Stubborn Stains
Still getting ‘back in the saddle’ here at home and I found some especially unidentifiable, ugly-looking stains spread across the fabric of my white board shorts. Bummer. They’d already been laundered twice and the stains simply refused to budge. Well, this is when I pull out my special stain recipe, developed over 2 decades while living with 6 very active, athletic and manly men!
Here goes:
- 1 large plastic bowl
- 1 smaller heavy glass plate/bowl
- 1/2 cup of serious laundry detergent of your choice - I like Tide
- 1/4 cup of Oxi-Clean the stain specialist
Boil a kettle of water - careful handling it, as little ones could be nearby. Place the item with the mean stain in the bottom of the large plastic bowl (you can see my bowl is blue here in the photo). Add your two cleaning agents. Pour the boiled water over all and give it a good stir to blend well. Place the heavy plate/bowl on top to keep the stained item fully submerged beneath the stain-removing brew (you can see the shorts peeking out next to the black plate above). Let it sit for 24 - 48 hours. Toss the soaking water and clothing piece in your next load of same-colored laundry. Launder as always.
This will usually lift the vicious stain and put a smile on your face, but if not, I’ve got some other great tips to conquer those bad boys.
My grown sons still call me to get stain-removal tips from time to time. Isn’t it fun to be a mom?!
I’d love to hear your favorite stain tips if you get a minute to share them with us. POST THEM HERE, now that my tech guy has enabled my site to receive comments, you are free to POST TO YOUR HEART’S CONTENT!
Back to work…
March 5th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Hey, Denise, thanks for sending me the update about your blog. This is pretty fancy! Susan
March 5th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Hi Susan,
You’re a doll to invite me to the big party - I’ll be there WITH BELLS ON!!!!
Thanks so much for all the encouragement.
Blessings,
Denise
March 5th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
One that I use is shampoo. One of the strongest grease fighters on earth. See a stain, put rub in a little shampoo and put it in the hamper. When it is time to do a load it comes right out. Works usually on tomato sause stains if you catch them before they are washed.
March 6th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Hi Denise,
My baby is a spitter - and now she is eating baby food which results in squash spit up stains instead of just milk ones. Several of her adorable baby clothes have squash incidents all over them. Do you think this would work to get those out? I guess I won’t lose anything trying huh?!
Thanks!
Steph
March 6th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I used this same stain mix without heating it. I’ll have to try that next time. By the way, I stumbled across Oxi-Clean Free which is free of dye and fragrance. My oldest gets eczema and this doesn’t irritate her skin. Anyhow, I have been reading your blog off and on since you put it up. Thank you for the inspiration.
Sue
March 7th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Hi girls,
Thanks for popping in! It’s fun to hear your thoughts, encouragement and to gather more good info…
Bless you,
Denise