No matter how many washes I do every week, I always seen to have an overflowing laundry basket in the bathroom… My children and husband also leave dirty clothes dotted all around the house (why oh why?) so laundry is a never-ending job. This weekend, I had an awful backlog of laundry to go through, so I gave brand new Persil Powergems a good go.
How cute is my little Wriggly in the photo above? She was standing on a table, innocently doing a #1 AND a #2 in her knickers. The struggle is real!
This campaign could not have come at a better time. My closest French friend spent a few days at home with her youngest baby last week, and all chores were put aside during their visit. There was no way housework would take me away from my friend! Too much catching up to get on with: chatter and laughing were definitely my #1 priority with Adeline last week!
Since Adeline and her little lady left a couple of days ago, I have been catching up with the housework and trying to get to the bottom of the laundry basket (it just never happens, does it?).
The children helped with it. I have always involved my four in day-to-day chores. Now don’t start picturing four soot-covered urchins, exhausted after a long day scrubbing the floor or cleaning the windows. No, no, no. However, they all have to do their bit, no matter how tiny their contribution. My house is still a bomb site most days, but hey ho!
It’s not about getting them to do the ‘big’ things, it’s just about getting them used to doing everyday things that need to get done. When they grow up, they will have to do these things and I don’t want them to ever expect anyone to do anything for them. I never give them money or incentives for completing these little tasks, simply because they are things that need to get done, no matter what.
With no further ado, here is my little list:
10 chores children can do (toddlers too!)
1- Putting their plate in the sink or dishwasher after finishing each meal
2- Giving the bathroom sink a quick once over with a wet wipe
3- Loading the washing machine
4- Emptying the freshly cleaned laundry into a basket, or transferring clothes from the washing machine to the dryer
5- Hoovering
6- Pairing up socks
7- Finding all their underwear amongst a clean load and putting them in their ‘pants drawer’
8- Tidying up their toys with a bit of help
9- Helping in the kitchen (just washing veg if they’re very little, but from 18 months, they can pour, stir, chop with a child-safe knife, etc.)
10- Cleaning the car with a sponge and soapy water
Persil Powergems?
Right, let’s get back to the subject of laundry, and Persil Powergems… First of all, let me be completely honest about laundry detergent. Before Jumpy was diagnosed with eczema when she was 5 months old, I would buy any laundry detergent on offer, as long as it was in some sort of liquid form, and non-bio. When Jumpy’s eczema was at its worst, I realised she was reacting to certain non-bio detergents, and from then on, I started using Persil non-bio and nothing else. Because two of my girls have eczema and their creams are really greasy, I wash everything at 60ºC.
New Persil Powergems claim to ‘revolutionise your laundry.’ Now that’s a strong statement, and although I am keen to try new things, I am also dubious when brands launch something like that. Is it still laundry detergent, or will it wash, dry, iron and put away my clothes as well? Sorry for being such a sceptic…
Apparently, it took Persil 10 years to develop this powerful detergent (that’s a long time!). The little gems contain 100% active ingredients and spread throughout the wash cycle.
First of all, Persil Powergems come in bio and non-bio, which is a great thing. I haven’t used bio detergent in years, but I still bought one wash pack of bio Powergems, just in case the non-bio were not revolutionary enough and I’d have to go for something more aggressive for the purpose of this review.
Persil Powergems wash packs are really small (3 formats: 12, 19 or 30 washes), and that’s a good thing. I always struggle to fit my Persil non-bio liquid detergent in the cupboard (my house is tiny!). The little ‘gems’ actually look just like confetti, and I wasn’t sure about that.
I can’t stand washing powder, so I didn’t know what to think when faced with the dry little confetti of soap. According to the wash pack, “one concentrated dose contains triple power to remove tough stains, care for your clothes and intensify freshness.” Still not convinced.
Jumpy’s godmother bought her a lovely new top last week. Guess what happened when she ate berries…
This is what I would normally do with stains:
- soak the garment in warm soapy water
- spray with stain remover if the stain is stubborn
- wash at 60ºC.
For the sake of this review, I didn’t soak or spray Jumpy’s new top, despite the (very) dry berry stains. I washed the whole load, stains and all, with non-bio Persil Powergems. Although I have a large washing machine (8kg), we have a water softener, so I only used a small dose of gems. After filling the outer cap to the ‘standard load’ level (normally for a 4-5kg load with soft-medium water), I placed it upright on top of the laundry in the drum.
Verdict on Persil Powergems?
OK, I stand corrected. Persil Powergems rock! Here are my main observations after the 3 loads I did this weekend:
- Every single stain was gone from all the clothes in the wash (proof below with Jumpy’s pretty new top).
- The clothes were clean, soft and smelt nice, but not in an overpowering kind of way.
- I only used a small dose, which means I will get 12 washes out of the wash pack.
- RRP is normally £5 for a 12-wash container but they were on offer at ASDA so I went back to the supermarket and bought 4 more wash packs. I am sold!
- It makes laundry quicker (no need to check for stains).
- I can now opt for a more energy-efficient wash cycle (no need to wash at 60ºC any longer since Persil Powergems contains 2 and a half more cleaning agents to get rid of oil and grease-based stains).
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Disclosure: This is a sponsored post but all opinions and photos are my own.
Great list, I am a firm believer in children learning to help around the house. The boys have always done jobs to earn their pocket money and I think it makes them appreciated how much there is to do around the home and the value of money.
Stevie x
Chores rock if someone else is doing them 🙂
We’ve loved testing Persil Powergems this past week – flipping effective, aren’t they! This post made me smile because we make the toddlers help with the laundry too; they LOVE ‘helping’, although I’m sure it makes everything take twice as long. It is so good for them to learn though; I wish somebody had taught me when I was young.
You’re right: everything takes so much longer when you get them to help, but in the long run, they’ll be able to put a wash on, cook, clean etc. haha!