Has anyone else tried this product? I love it! It's great for the kids' t-shirts. If they put on a tshirt or jersey and it's wrinkled, I just spray this on, they pull their shirt tight and the wrinkles are gone!
I don't mind ironing but some mornings before school things are hectic and after I take the care to wash/fold laundry then the kids' stuff everything, as quickly as possible, into their armoirs to go play or get on the computer, it's nice not to have to pull out the board and iron.

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 11:28 am:

I buy a bottle of fabric softner and put some in a spray bottle with water. I use it to spray hubby's work clothes (dress pants & shirt). It removes the wrinkles, is far cheaper than the wrinkle releaser and I do not have to iron. Win-Win
I HATE to iron!

By Kate on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 11:30 am:

Yvonne, what is your ratio of softener to water? It doesn't stain or harm the clothing in any way? Are there some fabrics you shouldn't use it on? Thanks!

By Annie2 on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 11:44 am:

Yvonne, yes please share the ratio.
I only bought the travel size of the wrinkle-releaser so it only cost me 99 cents but it has lasted all summer. Now that we are using it more, since it does save so much time, your potion would help out.

By Tink on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 11:48 am:

I also use diluted fabric softener instead of the Wrinkle Releaser and it works great. I would say I mix it with water at a 10:1 ratio, maybe a bit stronger. You can also add a shake or two of baking soda in another bottle of it and use it like Febreeze. I love to use lavender scented fabric softener and spray it on my sheets before making it up in the morning so it smells good at night.

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 11:49 am:

I have done this for years. I use approx. 2 tablespoons to the bottle of water. I have used it on regular clothes, dress clothing, even a gown. Nothing has happened to any of the fabrics. I travel with a bottle and spray all of our clothing and hang it in a closet (some closets have an odor so it eliminates that and gets rid of wrinkles from luggage)

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 11:50 am:

Tink--I spray my sheets too I use the Lavendar scented for everything.

By Nicki on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 12:00 pm:

I have never heard of this, what a great idea! Thanks.

By Annie2 on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 12:05 pm:

Thanks, Cori and Yvonne! You should have shared this years ago

What else do you do to save time on daily household chores?

By Kate on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 12:47 pm:

I hate to be a complete dunce, but could you tell me how large your water bottle is that you add the two tablespoons to??

By Reds9298 on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 12:54 pm:

I use the Wrinkle Releaser, too, and one bottle has lasted us for years. I love it.

By Tink on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 01:23 pm:

Annie, I'm not sure what other things I do to make life easier. Most things are just second nature now. I use one of those foaming handsoap dispensers with a little dishsoap and water in it for handwashing any dishes so I'm not having to fill a sink every time. I also mop with a spray bottle of cleaner so I can just rinse the mop when it gets dirty instead of having a sink with cleaning water and a sink of rinse water. For picking up the house at night, I just fill a basket with the things the kids leave out and they have to put away their things the next morning or I take them away. I spray the BBQ grates with oven cleaner to make it easy to clean up when gunk builds up on them. I wipe the bathroom down with windex and a paper towel most mornings but that's a Flylady tip. I don't know if these are things everyone does but my mom didn't so I don't think of them as "normal" cleaning tips. Of course, I also don't think of them as timesavers, I think they just show how lazy I am.

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 01:27 pm:

Hey Tink - remember "efficiency is *organized* laziness". You're not lazy - you're efficient.

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 02:59 pm:

I have the baskets also. We have a large one near the front door. I fill it throughout the day with things that are not where they belong. The kids empty it (and put away their things) every night.

I put my grill grates in a garbage bag overnight with towels soaked in vinegar. The next day I rinse them off and they are spotless.

I have a schedule for cleaning (pathetic, I know but now it is a routine). I hate cleaning so this keeps me in line. The kids chores are in line with mine.

Example: Monday is our main laundry day. Kids take their dirty laundry to the laundry room. I wash/dry all the laundry. Jessica seperates laundry into each persons bin (Jessica, Addison, mine/hubby's) Everyone puts away their own laundry (I put away mine & hubby's and household linens,etc). We clean the kitchen on Monday. I clean the fridge, countertops, polish cabinets and any spot cleaning. Jessica puts dishes away and vaccums the floor. Addison mops the floor and takes out the garbage.
Each day has a designated room. The house seems to stay a lot cleaner this way. Since we do it as a team, we are done very quickly.

Each sink has a sponge and everyone wipes it out after use. The sponges get washed on Monday.

