LAUNDRY DAY!! experts advide on stain fighters please?

myprincess

Wed, Nov 18 2009, 11:42 am

Hi! I'm married for 2 years bh and I still dont know which stain remover to put where. I always try out different ones but I dont pay attentions to what worked better and what not, now I need to replenish my detergents and I need advice on what to buy, I'll tell you what I have that needs stain removers.
DH white shirts for collar and cuffs?
DD leaked poop undershirts?
DD just dirty clothing from indoor outside, food...
Oil stains?
Please help me fill in the blanks on the right stain removers for all these... Thanks loads I appreciate your response.

also which laundry detergent with HE is the best?

ra_mom

Wed, Nov 18 2009, 11:50 am

General rule for pretreating: make stain wet with cold water. Apply pretreating detergent. Scrub stain out with clean cleaning toothbrush.
I like Zout spray the best as a pretreating detergent.

For tough stains that still don't come out, soak the garment in a basin overnight of Biz, Oxy or Nature Bright (oxygenated powders) dissolved in boiling hot water. Scrub out any leftover stains with clean cleaning toothbrush.

For whites I use Cascade dishwashing gel. (It has bleach in it, but doesn't yellow the clothes.) I make the clothes wet with cold water, squirt on some Cascade, scrub out stain. For tough stains that still don't come out, soak the garment in a basin overnight of Cascade dissolved in boiling hot water. Scrub out any leftover stains with clean cleaning toothbrush.

Detergent: Tide is considered best. I like it a lot but I like Wisk much better, so I use that.

Good luck!

Number_1

Wed, Nov 18 2009, 11:55 am

I have no time for pretreating...so I only use sprays and (almost) always works.

Spray Shout for dh white shirts collar and cuffs
Oxiclean baby spray for ds and dd stains on everything and from everything
Oxiclean baby even helped for my stains on linen and nightgowns. Its great and easy to use!

And I use Tide w/bleach powder for white stuff and light colored kids clothing and ALL liquid for dark loads. They both work gr8!

Marigold

Wed, Nov 18 2009, 12:17 pm

For dark clothing that have oil, grease, food or any kind of stain I use zout and let it stand for a while b4 washing. Amway prewash spray from s8solutions is better but has a very bad smell so I nixed that.
Light colored clothing I use mainly shout. Now if the stains don't come out or it's a real tough one I make a mix of boiling water and shaklee nature bright(follow instructions on the packet) and pour onto the stains and let it stand depending on the severity of it. I let my dh shirts stand all night and then wash it and it always comes out. For really tough stains on childrens undershirt or anything white, try rubbing it with murphy or gilah sometimes. Works wonders. I use liquid Wisk and All (ammonia when things can get discolored-bleach for shmattes).
For best results, wash with cold water before pretreating(as ra_mom pointed out) so that no fading should occur.
There are many other things I do when these things don't work but I've rarely had a problem when trying these first.
Good luck!

myprincess

Wed, Nov 18 2009, 1:07 pm

Thanks for your helpful tips, I generally hate soaking so I just need sprays or gels of any sort that works good. since when does cascade wash laundry I thought only dishes?

ra_mom

Wed, Nov 18 2009, 1:16 pm

myprincess wrote:

Thanks for your helpful tips, I generally hate soaking so I just need sprays or gels of any sort that works good. since when does cascade wash laundry I thought only dishes?

Lol about the Cascade. A trick my mother taught me Smile

Annie

Wed, Nov 18 2009, 9:51 pm

Totally Toddler for baby type stains -- works great, just spray it on and then wash, for regular laundry we use either the Shout gel (which I love, but can't always find), or spray n wash -- which if applied soon after the stain, usually does the trick -- got marker and blueberry out of dd's shirt.

That said, there are some mystery spots on DH's white shirts that I can't seem to clean.

mama-star

Wed, Nov 18 2009, 10:09 pm

when I saw the title I lol'ed...I was thinking, "laundry DAY?" only one day of laundry?! halevai! I do laundry almost every day!! BH BH BH for all my kids and hubby!! LOL

myprincess

Wed, Nov 18 2009, 11:44 pm

well by me there is a LAUNDRY DAY and that day is Wednesday, from when I wake up till I go to sleep I wash, fold, iron. I like to be done with it by bedtime, just a couple of things I spread out to dry I leave to pack away on Thursday cause its still wet... I'm still "young" bh only one baby and I dont have such a huge pile of laundry to wash.
Thanks for all your wonderful tips keep them coming, well try them out on Wednesday.

ra_mom

Thu, Nov 19 2009, 10:01 am

flowerpower wrote:

Right after getting undressed soak or spray the clothing. The longer you wait the deeper it sets in.

Good idea!
Often when dd is taking off her clothes in the bathroom in preparation for her bath. I immediately wet them right there in the bathroom sink, spray and scrub out stains.

Annie

Thu, Nov 19 2009, 12:05 pm

We (3 kids and dh) have a spot right by the laundry baskets where items that need to be treated go. We call it the "stain stick pile." Every night before I got to bed, I treat the stains and then put them in their corresponding basket.

the best laundry thing we ever did was sort clothes when we take them off, rather than having to do a massive sort right before we wash. Now I can even tell the kids "take the whites downstairs" and then I just have to throw it in.

myprincess

Thu, Nov 19 2009, 12:58 pm

I enjoy doing laundry this once a week, I only have 4 loads to wash, White, dark cold, dark warm, light colors like pink, I dont have a huge family yet no need to do it more than 1 day.

Chayalle

Thu, Nov 19 2009, 3:19 pm

If you ever have some really specific stains that won't come out, try Carbona Stain Devils. I find it worthwhile to have the different kinds in the house. Got permanent marker out of DD's sweatshirt...bloodstains on DH's shirt....silly putty out of DD's linens....chocolate stains, you name it.

Nature Bright for all the grape juice stains after Shabbos. Put all stained stuff into a bucket of cold water. Dissolve a bit of nature bright in hot water and add it to the bucket (watch out, it bubbles!) Leave a couple of hours...no stains!

Oxy works for lots of stuff like coke stains, grass stains, general dirt...even on whites.

Best of luck.

myprincess

Thu, Nov 19 2009, 7:44 pm

I have one stain that was washed yesterday but not dried on my dh white shirt. It is a stain from oily Tomato dip, and it did not come out completely, I first soaked it in oxy. any ideas?

chavamom

Thu, Nov 19 2009, 9:21 pm

Meema2Kids wrote:

For oil stains, squirt Dawn on the stain. Leave overnight then wash.

I use oxyclean for organic stains.

I haven't found that you need to leave it on overnight - just rub it into the stain and toss in the wash. Baby stains, grass stains, etc I also use oxyclean, but usually have to soak them overnight in a bucket.

chavamom

Thu, Nov 19 2009, 9:22 pm

myprincess wrote:

I have one stain that was washed yesterday but not dried on my dh white shirt. It is a stain from oily Tomato dip, and it did not come out completely, I first soaked it in oxy. any ideas?

Grease stain or tomato stain? Try the Dawn idea if you have a greasy stain.