What? Our girls? Oh no, not them, never, they're totally prissy.
That was how they looked when I picked them up from preschool today. How about a closer look at that "white" shirt?
Oh yeah! Those are Ree's beloved "yehyowe" pants, and it was the first time Ro wore that outfit. Good thing I got it on E-Bay for 99 cents. This is pretty much how all of their clothes look by the end of every single day (days at home, preschool, anywhere). If they're not messy, they just didn't have much fun. Today they gleefully told me they had been making mud pies. I can only imagine what a stellar influence they are on the other children at school (
cringe).
Hey maybe this would be a good time for a "Teach M3 how to do laundry" segment. Because these types of stains just scoff at my puny attempts at stain fighting. Seriously, how on earth do you get stains off your kids' clothes?
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Spray the stain with Spray n Wash. Set washing machine on soak and soak overnight with water, your regular detergent and a scoop of oxy clean. This should solve most stains.
ReplyDeleteI'm considering leaving my husband for Zout.
ReplyDeleteIF YOU'RE NOT GETTING DIRTY YOU'RE NOT HAVING FUN!
(I am a second hand designer clothes junkie. Oh the thrill of the hunt! I LOVE pricey labels, Hanna Andersson is my absolute fav, but I buy it all second hand so that I won't have a heart attack when it gets dirty.)
As a mommy to 4 year old v-twins, my hint for getting stains off of white shirts is that I never get my kids white shirts!! And then, when they get stains on their light colored shirts, I give them paints and let them paint all over their shirts and call it wearable art. Yeah...I'm not one for laundry. If it doesn't get cleaned off with whatever the stuff is that I buy from Costco, I consider it "wearable art". Not much help...sorry.
ReplyDeleteI love that Ree does the 'y' for 'l' substitution. that was the last sound my daughter could not make. We used to shop at 'Luckys' and she would call it 'Yuckys'. So right on. Then one day from the back seat she said 'I made that sound!' and the adorable 'Stop yooking at me!' and 'Yeave me ayown!' was heard no more in the land. sigh.
ReplyDeleteGillian
You are a COOL Mom! Because I would've been upset with the teacher if my little one's clothes came looking like that. I can't believe the teacher would let them play with dirt. Well at least they had fun your pretty girls. Boy, I can't believe how cute they look even with dirty clothes!
ReplyDeleteNo tips for washing clothes since I only use "shout" on Emma's spots right away and so far no problems. By the way, my little one does get dirty but she normally comes home with paint stains and messy hair.
Sorry, no tips for you...but that picture of the girls is hilarious!
ReplyDeleteDe-lurking to pass on the secret of laundry....Armour All Wheel and Tire Cleaner... yes, that's right the secret to laundry stain removal is in the automotive aisle. For five years now, I've used it on everything. I've never lost a piece to fabric damage, and I've never met a stain that I didn't get out on the first try...
ReplyDeleteI use spray and wash directly on stains, and always add 1/4 c. of baking soda with the detergent and vinegar to the rinse cycle. For juice stains I lay the item out in the sun for the afternoon - works like a charm.
ReplyDeleteI spot treat before washing with dish soap (NOT dishwasher soap). That gets out almost everything and is especially good on food/grease stains.
ReplyDeleteOne word: Soilove. Seriously. I've heard you can get it at 99 cent stores in California. Since I don't live there, I get mine at www.soapsgonebuy.com
ReplyDeleteDon't let it's price fool you..it's gotten out lasagna sauce--compliments of my 2 yo--many-a-time at our house! Oh, and salsa (DH always seems to slop it when eating it)and general dirt, all sorts of food, blood, the works. It's even worked on older stains, not always, but often does.
I've also used Simply Green (automotive aisle), it works pretty good, but I like Soilove better.
My secret weapon for stains is called Charlie's Soap. Found it at Whole Foods. Works on EVERYTHING so far that my 3 yo son has gotten into. Even removed pink yogurt (with that red food coloring) from some pajamas that my husband allowed to sit for a couple of days before showing me (happened on his watch and he was afraid to do anythng to them LOL).
ReplyDeleteHappy laundering!
DREFT has a prewash spray that is truly magical. spray it on the stain and let it sit until you decide to wash it! works great!
ReplyDeleteSometimes you just have to toss the clothes. I do use all the stuff mentioned already though if the clothes are worth saving. I'm glad to see your kids do get dirty. I have mountains of laundry from mine. I can't keep up.
ReplyDeleteThis is not the greenest approach to laundry, but it works for us: spray with Spray n Wash, soak in HOT water with Oxy Clean. Wash with your regular (we LOVE T.ide) detergent.
ReplyDeleteNow, this is key. Check for stains BEFORE throwing the items in the drier. If its still stained and you dry it, you will live with those stains FOREVER and a day.
