How to Stretch Underwear

No really! I've been saving this for April Fools Day--but if only you knew how many people have ended up at Flexines looking for ways to stretch their underwear (must be because of my post on how to pick underwear for stretching). Thank you for visiting, Googlers, you searched and it so happens I do have a few tips for you! 

Option one: Wear it and skip the heat

Okay, this is sort of a pain, I know, but the best way to get underwear to stretch out to fit your form is to wear it repeatedly. There are a few other alternatives to try, but let's explore this a bit first. Ideally you should wear it and wash it COLD. We've all heard that heat shrinks clothes but if you usually stick everything in the dryer you'd be surprised how much of a difference it makes to skip the heat. (Aside: If you've ever watched Myth Busters you may remember that experiment to see if jeans in a hot tub could shrink enough to cut off a deadly amount of circulation--and they can't but they shrink down tremendously.) If you need them dry quick, set your dryer to a low setting so the clothes comes out damp and air dry the rest of the way.

Or try: Pillow stretching

If they are too uncomfortable or you need to avoid wedgie pulling, pillows are your friend. Be concious of where you need a little more room--the last thing you need is drapey panties. Ish. I recommend a pillow or balled up towel--hangers and the like will give you a really horrible silhouette. (I have yet to see someone who is shaped like a hanger.) One of our teen boys hangs everything from socks to ties on hangers, or at least he did growing up, and I got a kick out of the funny contortion abilities of his underwear.

Check the tag

Keep in mind that cotton and high-cotton blends will resist stretching so you can be a bit more extreme in your attempts. Those cotton boy briefs lost the silly hanger shape after a wearing; blends with nylon, lycra, or elastane (think Victoria's Secret goodies) will not fare quite as well--be gentle. As a general rule I hate to stick anything non-cotton in the dryer because they air dry very well out of the washer and tend to take a beating from the dryer (the stretchy become the crunchy).

For Flexines readers, I hope you got a good April Fools chuckle. And for Googlers, don't forget to subscribe for inspiration on stretching your body, too!

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3 Tips for Powering Your Flexy Pictures | RAVPower Review

Lately I've been working on having more pictures in my posts and making them the best I can. I quickly figured out how important it is to be able to take pictures on the fly--you never know when a good opportunity for photographing flexy will come up! I thought of my three best tips to keep powered up on the go to share with you in this review:

Keep it together.

I can't begin to tell you how creative my cursing gets when I blissfully find a few minutes to snap a shot... only to discover my battery is dead. #!&? The best solution is to have everything you need in a zip pouch or similar, just make sure your camera is protected from crushing and scratches. I like to have a spare battery, a microfiber cloth, a USB connector cord, and this little charger in there. RAVPower gave me this purse-sized charger free to try and after testing it I am happy to recommend it. It fits nicely in my little photography kit and has already saved me from getting "that look" for draining hubby's cell phone on pictures and instagraming said pictures.

Don't kill your battery. 

You would think knowing the basics of a voltaic cell from Chem class would have prepared me for this but, nope, I had to learn the hard way. I killed the batteries in our home phones almost single-handedly by letting them run down in obscure places (behind the head board, under the couch). Again, "that look" from my dear love. Oops. He explained it like this to me: in a car lead plates are a major part of the battery, and after leaving a car un-operated for an extended period of time you will find that the plates corrode, killing the battery. So now I know, and I'll be using my RAVPower charger to help me keep the battery in use. And I'll have no excuse not to search for my missing batteries--it doubles as a fun little flashlight with a few neat settings (including strobe). Handy.

Have a backup!

My spare battery is my favorite extra to carry. I bought my camera, a Nikon Coolpix S9300, used and have had power issues with it. A quick aside--if you shop used please hope for the best but expect the worst, you will save money and it can be a wonderful buy but get it cheap to offset buying accessories and possibly replacing parts. Anyways my battery has a silly short life and a spare is so easy to pop right back in and keep snapping.

Do you have any tips to share?

A cup for WHERE? Menstrual cups: a different solution

Years ago when I was a senior in high school I was browsing the internet for freebies, particularly free pad and tampon samples. I ran across menstrual cups in my pursuit of savings; I hated seeing how much hard-earned money went into that time of the month. Back then I only found cups around $40-$50--a steep investment for a college-bound high school student with no after-school job.

Even though it was super pricey I spent hours watching all the YouTube videos. If you've tried cups or at least looked into them, you know what I mean. There is literally a plethora of videos out there. Happy cup owners promote them for the convenience, cost-effectiveness, environmental benefits, and sometimes just because it is a neat idea. Some women might be squeamish but there are those of us who are too curious about the complexities of the female body to worry about a little blood. Flash forward years later with more affordable options and here I am getting my first cup!

Hold on, what is a cup anyways?

Oh BTW, I Got My Splits... But...

This entire blog owes its existence to our mutual quest to get the splits. We have met countless times with each other and even had the chance to add more ladies to our Flexine Army. Our pets are "furry Flexines" (especially Elle, Butters, and Griffy--these furries don't miss a single meeting that their human counterparts go to!). Despite my frugality, I've even managed to gather a whole host of flexy tools/gear and everyone in my house knows what's next when I start carting them around.

So You Hate Running?

For some reason, people seem to hate running. And by that I mean, "because it's boring." The number of times I've been told that! It thoroughly surprises me, because I enjoy running and sometimes have to stop myself when I get to a certain point and my knees and ankles feel a bit creaky. A good, long dash makes a great start for stretching even if I end up putting that stretch off to run "one more song."

So, you hate running?