getting the detergent reek out of thrift store clothing

It’s been years since I’ve shopped at thrift stores for myself; since October I have become addicted to thrifting for clothes for the baby. I keep saying I’m going to stop; what happens instead is that I just become more selective. Now that I’ve covered the basics, I look for better quality brands and focus on future sizes. Really, the sprout is going to just keep growing and growing so one could make an argument for buying things in all sizes. I’m not making that argument: I’m sticking with “soon I won’t have to shop at all for two years!” I’m not sure it’s any more convincing, but I’m running with it.

My only frustration with clothing from the thrift store (and even more with clothing from large consignment sales) is the smell. Not the musty smell, the “fragrance” smell from the high-octane detergents that people use on items that have been stored away for a season. (I suspect that the thrift store actually sprays one of those “freshener” sprays on everything rather than actually washing it all because the books sometimes have the same stink, but I don’t really know.) I end up having to soak everything I buy overnight in a borax and vinegar bath at least two nights in a row in order to bring the level of odor down enough to not stick to everything. I figure that if the chemicals in detergents give me migraines and itchy skin, they’re not doing anything great for the sprout; if it weren’t the rainy season, I’d take the extra step of airing everything on the drying rack in the sun.

This it’s-not-clean-until-it-reeks-of-something-artificial approach to washing clothes reflects a larger approach to home care that I don’t share. It’s quite the opposite for me (even with my nose reverting to its pre-pregnancy state, it’s still sensitive), and as a result I’ve learned what works without all the extra chemicals. For laundry, we use Seventh Generation’s fragrance-free non-petroleum-based detergent that contains enzymes to break down organic matter (and doesn’t contain optical brighteners). The enzymes are what you need to clean baby stains (and grass and food); stain-treating sprays contain them as do “baby” detergents. Since our detergent lists ingredients, I was able to see that it was basically the same as the baby version and decided not to switch; we also use a stick to spot treat for stains since the spray version is overwhelmingly smelly. In addition to detergent, I use borax in every load to help with odors and dinginess and chlorine-free bleach. Chlorine-free bleach turns out to be hydrogen peroxide (thank you, Seventh Generation labeling practices, for this information) which is the one thing that gets out blood rather than setting the stain (thank you, midwives, for this information).

This is all to say: it’s not necessary to dump a whole bunch of nasty smelling detergent into the wash to get your child’s clothing clean (even clean enough to sell)! Yes, I use three products in each load of laundry, but: the clothing comes out clean and smelling fresh, which for me means really not smelling at all. And, none of us go around sneezing or getting itchy rashes or headaches. It’s a bonus (to me) that the products themselves are non-toxic and made from plants rather than petroleum by-products.

As I said above, this is really the only downside to shopping for children’s clothing this way, as the prices are low and the quality is good. And, soon I won’t have to shop again for at least two years!

getting the detergent reek out of thrift store clothing

new camera


Test photo: our dining room Buddha.

By hoarding my personal money like one of my young cousins and pooling all of my birthday and Christmas cash, I was able to buy the new camera that I’ve been lusting after! (At least no one had to drive me to the mall to do so.) I’ve wanted a digital SLR for years, and finally took the plunge. After getting over a few new-toy hurdles (such as running out to the store since there was no memory card in the box, the adult equivalent of “batteries not included”), I took a series of test photos and proclaimed the camera to be “really nice” and to have “a much better flash than the old one.” To which my partner replied, I SHOULD HOPE SO. Did I mention it was pricey? Yes, but it’s so nice to have a real camera back in my hands: I had no idea how much I missed looking through a view finder. (And yes, I realize it’s odd to illustrate a post about rewarding your material cravings with a picture of a buddha, but what can I say? It’s pretty! And, the camera will feed my creativity, which is an important part of my core self and brings me happiness. Or something.)


Test photo: Ellie the elephant, part of our newly-accessorized living room.

In addition to the better flash system, the big improvement of the new automatic settings (for my purposes) of this camera over my little point-and-shoot one (which is and was a good solid little camera in a fully-metal body that served me well on an AIDS ride and numerous vacations; it’s not the camera’s fault that I deleted all the Maine photos before we got it home!) is the ability to take decent photos of small things up close and personal. Yes it’s dorky, but I can’t wait to be able to get better pictures of everything growing in the garden come spring. I don’t have any truly artsy photography plans at the moment, I just plan to take the same pictures I’ve been taking and have them turn out better. Food photos that don’t all look shiny (for example). Photos of the interior of our house without the colors all washed out. Pictures of the baby where he doesn’t look like a red-eyed demon. I’m confident that as I use the camera more, more shots will occur to me. I’m less confident that my brain will be alert enough anytime soon to go back to manual shooting with any degree of success, but there’s plenty of time for that.

new camera

vacation : we arrive in Maine

On the Tuesday after Labor Day we drove up to Maine from Rhode Island. It was a beautiful day for a drive, and we weren’t expected at the house until the evening, so we stopped at several places along the way. At the Kittery Visitors’ Center, we picked up a number of leaflets about regional artists and a map of the state. We also staged a cute photo of me at the ‘Relax, you’re in Maine!’ sign, which was lost along with all the other vacation photos when I inadvertently reformatted the drives on the last day of the trip. (Which is to say: no illustrations, sorry.)

