Stains

Hi L.,
I have 6 kids so needless to say stains are a huge part of my life...lol. I don't have have any fancy advice but what I do gets out about 98 percent of stains, there's very little that doesn't usually come out. I am a huge fan of spray 'n wash. I bought shout at costco about 4 months ago because they didn't have spray 'n wash and I was constantly fighting the stains so I went back to my spray 'n wash and for some reason it works sooooo much better for me. I spray ' wash all my stains and then wash them as usual. If something comes out of the washer and still has a mark, I take my Tide and put some on the spot, let it sit a day, spray 'n wash it again and throw it in the washer and thats usually all it takes. If its food grease, I use grease lightning which is a cleaner you can buy for about 3.00 a bottle, and if it is white I use the bleach pen that they sell and that works. These things seem to work for me, I have 4 girls within 4 years of each other so I try to keep everything in good shape to pass from one to the other and so far I've done pretty good. Hope this helps and good luck. :)

L.,
I use spray'n wash,in the spray bottle form.It's in a green bottle with a red spray nozzle.It works on everything!I usually just spray the stain put it in the wash leave the lid open so it can soak for like 5 mins then wash.Most of the time I don't have time to soak I just spray'n wash like it says.For really really bad stuff just do it twice before you dry.Hope this helps. R. F

Since bleach didn't work I would give Ammonia a try. Since pasta sauce is most likely a grease stain and Ammonia cuts grease, dip an old soft toothbrush in a little Ammonia ( open the window first) and gently rub the stain to loosen the grease and then rinse in cool water, after that repeat with the Ammonia and rinse again and then launder the shirt. It works on grass stains like a charm, so I think it could work on pasta stains.

Hi L., I'm a 40 year olds anal retentive Mom oabout her kids clothing so stains drive me crzy to say the very least! I use Zout, Oxi-clean Chlorine free powder, Dawn dish liquid and a product called Unbelievable whcih comes from the carpet store but is used on laundry as well as carpet. Ok, grease use a drop of dawn and rub into spot...wash on warm. Regular stains I use Zout for everything else....I spray ir on and let it sit for a day or so. If ZOut doesn't work then I use my Unbelievable the same way. If you can, always rinse the stain when it has just happened but in my world that is not realistic. OK, for the Oxi-Clean....I will put the items in the tub and fill with just enuff h20 to cover the garment and then i sprinkle the oxi-clean directly on the spots and let it soak for up to two days. but you have to keep checking it to make sure it is not bleeding the color out!!! The only thing I have never been able to remove are grass stains and baby carrots:-( The oxi-clean method even gets baby formula out. Good luck! I have 3 boys that go virtually stain-free:-)and one very spoiled 5 month old daughter:-)

I am a fan of the Oxy stain remover that comes in the blue spray bottle. I used to bartend and would come home with my tuxedo shirts stained from red wine and grenadine. Bleach wouldn't touch the stains, but the oxy did - even after they had been through the dryer.

Babies R Us has a toddler wash stain remover that also works great - my SIL swears by it!

L.,
I use Shout when needed but I have found the best stain remover is Dawn dishwashing liquid. In college I fell on a floor of a nasty bar in my favorite shirt and nothing took out the stains. I happen to read the bottle of Dawn and realized it takes out most of the stuff. It came out looking new. Just pretreat asap.

My advice on stains is to remove the clothing right away, if possible, then get as much out as you can using dishwashing detergent or soap. That way it has less time to stain the fabric. I know that's not always available, but even dabbing the spot with a wet rag helps. For tomato stains, I think you need chlorine bleach, like Chlorox or the store brand. The oxygen bleaches are not as effective as the chlorine bleaches. There are usually instruction on spot cleaning on the bottles of the Chlorox Bleach, the store brands may not have as much. Bleach the spot and not the entire garment, if you can. Be sure to rinse out the garment before putting it into the laundry. Chlorine bleach is irritating, and more so to children's skin, so getting it all out is important. If you don't want your hands to smell like bleach, just wear rubber gloves. It is a pain, but it usually gets everything out. And, the modern dyes are more bleach resistant, so you can bleach many colored items, though it is not always recommended. As they say, try a spot that is in a seam to test it before you do the whole garment. Good luck.

