Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Stain Fighting Strategies

In my 6.5 years of having kids I've learned a thing or six about clothing stain removal.

My first tip is to avoid the stain to begin with. Bibs. I have my kids wear these to eat until age 4 or 5. And really I'd send them off to kindergarten with a bib tucked away in their lunchboxes if I thought I'd get away with it! But until age 5 you can get away with forcing the bib issue. If they want to eat, they wear the bib!

My 2nd tip is crucial -- you must give your best effort toward removing the stain before it goes into the washer (or maybe it's just my dark ages top loading washer that isn't up to the tough jobs)!

Try treating it with the Shout Advanced (and yes, it does seem to work better than the regular Shout, and no, I'm not compensated to endorse Shout). Let it sit for 10 minutes or so and then scrub, scrub with a toothbrush, rinse with water and scrub more if needed. Repeat the process, if needed.

If the stain is still not out. Apply some liquid Tide to it and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. Repeat scrubbing described above.

If stain is still not out or you are just tired of scrubbing, the last resort is to soak it in warm water and Tide with Bleach Alternative overnight.

Also, if the stain is on a white portion of the clothes, you can treat it with my friend, the bleach pen.

Oh, and I just learned this one, but for grease stains, treat it with some liquid Dawn dish soap.

That's all I have. May all your clothes be stain-free!

Find more Works for Me Wednesday here.

10 comments:

  1. I swear by the blue Dawn - it works wonders on pretty much anything. I've not used the bleach pen yet, but I'm thinking it's time to invest.

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  2. I always go to the dish soap first to get out stains. It works wonderfully for me too.

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  3. I've never thought of dish soap! Although from the comments I may be the only one! Great tip.

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  4. never ever thought of dish soap, I use seventh generation so not sure if it will work the same but totally going to try it out.

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  5. I agree...the Shout Advanced does work better. In fact, I need to go buy some more now.... =)

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  6. So hoping that people will just think the stain is from breakfast won't cut it anymore?
    Staci

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  7. Oxi Clean is the miracle cure to stains. The best combination I have found is 1/4 - 1/2 cup of Oxi in each load. Regular spray and wash to spot treat stains going into the wash. I also check for stains coming out of the wash and if something has a stain still I don't dry it. Our new house has a 10 year old or so top loader no bells and whistles and my last set, a front loading, Maytag Neptune washer did a superior job of stain removal. Next house hubby promises I get a new front loading set.

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  8. Great tips. I think my top loader w/ agitator did a better job getting out stains than my front loader ever will.

    http://crispy-not-crunchy.blogspot.com/2009/10/wfmw-cleaning-tips.html

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  9. Great tips! I love the name of your blog!

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  10. I would absolutely love it if you would stop by my blog!
    Eliza's Blog

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I'd love to hear what you think!