I clean the shower when I shower.

Kate--My spray bottle is 32 ounces.

By Tink on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 03:37 pm:

Yvonne, I have a cleaning schedule too. I can get my entire day's cleaning done in less than an hour most days. Mine isn't broken down by room but by related tasks. Yesterday was tops of everything so I wiped, dusted (including fan blades) and rearranged knick-knacks. Today was floors so every room was swept, scrubbed, mopped or vacuummed and everything that was dislodged from dusting and wiping yesterday is gone now. Oh, and I'd love to use the lavender scent on everything but my dh doesn't like it on his clothes.

Each day, a different type of laundry is done. Mondays are sheets and towels, Tues-Fri is a certain person's laundry. They bring it to the laundry room before school and pick it up (washed, dried and folded) and put it away right after school, except for my oldest who does her own.

Are any of you surprised that my dh says I spend way too much time thinking about this kind of thing? I even have certain places I put each type of silverware in the dishwasher to simplify finding and putting it all away.

We used to have a chore chart for the kids with different chores scheduled each day but it never seemed to work well for us. Now I walk around the house after they go to school and I write on a 3x5 card what their chores are for the day. If I notice my oldest needs to clean her rat cage, it goes on the card along with sorting her desk drawers or taking out all the wastebaskets. My ds might need to clean out from under his dresser and sweep the porch while my youngest sorts her toy bins and puts the DVDs back into all their cases neatly on the shelf. One personal chore and one for the family. It's working great so far!

Ginny, I LOVE that!

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 04:00 pm:

Hubby actually likes the Lavendar scent. The bottle of "wrinkle releaser" is not heavily scented, so he thinks it is simply a "clean smell". LOL
I use a stronger mix for my spray bottle that I use on the sheets and to freshen the rooms.

I think it is funny that I have a schedule....my mom always did and I thought it was nuts. It really simplifies cleaning. I spend about an hour a day on it too (excluding laundry).

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 04:01 pm:

I like your idea of up high one day and low the other. That wouldn't work for us because of allergies. If we get it all in the air it needs to be sucked up right away or we all seem to suffer.

By Reds9298 on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 06:59 pm:

I have a cleaning schedule, too. It would drive me crazy if I didn't because I'm very organized. My mom NEVER cleaned growing up, my dad was the stay at home mom most of the time, and he had a schedule. He is very organized as well. When they both worked when I was older, I did a lot of the cleaning and was on a schedule then, too.

If I didn't have a schedule, nothing would get done. That's just the way I work, although I know lots of people seem to get it done without the "organization". I couldn't though!

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 07:13 pm:

My mom cleaned to the point where it was over-kill. Everything was organized just so (magazines in place on coffee table). No food in living-room, no messes, etc. You can eat off her floors anytime. You would be hard pressed to locate a spot of dust in their house.
I have tried to live my life OPPOSITE that. I love making messes with the kids. I think creativity is all about making a mess
So with that in mind, I do find it funny that I adapted her concept of a cleaning schedule---though not to the extreme.

By Tink on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 08:13 pm:

I've only recently started cleaning on a schedule, within the last two years. My mom just cleaned on an as needed basis and that's how I tried to clean for most of my life. My house never seemed to be clean, though, and I always found myself cleaning like a madwoman once every couple of weeks to catch up.

My parents always kept a reasonably clean house for most of my childhood but my mom has become a "piler" and I can't stand to be surrounded by piles. I seem to get stuck if I don't have a game plan in place when confronted with messes. I always clean in the same order or the same process each time to make sure I've covered everything. And of course, I have things that I hate to clean so I'd put them off forever if I didn't make myself. My weak area is floors. I HATE every part of them but they get done if they're on my schedule.

By Reds9298 on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 - 09:21 pm:

My weak area are my tubs...ugh, I hate doing them. The rest of my bathroom I don't mind, but tubs just irritate me!

By Nicki on Wednesday, September 5, 2007 - 01:58 am:

I'm with you, Deanna. It's so hard to get all the surface of the tub clean when I'm outside the thing scrubbing! I always thought it would be a great invention if someone would come up with a long handled electric brush scrubbing device that would make the job easier. The no scrub sprays make things a bit better, but it still comes down to me on my hands and knees at one point with the cleanser and a brush, lol.

By Pandamamaoo4 on Wednesday, September 5, 2007 - 02:47 pm:

I have been doing the spray bottle with fabric softern for about a yr..I hate to iron too!!!