with it too! 

Magic Stain Remover and 5 years of stains gone

Meet Singing Baby. She's been part of our family for 5 1/2 years. She's also never seen a good cleaning for the same amount of time. 

As her name suggests, she used to play light lullabies when you pulled her string.  Used to, as in she has been broken for about 2 1/2 years. With her music box inside her head, it wasn't as if she could get thrown into the washer like all of the other stuffed animals, so she became... disgusting. And she would have been tossed right out with the trash years ago, it is wasn't for a lovey attachment from infancy.

Today was the day that I could no longer stand to look at her brown wings and stained up face. She would undergo surgery today and get washed!

 It began with a careful incision along the back of her neck. I used the seam that I could easily stitch back up without problems or being too noticeable. It was a pretty easy ripout with a seam ripper and only took a few minutes.

It was a bit harder getting the music box out of her head, but it finally gave in and popped out. In it's place, a little extra stuffing and she got sewed right back up. Fitz was worried about the whole ordeal, but was surprisingly happy with her "scar".

Notice the horrible state of her wings in the head surgery picture. YUCK!

Here's the secret to getting just about any stains out,  even 5 year old dirt and grime.

Magic Stain Remover: 

     1 part Dawn dish soap

     2 parts Hydrogen Peroxide

I always mix up however much I need (usually a small dipping container) as I need it and apply it with a toothbrush. It doesn't take much scrubbing with fresh stains, but I scrubbed her wings for a minute a piece. 

I knew this stain remover was amazing with things like strawberry, juice, grass, etc. but I wasn't fully convinced it would work for this type of long-lasting stain. 

I was so pleasantly surprised when she came out almost like new. And even happier that she can now be washed on a fairly regular basis so it doesn't happen again!

I've even used this one on the carpet and it totally worked!

Never again will I let a broken music box keep me from cleaning a toy or stuffed animal again!

20 reasons baby wipes are my all-time favorite thing

I often find myself wondering, "What did I do before baby wipes?" Do you? They are an all-purpose product that I can't see giving up when diaper duty is over.

I use them for everything.

1. They are the go-to for messy hands and faces after meals.
2. Quick counter wipe downs in the bathroom. 
3. Wiping runny noses, especially when they get raw from regular tissue.
4. Cleaning the car dashboard.
5. Makeup remover (or keeping it real, wiping away the old mascara from under my eyes in the morning).
6. That restaurant table you are leery about putting the cheerios on. 
7. Cleaning the spit-up that just happened down your shirt.
8. Works to clean off the crayon from the wall, bathroom vanity, toy chest, etc. 
9. Gets the grossness off of the laptop keyboard.
10. Wipes the yogurt or applesauce out of hair.
11. Cleans ink and marker off skin.
12. Smoothing down fly-away hairs.
13. Wiping down the kitchen table and high chair.
14. Dusting tables (great for little hands to help without the chemicals). 
15. Spot mopping. 
16. Cleaning the inside window ledge that gets so dirty.
17. Cool wipe down after some time in the heat. 
18. Getting flung food off table legs and chairs. 
19. Quick wipe up of spills.
20. Cleaning up dry erase boards after too many uses. 

I have packages stashed in nearly every corner of my house so its just an arm's reach away when needed. 

How are baby wipes loved around your house?