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11 July 2011

A New Life For the Ratties


 Our old Ikea towels that we use for swimming, sprinkler-running, and general kid use ... had become ratty. As in no-amount-of-bleach-or-oxy-clean-will-ever-redeem-these-towels ratty. And don't even get me started on the cleaning rags. You know the rags and old-dishtowels that are too nasty to keep in the kitchen but perfectly fine to scrub floors and bathrooms with? Yeah, we've got lots. But sometimes they get mixed up with the good stuff. If the kids grab a house-cleaning rag to dry the dishes with I start convulsing like a hair-ball-bound feline. Gross.

So what to do?
Grab your 40% off coupon for your local craft store and a couple of bucks and snag yourself a packet of i Dye. It's pretty awesome. It comes in a packet so you just toss it in your machine (with a cup of salt - weird, right?) and seal up the mess. Once the cycle is finished, do one rinse cycle and you're done. (I ran a bleach rinse cycle once it was empty just to make sure everything was good to go for a regular load.)

Now we have zippy kid-towels ready for swim-lessons and rags that scream "cleaning only" and obviously belong in the cleaning cupboard. Not a bad make-over for 2 bucks and some salt!

**Note: This is some seriously saturated color in these dyes! I'd do a short wash cycle if you don't want them quite so electric.

8 comments:

  1. No way!! Those are beautiful! You are brave though. I would be afraid that my next three washes would all come out turquoise! You always amaze me Anna....

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  2. What a great idea!!!

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  3. WOW! That is totally fun and SUCH a great idea. What other colors does it come in?

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  4. D- A bajillion colors. Check the link for a list!

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  5. I'm all into dye these days and I love this idea. I love the "electric" too.

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  6. amazing color! Thanks for the introduction to idye! RIT has always disappointed. I have some black leggings that will meet idye, soon...

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  7. oh wow! I only know about RIT, which I've used twice this summer. I was too nervous to use the washing machine - did it stovetop instead. I'll have to checkt this out. I love the idea of dyeing faded things or, in your case, categorizing things!

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  8. I have a lot of towels that need help! This is a great solution.

    I LOVE the color you chose :)

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