D went to Costco this morning to pick up a few work-related things. He got home right about the time that Alex and I were sitting down for lunch, and in a sweeping romantic gesture, he handed me a surprise:
(!!!!!)
IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY.
Because DO YOU SEE, INTERNETS? DO YOU SEE? IT’S TWICE AS CONCENTRATED.
And there’s enough detergent in there to wash ONE HUNDRED AND TEN loads of clothes.
ONE HUNDRED AND TEN!
(!!!!!)
My joy, it knows no bounds.
And I can’t help but wonder: aside from some sort of full-time maid service, is there any household product someone could give you that would send your heart soaring?
Or do I just need to accept that I’m beyond weird since I get a touch of the butterflies over, you know, LAUNDRY DETERGENT?
p.s. Gain is always my first household product love, but as I’ve mentioned before, this is a very close second. I heart it more and more every single day.
And sometimes I clean my countertops just so I can smell it.
p.p.s. I’m so embarrassed that I just told you that.
p.p.p.s. Please don’t judge me.
My heart goes pitter pat over purple Fabuloso. I think it was originally marketed to Hispanics. It smells SO STRONG that for about 9 minutes after I clean the counters, you cannot tell by sniffing that ANY boys live here.
Hi Boomama… I have no idea what is up with your site at the moment, but it is taking 5-10 mins to load at all. Is anyone else having this problem? Even getting the comments up takes a looooooong time!
Sometimes it’s the simple things in life that bring us the most happiness–even cleaning supplies.
Gain is my favorite too. I get goosebumps just thinking about it!!!!
Okay Boomama – you are teasing me with the Mrs. Meyers stuff. We cannot get it where I live. Do you order it online or are you lucky enough to have a store nearby that sells it?
Yes, you are nuts! :o)
Anything related to laundry is my nemesis.
With 7 people in one household, 5 of them being adult size (despite their age, good grief when did kids start becoming unusually large?) I have TONS of laundry.
What do teen boys do to their jeans anyway?
Sigh.
Sometimes I ignore it but then it takes over my laundry closet and bad things happen. Like tarantulas take up residence (okay tarantula, but still it freaked me out)
I think I’d use up that bottle of gain that does 110 loads in one week.
oh,oh, I didn’t think anyone else in the world was gaga over Gain, but I found me a new friend. I love the smell you get with this laundry soap & the softener as well. I don’t believe I ever heard of Mrs. Meyer tho.
Gain irritates my skin, so I am a Tide Woman.
My latest fav is Tide Pure Essentials with baking soda, White Lilac Scent. I was thinking about putting it on my blog, so maybe they’ll send me some for free. LOL
Oh my! Laundry!! I so love it!
Several years ago my twins were 6 month old and we had four more young children. My two year old went missing up in the mountains behind us and we had to get Search and Rescue to come with dogs, horses and helicopters. It was before noon but was there *one* piece of clothing or bedding they could use for his scent? No, ma’am, there was not!
I’d probably be the kind of old lady that would go around emptying your ashtray after every ash drop if we lived back in smoking times.
My favorite laundry product is the Downey Simple Pleasures vanilla & lavender fabric softener. I wrote to them when it first came out asking if they could get a matching detergent so we could coordinate the scents. Many people must have had the same idea because now Tide has come out with it! Oh, it’s so glorious! And then hang it on the clothes line. Oh, yeah!
Since childhood, I’ve loved the smell of bleach, probably because I have very happy memories of spending endless summer days at the over-chlorinated neighborhood pool listening to Elton John, Pink Floyd, Chicago, Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Air Supply. Oh, those were the days…
Now I’m crazy about my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, though it doesn’t come with great musical memories.
I just bought the Gingerbread Gift Pack, and some Lemon Verbena dish soap from Mrs. Meyers. Love it!!
And the washer! Front loading so you can watch it do its lovely, sweet smelling magic? What’s not to love with laundry, honestly? You throw ugly, dirty, stinky things in (assuming you let them get anything past the smell of the fabric softener wearing off) and push a button and go off and eat chocolate. Er, I mean, clean something else. Toss them in the dryer and they come out wonderfully fluffy, smelling lovely and clean, clean, clean. Or get them off the line, give them a quick air fluff to get the stiffness out and how close to perfect is that, lovelies? It’s just doesn’t get any better than that!
