Bossy No. 1! Fabric softener on towels? NO.

One of the nuggets of home ec wisdom my mom told me when I was a kid and which I've been burning to tell to every person I knew ever since, is “Don’t use fabric softener when you wash the towels. It may make them soft, but it also makes them not absorb any water.”  I’ve been to people’s houses where they did use fabric softener (lots of it, it seemed) on the towels, and those towels were just useless. Trying to dry off with a towel that has been fabric-softened is like trying to dry off with a cat. So here’s me being bossy: Don’t use fabric softener* on towels!

If you want fluffy, yet still absorbent towels, and feel you absolutely must use fabric softener, maybe just try using it every other time, or every third time. It seems to build up each time you use it until it’s a whole thick layer of non-absorbency.  For lots of user-generated discussion on the towel-and-fabric-softener issue, as well as alternatives to using fabric softener, go here (it’s not in the easiest format to read, but has lots of info).

I should also mention that it’s a good idea to wash and dry towels separately from other stuff, and to use hot water to kill germs and microbes. The best way to dry towels, if you can, is to air-dry them. 

*When I say fabric softener, I mean liquid fabric softener and dryer sheets both. It’s all the same.

You never told me that!

When I was in college, I was complaining one night on the phone to my mother that I hated certain types of apples because they always got  mushy and mealy after I bought them. The Gala apple variety was the one I was thinking of at the time, but Red Delicious is another offender (and even my beloved  green Granny Smith is not exempt). You bite into it, and it just rolls around in your mouth like wet sand. Apples are my favorite fruit, but there’s not much worse than a mealy apple. Ick!

Anyway, my mom said, “But you have to keep them in the refrigerator, so they stay crisp.” I was astounded. Why had no one told me this before? Why did my mother wait until I was in college to mention this?  To be fair, I had never asked her, but still.  It never came up once when I was a kid? She must have assumed I knew it already.

I’ve started this blog as a way to share with others the stuff that my mother (and father) did tell me, as well as the stuff I’ve picked up along the way that might be less-than-obvious to others (or maybe it is obvious; maybe it’s just me that’s clueless. Apples!  Who knew!). Also, it gives me a chance to be bossy.