I use Shout on all colored clothes. For white clothes, I use my Clorox Bleach Pen to treat all white areas. Be very careful to not get any on colored areas b/c it will bleach it out.
ReplyDeleteLet sit then wash. Don't dry until you see if the stain came out.
I've also done a paste of powdered dishwashing detergent and water. Mix, rub in and wash.
shampoo. Put some shampoo on the stain- rub/rinse a bit.. then pre-treat with tide or all with stain fighters and it usually works.
ReplyDeletedon't put through dryer unless stain is out though.
if it doesn't come out- then I try again- more shampoo and spray and wash.
Another alternative is Fels Naptha soap bar. It can be found at Walmart, Target, etc with the laundry products. It's a rectangular bar and we use it mostly to get orange clay out of white baseball pants.
ReplyDeleteI use Oxy-Clean spray and pre-treat it. Sometimes I remember to pretreat it right when they take it off, but other times I pretreat it right before I wash it. I have even been able to get stains out that have been dried in the dryer. We also use Tide and wash all of our clothes in warm water.
ReplyDeleteOxiClean!!!!
ReplyDeleteIn a bucket with super hot water - add 2 scoops OxiClean with dirty clothes. Stir - set overnight and wash with regular detergent. Dry in sun if you can. I betcha the stains will be gone.
If all the above fail, spray those white shirts with some diluted lemon juice and water and put them outside to let the good old sunshine bleach out those stains. Inexpensive and makes them smell delicious when you bring them back inside.
ReplyDeleteOh, just make sure to bring them back in before the rain starts. Not that I've ever had that happen here, ahem . . .
Dawn is your answer...squirt on the stains and let sit and then wash with regular detergent. If not soak in Biz overnight. Make sure it is all out before you run through the dryer. If it gets in the dryer that is the end of it.
ReplyDeleteWell, I have 4 kids, 3 of which are boys, and my daughter was a tom boy until she was about 12(so she kept up with all the boys in the neighborhood, dirt-wise) Use Tide(or Tide with Bleach, depending on what you're washing) and either Shout or Zout. Spray n Wash doesn't do much except lighten the color of the fabric you spray it on. Do NOT dry anything until you see the stain is out. Also, if you miss something, the Zout will get the dried in stains out a lot of the time, so don't worry too much.
ReplyDeleteI subscribe to the "if their clothes are clean they didn't have fun" philosophy myself. So some of the hand-me-down things you have arrived pre-stained :-)
ReplyDeleteand here is your MOST expensive response:
ReplyDeleteKenmore HE5 washer and drier + Tide (any flavor, but use vinegar on the second rinse, it will kill the bleach residue) + the armor all tire trick.
no joke.
i moved from sunny san diego to the middle of the red oily clay dirt desert and acquired two step kids.
watching their clothes turn the same color as the mud drove. me. nuts.
my sister worked at sears and told me about the kenmores. i waited till they went on sale, got the pedestals on clearance (fifty bucks each) and got the whole set up for less the 2,500.00 (plus the warranties).
worth every stinking penny as far as i am concerned. either the stain treatment or kidswear cycle will kill any kind of stain imaginable.
even week old blood.
good louck....
forgot to mention that the pedestals are black, the washer and drier white and the salesperson tried urgently to get me to order matching pedestals but i did not.
ReplyDeletei wanted clean clothes and could care less about the co-ordinated laundry room.
Love me some Shout with oxyclean in it.
ReplyDeleteI'm supposed to be getting stains out of her clothes? Can't we just leave the stains and pretend it's new dirt? Maybe no one will notice.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to try the Armour All next, but I've had the most luck with "LA's Totally Awesome" along with Zout added if the stain is red. It's available at most dollar stores and my BF and I found it in US Magazine and the Today show. Apparently Hollywood stylists swear by it. It gets out just about everything...enough that I'm not losing my mind. Thanks for the eBay hint!
ReplyDeleteLori
Mother of Sara & Kelly, the messiest girls East of the Mississippi
Love your blog! Read it all the time! I pour bleach for color directly on all stains. Then set my washer on the heavy duty dirty setting and the stain treatment setting. I also add more bleach for colors in the bleach compartment of the washer. I have a kenmore oasis washer & dryer and I Love It!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI do what Fuzzandfuzzlet said...
ReplyDeleteJust had to comment on how adorable they are!!
Funny how we get the ready for the day and they start it out looking like little ladies and end it looking like the losing football team! Glad to see it's not just my princess who ends up like this! Although I have to say that the shirt you posted surely does take the cake!!! :) Oxy Clean is awesome!!
