I wanted to share a great post from mom blogger and Chicken Soup for the Soul editor, Susan Heim. Susan shares her experience teaching her two college-aged children how to do their own laundry and encourages them to not bring loads of dirty clothes home during the Thanksgiving holiday.   Yes, as reliable as drool on a 6-month old's chin, it seems like kids never stop producing laundry!

Here is Susan's post:

Show your thanks: do your laundry at school

In between the crazed packing and rounds of last minute shopping, I’ll be taking the time to teach my son how to do laundry before he ventures off for his freshman year of college next summer. He certainly doesn’t own enough pairs of underwear to last until his first trip home for Thanksgiving, and I can’t bear to think of weeks and months worth of dirty clothes piling up in his closet-sized dorm room.

As a mom of four boys, I consider myself somewhat of a laundry expert. Pre-treating stains and separating my darks, whites and colors is second nature to me, but will this come as naturally to my son? Will he even care? He is an intelligent young man, and if he can get into college, he can successfully wash his own clothes.

Next year when we drive home from campus without him for the first time, I’m sure I’ll be counting the days until Thanksgiving. I am excited for him to start this new chapter in his life, but it will be strange to think what my house will be like with one less child to watch over.

But then a vision of that first trip home suddenly pops into my head…

Thanksgiving has finally rolled around, and like most moms, I am BUSY. In addition to my regular writing, extracurriculars and carpools, I have to cook a feast! The day I have been waiting for has finally arrived, and my son is coming home. But as I hug him at the door, I can’t help but notice the two large duffel bags he has in tow.

“What is all this? You’ll only be home four days.”

“Yeah, Mom, but I have all my dirty laundry.”

I haven’t budgeted for seven loads of laundry on my already crammed Thanksgiving to-do list, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Moms learn to accept that no matter how hard we try to impart our wisdom onto our children, sometimes we just fall short. I’m sure my son will claim he was studying too hard to do laundry and that he prefers the way I wash clothes. These are almost compelling excuses…

Students: This Thanksgiving, show how thankful you are for your parents by not bringing home your dirty clothes. Mom will be even more thankful to have you home (if that’s possible) if she’s not spending your precious time together sorting through your stains.

Laundry tips:

• If you are using a washer in a public laundromat, like in a dorm, wash your white load first with Clorox® Regular-Bleach. That way, you'll kill the germs from other users.


• Separate lint producers (towels & blankets) from lint magnets (corduroy & fleece).


• To remove unsightly brown and yellow stains in the armpits of your white shirts, wash whites with Clorox® Regular-Bleach.


• Turn clothes inside out before putting them in the washer to avoid wear.


• Dilute ¾ cup of Clorox® Regular-Bleach in 1 quart water, and then add the solution to the wash 5 minutes after the wash cycle started for best results.