But I think the floor should mop itself.
Two words: Spot Shot.
Between the kids and three cats, I am spot cleaning all the time and steam vacuuming, too.
How about a roomba? I got one for an early Christmas present and I. AM. IN. LUUVVV.
http://www.vitafamiliae.com/archives/2007/12/christmas_came.html
Cleaning supplies make me happy, too. Have you ever tried the Mrs. Meyer’s laundry products? They look intriguing and I’m curious…
Umm, you are a better woman than me, my reaction would be a touch different if my hubby brought me laundry soap as a little gift. Small appliances on the other hand, now you’re talking. My dustbuster makes me want to sing, not to mention my deep-dish electric frying pan. Those are what does it for me!
I’m a GAIN girl too, and I absolutely love Mrs. Meyers Lavender Counter Spray..it makes my kitchen and bathrooms smell DIVINE….My ultimate splurge is by TYLER CANDLE COMPANY, it’s their GLAMOROUS WASH FINE LAUNDRY DETERGENT. I wash all my sheets and pajamas with it.I love the DIVA and the HIGH MAINTENANCE scents. Can’t wait to put those freshly washed pj’s and jumped in those freshly washed DIVA sheets (not that I’m a DIVA or anything like that :)
I think that earned BooDaddy a pass on soup for dinner for at least a whole month.
Oh I love to clean!!! I absolutely love the smell of a clean kitchen (I do not use that product but I have a product that smells really good!)
Oh and clean laundry is great! I too love Gain!
Oh goodness being a SAHM really does change our perspective – hehe
Kim
Gain’s good, but I love the combo of Tide and Downy. As I’m folding a basket of clothes, I have to pause for deep sniffing every few minutes. :-)
Gain is my fave too, although I can’t say that my heart has ever gone pitter patter over it! lol.
Oh my, I love Mrs Meyers lavender scented cleaning things. It makes me clean counters just to smell it too! (I need a hobby.) And I would be happy to get a bottle of it for Christmas! (I need to shop more.)
When I moved to Japan, I put the largest bottle of Gain that I could find into the container of things that I shipped. Whenever I have a rough week at language school or just need a pick me up, I use my special stash of Gain to do my laundry! I had been rationing it out to make it last, but we are getting a Costco in our area and guess what…I’ll be able to buy Gain whenever I want!! If it makes you feel any better, when I realized that Gain would be so easily accessible, I jumped up and down and squealed :-)
I’m with Melanie — the new White Lilac Tide is yummy.
Plus, it comes in a neutral-colored bottle, and it’s made with baking soda, so I’m sure I’m saving the environment while I use it.
I, too, wipe away imaginary crumbs from the counter to enjoy the yummy scents that are Mrs.Meyer’s. And because my husband is also the romantic sort, he sprays the counters for me before I wake up on Saturdays.
Ain’t love grand?
I love the new citrus scented Gain. I also love the Downy with the blue lid, I think it’s clean something scent. It smells great. I bought some of the Mrs. Meyers spray because of you. I bought the lemon verbena and I found it at The Fresh Market. It’s great! Mo favorite cleaning product/tool is the Oreck my hubby bought me for Christmas two years ago. I use it almost every day.
I love Mrs. Myers. I ordered a whole case of counter top spray from Amazon. Have you tried the gingerbread yet? I am sooooo tempted.
I love the Clorox Anywhere spray. We use it quite a bit with two little girls around the house!
And I also love cleaning floors with ammonia and water.
I’m really digging Method’s “Go Naked” hand soap, too. I’m sensitive to fragrances, and I was pregnant not too long ago which exacerbated the problem, and so far it’s the only fragrance-free hand soap I’ve been able to find. The catch? No refills yet! We have to keep buying the pumps for $3 a pop…
Oh how I love me some laundry! there are eight people to wash for in our household. Many little ones…meaning multiple outfits per day. And the sheets and towels…I could probably do three loads every day of my existance. That’s 1095 loads per year! Whenever I feel stressed about the day, I just go and do a load of laundry and suddenly everything seems right again!
I’ll be the weird one so you don’t have to be!
Okay, so I have to admit I’m still not convinced this whole half-pint laundry bottle thing is good. Don’t you believe this is a marketing gimmick? Don’t you think we will be tempted to use as much detergent as we always did and actually end up spending twice as much for it? Did you notice the price inflated as the bottle deflated?