ReplyDeleteOkay, call me crazy, but I just wash them and if the stains set, so what? Mine looks like that at the end each school day too, so we have school clothes and "other" clothes. The other category are for when we go out in public and I don't want people to call CPS. I had to laugh at the Mom who would have been mad at the teacher. Our preschool is based on the learning by doing method and kids learn a lot by getting down and dirty!! I would be mad if I picked her up clean, I wouldn't feel as if I had gotten my monies worth!
ReplyDeleteOXY CLEAN!!! soak whatever it is over night in a scoop of oxy clean and medium warm water-- works for me!! And dang!!!! were the rest of the kids that dirty too??!!! That's one for the books!
ReplyDeletelove the facial expressions!
;)
OXY clean all the way. There is a spray and the powder you can put in with your detergent.
ReplyDeleteThey must have a fabulous preschool teacher who lets the kids get creative.
ReplyDeleteMy mom taught me about AMAZE and it's great! I soak clothes in a bucket of hot water with some Amaze and it works well but wow...not sure if it would even dent the fun your girlies had!
ReplyDeleteYay for mudpies...and a momma who understands that mud play is just a fun part of being 3!
Oh yah....still had the girls backwards in this pic. *SIGH!!!* Tried to check expressions rather than clothing color choice. Will I ever learn???????
ReplyDeleteI use the generic oxygen pens from Kroger grocery store to get out stains that bleach won't even get out. Be careful using them on colored fabrics, as sometimes it gets out the color along with the stain. :)
ReplyDeleteOxyclean, baby! It's from the gods.
ReplyDeleteKids absolutely should get dirty. Some of my favorite photos ever of my daughter were when I let her go hog-wild in a backyard full of mud and puddles. Pure glee.
I've got an 18 month old boy, so I don't have all the experience your other readers have. But I do use Dawn on greasy spaghetti stains or anything greasy for that matter. Works like a charm!
ReplyDeleteAnd I just wanted to add that I LOVE your rule of "If they're not messy, they just didn't have much fun." This is inspiration to my OCD personality to lighten up. Thank you for that!
So glad to see it! You are normal. You know what I say about dirty..."The messier the kid, the better day."
ReplyDeleteOxy-Clean is what gets Sarah's shirts clean ....I see I am not the only one:)
ReplyDeleteGreat post.....they all get filthy....it just isn't much fun to stay clean!!
Lisa
Ree has enlarged tonsils.....
ReplyDeletehas she been sick?
We go through a few outfits per day. Love Shout Advanced. (If I remember to pretreat) I'm seriously thinking of making a few pinafores. The whole idea was to "save" the fancier clothes underneath the pinafores from stains. I know I wore them growing up. :)
ReplyDelete-Heather
When I was a camp counselor we used Dawn dish soap on that kind of stain. It's amazing. I have a picture of an outfit I wore spelunking in a cave where you have to slide between two mud covered walls and got covered head to toe and I wore the same clothes around my college campus the next fall without any signs of it. Also takes out biological stains.
ReplyDeleteThree words for you:
ReplyDeleteZOUT, ZOUT, ZOUT!!
Yes, I know I'm shouting (sorry!), but I don't trust anything else. That's the only stain remover I keep in the cupboard. I spray that on ASAP and wash in cold with All Free Clear detergent. Make sure to check that the stain is totally out before even thinking of putting the clothes in the dryer. If the stain remains, let the clothes air dry and start over. For really stubborn stains, it may take two treatments. Zout removes lipstick from cloth napkins and strawberries from white shirts!
the best thing i have found for stains like these is either diluted eucalyptus oil ( in a bottle used for a humidifier) or if you can find it a spray can of eucalyptus oil ( usually in the personal care aisle of the supermarket.
ReplyDeletespray the offending stains before you start all the washing and wash them last ( gives them enough time to "soak") in hot water and detergent... works every single time and smells great
LOL, I use Zout liquid stain treater. Someone probably already suggested this stuff but here are like 47 comments and I'm not reading thru them sorry! ha ha
ReplyDeleteI'm a preschool teacher and mom...not so good at the laundry. I go with the 'Isn't that new dirt?' as often as possible. But I am so glad that you weren't upset with the teachers!!! We put in our handbook that kiddos should come in clothing that they won't worry about. Can't explore our world without getting a little bit on yourself! :o)
ReplyDeleteI swear by Shout. It's the only stain spray that's worked really good for me. My son gets so dirty...and he's only 1 1/2!!! But I spray it and wash it that night (I do laundry all the time with 2 kids. It's ridiculous!)If you have a really tough stain, spray it with WD-40. I'm not kidding! It really works wonders! I've also used Cascade mixed with a little water and scrub w/ a toothbrush. That got out a chocolate stain that had been washed and dried once. Oh, and on white shirts, I use a bleach pen.
ReplyDelete