I recently had the same problem with my grandchildren's clothes with lots of spaghetti sauce stains. I tried everything that everyone suggested. Nothing worked. I had one more thing to try that I had read about and a friend of mine also suggested it. I placed the tomato based sauce stained item in direct sunlight. I checked on the clothing from time to time and was amazed that the stains seemed to be getting lighter. After a few hours, ALL of the stains were gone!! It worked on a white blouse and a powder blue knit shirt. Next time, I will place the item in the sun before spending countless hours in the laundry room.

a product called Simple Green, it gets out more than just grass stains

I usually get the stains out of clothes 99.9% of the time. For whites use a clorox bleach pen directly on the stain and let it set for approx an hour. Wash in hot water. Use 1 capful of Calgon water softener (found in the detergent isle) and a cup of clorox bleach and washing detergent, I am partial to Tide with Bleach Alternative (which is great on all clothes). I use Calgon water softener in all my laundry loads.
Hope this works
K.

you might want to try biz or vingear. i have an 11mth old and these 2 have been my best cleaning products. from removing coffee soda and pasta stains from cltes and carpet.

hi-
i cant believe you have to wash clothes everyday! i would go nuts. as for stains, as soon as the stain hits, ike usually after dinner or something, i put the shirt in warm water. then when i am ready to wash it, i just put shout on it and its usually a lot better. but i know what you mean, pasta sauce and orange juice must have something in them that makes it stick to clothes forever!

I will tell you about 2 things, sometimes I use them in combination. Dreft stain remover, I've only ever found it at Toys R Us, it works very well and simple green. You have to get simple green in the automotive section of walmart, kmart, etc. It's says to dilute it for laundry, I don't. I use it directly on my son's clothes, who by the way has prescription soap due to sensitive skin and this stuff has never bothered him, but I always rinse his laundry twice. I've also used simple green on my best clothes, including silk (when it was in style :-) it doesn't damage anything and I love it. Get the spot wet and then spray on, then rub with either a toothbrush, tide spin brush (my personal fav) or just rub the fabic together with your hands, for some reason this step is VERY important, I've noticed everyone in a while if I don't it looks like a green ting, which has always come out with the next wash, but doesn't happen if you rub it first. Also, I try to, but sometimes fail to, soak my sons white shirts as soon as I notice pasta sauce on them. I hope this helps.

Use Genesis 950 - it breaks the bonds of stains to lift them from the surface. All bleach does is lighten it - it doesn't alter the structure of the stain. You get it online - www.genesis950.com

Once a stain is dried on, it won't come out. A friend of mine who is a chef told me to try this (and it works!!)... mix up some dishwasher detergent (not Dawn or Palmolive or the stuff you use in the sink...REAL dishwasher detergent like Cascade or whatever bran dyou might use) and use it to pre-treat the WET stain. You can even soak the garment in it for a while before washing. The reason this works is b/c it is designed to break down the fat and proteins that would normally be left on super-dirty dishes (or, your kids' clothes! LOL).

ONE CAUTION: Do not apply this directly to DRY, dark colored clothes. It is so strong it can bleach the color out!

When I use this stuff for laundry, I soak the whole garment in the sink for a while then put it right in the wash along with the rest of the load.

GOOD LUCK.

After the children get stains in their clothes or even old stains, use Dawn with bleach alternative on the stains. Let it soak for twenty minutes and then rinse out and wash like you normally would. I have a three year old girl who gets into everything and I swear by it. It gets out everything, including chocolate, spaghetti sauce, fruit punch, and ketchup. Even stains that had been in her clothes for a few days comes out. It is a god send!

I wash all the whites together once a week. I add a double dose of oxy-clean and let the load soak for a full 24 hours. Every now and again during the 24 hour period I'll let the washer run for a minute or two and get all bubbly. Someone commented on how white my son's undershirts are and how they look brand new, so this must be working. I learned this from my mom, she's a nurse so her whites have to REALLY be white.

I can help you out with some stain removers that I use that are PH balanced and better for the environment, not to mention our families. Ummm... I've gotten blood out of clothes, tough stains like oil stains, my husband's sweat smell! love the products and they're all toxin free! i dont even have bleach in my home anymore. once i found out it was a registered pesticide, i threw it out. my son gets into everything and i just didn't want him finding his way to the cleaners that could harm him. now, i have the peace of mind knowing that if he did get into my cleaners, nothing bad would happen. he's even gotten down on the floor after i've mopped and licked it. before, i would have freaked, but since i switched to the safer more natural products, i can rest easy.

i see you work from home, too. what do you do?

could you email me back at ____@____.com? i forget to check my messages here ona daily basis. thanks
J.

Here's a little trick that has been working well for me. As soon as I see the stain, I spray Spray & Wash (or sometimes I use "Nature's Miracle" which is found in pet stores for "pet stains") on it, then I put a little Baby Oxy Clean powder on it, then I put a little Dreft or other detergent on it. After that, I rub it it all together and soak it for at least 8 hours, frequently overnight. I would say 8 times out of 10, the stains come right out. I hope this helps!