Our first off-highway detour was to the Maine Potters Market shop in Portland. I was hoping to find a piece or two to take back with us, however we didn’t find anything that fit into what I was looking for. We both really enjoyed Barbara Walch’s work, it was just more delicate that the general style of our house and art pieces. Of all of the pieces we saw, her set of three nesting bowls was the closest to something we’d use, for nibbly bits and the like.

The next jaunt was to Lisbon, for a visit to the Stained Glass (and Insect) Museum. The gallery is housed in a converted church, so there’s lots of space and light to be able to get a good look at the works on display. The basement is an active studio, and we saw several artists working on various pieces. The insect museum was a bit disappointing—I was expecting more of a Smithsonian-style live insect zoo or Harvard-style entomological collection—but probably more interesting if you visit the live tarantulas in the annex (which we did not). After the museum, we had lunch at Dr. Mike’s Madness Café just down the road. The sandwiches (I had egg salad) and pie (I had mixed berry) were great, and just what we needed to keep on keeping on. The purple vinyl seats and the guy who had two creme brulées and a glass of milk for lunch alone made it worth the trip.

Just before joining the Maine turnpike at Augusta, we stopped in to a Visitors’ Center advertised as having a selection of Maine arts and crafts. We were planning to continue from there on to Brahms Mount Textiles; after seeing a selection of their absolutely beautiful blankets at the Visitors’ Center, we decided to save it for another trip since we were unlikely to buy one as a souvenir on this trip. However, one of their hand-loomed cotton basketweave throws would nicely complement the hand-loomed wool herringbone throw we brought back from Ireland (after getting to see Eddie at work at his loom, which is a story for a different time, about a different vacation). We saw several more examples of local pottery in the shop, and I found a bag made from recycled sails to covet. What can I say, I like bags!

From here we just carried on through to the house, which we settled into relatively well despite arriving after dark. We took a few moments to check for wayward spiders and then headed over to Bar Harbor for some dinner. After considering several options, we settled on the relatively new Finback Alehouse, which had both beer (the regionally local Voodoo Porter) and chicken sandwiches. It doesn’t appear that the pub has a website, but in searching for it I did learn that the manager who got us through the door from the street ran into trouble a week later (along with a whole slew of other folks, mostly drunkards; the Mount Desert Island police report gives our local one a run for its money for humor value).

After dinner we walked down to the Main Street, nipped into the Acadia Shop for a look at their blueberry-themed merchandise, and then headed back to the house, where we laid out our clothes and set the alarm for 5am.

vacation : we arrive in Maine

Roomba bites the dust 6 months post-warranty

One of the many ways in which last week did not go exactly as planned involved the robot giving up the ghost and refusing to drive forward when I set it up to clean the living room. The robot was a gift from my parents, on which we’ve become quite dependent over the past 18 months. Both psychologically and physically: we no longer have a regular vacuum, as it developed nasty vacuum smell last year after 8 years of service and was summarily banished. We’d been dithering about replacing it, making do with the robot and the dustbuster. And then the robot died and we had to assess our vacuuming needs and make a couple of decisions.

Let me just say that it’s still not clear what exactly happened to the robot. The bumper became jammed, and there was schmutz inside the bumper and around the little front wheel that rotates. We were told by customer service to clean all that out and reset it, which we did. The bumper was still jammed, and the robot still wouldn’t go forward. We were then told by customer service that the robot was fried and we needed to buy a new chassis. Fried how, and why it couldn’t be repaired, was never made clear. No one ever requested to actually see the robot, or to have it sent it, which was a little odd. Apparently the skills required to fix the robot are more pricey than those required to build a new robot, so we’re offered only the replacement option.

In the end, we went ahead and ordered both the replacement chassis with a new 1 year warranty (for about 1/3 of what a new robot would cost) and the canister vacuum that I’d picked out back when our old one died. In a surprising turn of events, the canister vacuum arrived one day after I ordered it (from a local company, which no doubt helped), which allowed us to thoroughly vacuum the living room as part of the preparations for painting. As promised, the vacuum is the smallest vacuum ever and is easily stored in our hall closet-turned-pantry, even with the shelves we installed last summer. Since the floor tool is not motorized, it’s a bit tiring to vacuum an entire room with it, but it’s a very effective and well-designed machine. I was happy enough to be able to again vacuum the cobwebs at the ceiling that I didn’t mind the work involved in getting the floor clean. In combination with the robot, we should soon have a much less dusty abode.

Roomba bites the dust 6 months post-warranty