I’ve still been rebelling by buying the full-sized bottles at my dollar store so I’m really curious if you think the whole concentrated thing is here to stay.
Believe it or not, I almost posted on this and figured everyone would think I was weird. Thanks for freeing me to jump up on my soap box. hardy har. :)
I don’t know much about Gain, but I’m addicted to Bounce. And by addicted, I mean there really should be a twelve step program for people like me because I actually go into the laundry room just to smell the Bounce.
Then I run out real fast so I don’t have to put away the mountains of clothes sitting in there all forlorn.
It’s good to know I’m not alone in my infatuation of laundry products.
that is my absolute favorite too! I just came home with a big ‘ole box and some fabric softener too…GAIN is the best!
I love the Cashmere and something by Downy. I’m sorry, I’m too lazy to go downstairs and see what it is actually called. I love it.
I love love love the smell of Gain, too. Unfortunately, my boys get all itchy when I use it. I had to switch to All Free and Clear.
Luckily their sensitive skin can handle mild fabric softeners. I’m currently addicted to Downy’s Lavender Vanilla.
Maybe we’re all desperate housewives, now that laundry products have become more like aphrodisiacs to us! Hee! Hee!
Who is Mrs. Meyers?
Sophie, you take the ordinary and make it special. You touch words and ideas that are in people’s minds and bring them to a smile, a laugh, a warm place. You have such a gift of words. Psalm 81:10 – you open your mouth and God fills it and it makes a lot of people happy. People live with themselves—they need a little happiness, a little goodness, a little kindness. They get it from you! How good of God to you that you found this niche! Bev
p.s. thank you for your kind words to me the other day
You know the Simple Pleasures line… detergent, liquid fabric softner, dryer sheets… the lavender vanilla nearly caused a water crisis in our home one day. It would be embarrassing to tell you how many clean loads I re-washed so that they might all smell like Lavender. I now use Sam’s sized cheer, b/c we cannot afford my Lavender obsession. *sniff* *sniff*
I cannot tell you how reassuring it has been to read your post and all of the comments and realize that I am not alone in my scent related laundry obsession! I truly do need to confess (in all seriousness) that when our “regular” washer gave up the ghost a couple months ago, and we ended up getting a front loader, I literally *grieved* over not being able to use the Tide Lavender Vanilla detergent and “matching” scented Downy. THEN I remembered a post you had written about the whole “needing to match your laundry product scents” and that you sang the praises of Gain. I ran right out to the store and found they made a HE version (and all the matching scented products) and now I HEART GAIN!!!! So thank you, BooMama, for (unknowingly) walking me through what could have been a tragic time in my laundry life!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, me some Gain! The smell is divine! And, yes it makes us all so very happy. I did think you were gonna say you cleaned your countertops with it and then I would be concerned!
Hugs~
“Don’t judge me”
You.Are.Cute.
OH OH OH! I work part time at A Major Health Food Store and we use that Meyer’s stuff to clean our registers!
I big pouffy heart the smell! (Although I don’t think we use geranium…it’s something else…but still yummy delicious!)
…
OK, I’m done now!
Suavitel fabric softener will make the whole house smell yummy and I LOVE LOVE LOVE lavender Fabuloso too!!!!!
That’s what I”m washing my clothes with at this very second!! 2X Concentrated Gain! And I also found the 2X Concentrated Baby All for my toddler and soon-to-be newborn. When I know it’ll last for 50 yrs before I run out, it makes me SOOO happy!! :o) (Well, maybe not 50)……
i use gain, too! once i had to go to the laundry mat to wash some larger items. this lady was there washing her clothes and everything she took out the washer just smelled sooooo heavenly. i kept getting closer and closer to her to get a peek at her bottle and it was gain! i have used gain since! love it! 2x is what i use from costco, too!
LOL I’ve never met anyone that is soooooooo in love with detergent. I guess it’s one a life’s simple pleasures. ha ha
May your day be bright and CLEAN!
Nan
Do you HAVE a Swiffer Wet Jet? I’m telling you – they are the best! With eight kids I use it several times EVERY day to clean up messes. Sticky messes. There are so many of them.
And I also (confession time) bought a Swivel Sweeper off of TV and I LOVE it! It actually picks up cheerios, unlike a dustbuster, electic broom, or anything else I’ve tried.
