Work has been brutal — if not depressing — the past couple of weeks so this blog slid down into my list of priorities. The thing that snapped me out of my long discourse with my career to get online is strangely enough, baking soda. Otherwise known as white fluffs of laundry heaven.

To contextualize, laundry has been the bane of my existence ever since we got married. The washing machine never really worked properly, there was never any room to hang the clothes out to dry, and everyday stains would just appear, well, everyday.

I finally saw the light when I encountered an article* on how baking soda can be used to make whites appear whiter. I got around to trying it the other day and in a whoa moment. It actually works. Crazily so. I added about five tablespoons of baking soda in the amount of water it takes to cover the 10-piece load and let it soak for about 30 minutes. The whites really did look brighter, whiter, newer! For tougher stains, I made a paste out of baking soda and water and rubbed it directly onto the fabric. It was a Didi Seven** moment – the second the paste was swiped over the fabric, the stains magically disappeared.

I can’t even begin to say how excited I am with this new discovery and laundry trick. I can, however, tell you how strange it feels to be so excited over laundry matters.

* I can’t seem to find the original article I read that led me to such a wondrous tip. This pretty much says the same thing though.

** When I was a kid, Didi Seven was my favorite commercial on the Home Shopping Network.