So one of my big epiphanies while I was in NC helping out my friend N had to do with level of cleanliness. Seriously, I dunno how on Earth I made it to 41 y/o without knowing this, but I’m coming clean now. Good, you caught the pun!

I always thought clothing after some period of time, would eventually just become stained and a bit dingy. Not so much outside clothes, but def like undergarments… you know, like those tank tops I wear under my shirts/blouses or like undershirts (John’s Hanes tees). I figured, after a while, the sweat and periods, not to mention food stains, would just eventually win. And I was totally fine with that. Sometimes John would comment on my undergarments, like, are they supposed to be THAT stained? And I would respond all annoyed, like, You have no fucking idea what it’s like to be a woman. Bleeding outta my body is a messy thing and it’s a pain in the ass so fuck off.

So when I was staying with N and her mom for a week last month, I did glamorous chores like folding laundry, and truthfully, I was shocked and amazed by how clean all their stuff was. WTF, have I been living under a rock this whole time? When I went to do a load of her laundry, N instructed me to put in TWO pods of detergent, not one. I think she told me, bc she knows I come from a family of immigrants where you ration shit to death and use every last drop (e.g. add water to the dish soap bottle and use diluted soap until forever). I mean, yes, we use detergent sparingly, bc we have some fear that the soap will not wash clean and there’s no way I’m wasting water by doing an extra rinse. But anyway, while I was doing N’s biddings, I did as she said and I have to say, the whites were brighter and the other clothes were definitely cleaner. This was a game changer for me.

After I got home, I decided to test this new method out. Two pods. At the same time, John’s sister E turned him on to some new laundry product called Laundress. I also added that supplemental color-free bleach to the load. And holy. crap. This is what clean is!! I know, for my scientific method friends out there (you know who you are), I changed two variables at one time: both the detergent AND the bleach, so to accurately attribute the new level of clean properly, I need to wash with only two pods and then wash another load with one pod + the Laundress. But at the moment, I know the shit gets to a new level of clean with the double whammy. Thankfully, the extra detergent still washes out without a soapy residue. So life is good. Who knew John’s t-shirts could ever get so damn white? And stained undergarments are no longer the norm. Haha, I am always learning new secrets.