How sad is it that cleaning is such a huge part of our lives?
However, if you are going to do a “full-time housekeeper give away” – please count me in!
I agree with Mrs. Troop, I couldn’t live without my Swiffer Wet Jet!! I love the Downy Simple Pleasures Vanilla Lavender dryer sheets too!
Two words:
Pine Sol
Oh how I love me some Pine Sol. I clean my floors every other day with a Swiffer wet ones but on Sundays when I do a big clean out comes the Pine Sol. I own stock in it. I just adore it. And I don’t want to leave my house after I mop because the scent is so strong at that moment.
I won’t judge if you won’t.
Don’t judge you?!??! Woman, I have the cleanest kitchen I’ve EVER had because like you, I clean my kitchen, just so I can use the lovely lavender scented Mrs. Meyer’s Countertop spray!! Judge you?!!!? It’s all your fault I bought the stuff in the first place! My farmer’s market/ gourmet grocer sells the stuff and I walked by it for quite awhile b/c really, who cares that much about cleaning products? Especially that aren’t on a 2-for-1 special! But if BooMama likes it I had to give it a second look! And now? My kitchen is spotless all the time which is like a minor miracle for me, who absolutely HATES doing dishes. And it smells pretty! So I can hardly judge! It’s probably the first and only cleaning product I’ve gone gaga over. And now? I have the Christmas tree scented dish soap, hand soap, lotion and counter spray gift pak from Williams Sonoma! I HAVE DISH DETERGENT ON A FRAGRANCE ROTATION HERE PEOPLE!! Help! ;)
I’ve reconnected with my love of Gain, ever since I’ve started making Jeana’s homemade detergent. I just add a couple of caps of it to the homemade stuff and voila!
Yes, my family does give me strange looks as I snort their clothes often… But hey, they already know I’m weird.
wow. no cleaning supplies do not make my heart soar, but I do love the smell of bleach, which tells me the house IS clean and then I can be happy.
Mrs. Meyers’ Gingerbread housecleaning kit is on sale for about $15 at drugstore.com right now. Free shipping if you spend $25. Mrs. Meyers’ is one of the only things I can use around the house without setting off asthma attacks around here :(
I bought some Mrs. Meyers countertop spray (per your recommendation) in Lavender. My Mom came over yesterday and spent the night. Around 9:30 last night, I pulled out my spray bottle and she asked, “What are you doing?” “Uh, cleaning my counters.” It is addicting.
Gain is good!
My first cleaning-supply love is Mr. Clean all-purpose in orange zest or whatever they call it. I wipe down the inside ot my shower with some full-strength of that stuff and it makes the bathroom smell SO yum! =)
I big, fat, love, love, love original Gain. BF came home with Gain Tropical something-or-another scent once and I thought I would have to break up with him. I have the fabric softener sheets in all of my closets and one in my vacuum bag. It’s obsession.
And now I know there’s another strain? I may weep tears of joy :)
Mrs Meyer’s makes laundry detergent – lavender is my absolute favorite. And I even know a relative of the actual Mrs. Meyers! She gets the stuff by the case. I am glad I have a secure source!
My husband won’t let me change dish soaps for some strange reason but I need a new smell. I like to rotate through different ones every once in a while or the whole dishwashing scene gets a bit boring.
My all natural detergent does 128 loads. It lasts FOREVER!
Boring old Bounce Outdoor Fresh does it for me…
Gain is awesome! For example, if you are 6 months pregnant AND exhausted from chasing an 18 month old, you can just keep piling up load after load (clean of course) and just get it from the pile when you need it, and it STILL smells fresh!….of course, I would never ever do this, a FRIEND of mine told me this…:)
Ummm…feeling out of place here. I still don’t like to do laundry or wipe my countertops. Judge ye not. :)
I love love love love love Magic Erasers. They make me smile…a lot!
I have so much trouble only putting the amount of degergent in my laundry. I still want to put a big ‘ole heapin’ cup full! I can’t scale back…not even for more power. I am a full cup size laundry degergent junky. There. I admitted it.
Dude, yes. Gain-ORIGINAL scent. Can’t beat it. And how ’bout some pink Downy? Fantastic.
I love laundry detergent. I’ve backslidden into the bowels of store brand. I think it’s time for a homecomin’!
Can I get an amen?