One day I noticed how filthy my daughter's backpack was getting. Instead of brushing it off like I pretty much did up until that point, I thought about a day in the life of a school backpack, and promptly became grossed out. Sitting on the dirty ground waiting at the bus stop, riding on the floor of the school bus, being dragged around the halls all day, and having stains from broken pens or markers and spills and crumbs from crushed up snacks. Oh, and not to mention the unseen school germs that are most definitely included in all the filth. But her backpack wasn't that old, so I definitely wasn't about to run out and buy a new one. No, she'd get a lot of miles out of this one, and I was determined to get it clean. The only problem? I wasn't exactly sure how to do that.
My first thought was to throw it in the washing machine, but was quickly worried that it would get ruined. Also, some backpacks have care instruction tags that suggest hand-washing, but I'm definitely not the type of mom who has the time or patience for that. So, after chatting about it with some friends and doing a little online research, I learned that putting backpacks in your washing machine is totally fine! Here's how to do it.