Stains in Clothes

I find that the concentrated Tide (it says 2X on the jug and is smallish but can wash 100 loads) added right to the stain, scrubbed in, then washed in more Tide gets out just about anything. However, why not alleviate the problem at the start? Maybe buy a larger T-shirt at Goodwill or as a hand-me-down from a friend or neighbor. Decorate with appliques of food or use fabric markers to draw some. Pack it with her stuff for the babysitter and make it her "eating" shirt. Just put it on over her clothes and let her eat her way. You can get a pack of 3-4 T-shirts from Walmart for cheap and then she would be all set no matter what.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi A.

Other than cholrine bleach (for whites) the only product that I have found to work on stains is Krud Kutter. You can find this at Home Depot in the paint department. It will get every stain out of clothes plus you can also use it for just about anything in your house from a paint spill to cleaning your oven yet it is still safe and wont hurt your clothes. It works GREAT on blood stains. I have even gotten dried paint spills out of my jeans with this. It is an awesome product and worth a try. It comes in a spray bottle and a gallon size and most people I have recommended it to have gone back for the gallon size. I believe it runs about $9 for the spray bottle and $15 for the gallon. It truely is an awesome product. JUst spray it on and your good to go.
Good luck and God Bless
K.

Try to scrub the stain with detergent with color safe bleach and an old toothbrush and let that sit for about 10-15mins. (This works great on carpet stains - just dilute it with water in a spray bottle) I use the generic brand, it works just as well. Also, Shout Ultra Gel with the orange scrub brush.

Keep in mind that kids are kids and stains are inevitable at times. Try sending her to childcare in only a few select pieces that you don’t care that much about (with the stains already set). I am sure her little friends and the babysitter will not care that she has a stain on her shirt. Keep the nice, un-stained items for special occasions when you are with her and can try to prevent a mess. Be careful and don’t buy too many cloths, chances are that they won’t fit her in just a few weeks anyway.

Hi A.,
What I used to is bring extra change of clothes to the sitters house, so this way, if your daughter makes a mess at lunchtime, the sitter can change her clothes. Plus talk to your sitter and ask if she could help you out by spraying the stain with a stain remover. Tell her you will supply the stain remover and keep in the bag you bring. You might want to invest in buying those wipes by Shout to take with you to the sitters house. I totally understand about buying clothes and the cost. I have 3 kids and been in the same situation with stains not coming out and it's frustrating sometimes. Good luck!
M.
www.mariescandleshop.scent-team.com

I have found OxyClean powder to work wonders. I put a scoop in the sink, fill with water, rub some of it directly into the stain and soak overnight. Usually by morning, the stain is gone :) Hope it helps.

A.,

My son is 17 months old tomorrow, and boy does he get stains. When I pick him up from daycare, sometimes the bib doesn't cover everything or he smears what is on his hands onto his pants and so forth...you know the drill.

I wash all of his clothes separately than mine. I have used the new SHOUT spray gel for set in stains (blue bottle) and spray it on right before I put it in the washing mashine. I know maybe this is against recommendation for some clothes, but I also wash all of his clothes in hot water. It seems to work fine on all stains. When I ran out of that (I used a lot!) I bought the Spray N Wash because I'm a single mom too and it's cheaper, and that seemed to work just as well in the same way. I didn't soak overnight or anything, just sprayed enough on the stains to coat them before throwing them in the washing machine.

Hope that helps!

J.

Hi A.! I had the same problem with my kids clothes. I found this product called Totally Toddler. It is in a pink bottle. It comes in at least two sizes that I have seen. A spray and then a refill for the spray. I have gotten it at both Babies R Us (in the bath bubble area) or at Biggs in the Baby section (it was kind of hidden on the bottom shelf). I love this stuff. It gets out everything. I hope it works for you.

D.

I know how you feel!! I hate trying to treat stains. My mom introduced me to a product that works on most common stains. At Wal-Mart, in the laundry detergent isle there is a product called 20 Mule Team Borax. It is a powder detergent. You can add it to your regular detergent for mild stains or you can soak tough stains in water with it or you can make a paste and treat just the stain. I found that it works pretty well even sometimes on stains that you have already treated and washed with no success. I have also heard that for some stains you can spray hairspray on it, let it dry, and then scrape it off. I've never tried that one but I have heard it works from several people. Good luck!!

My daughter is almost 18 months and I use Shout, in the white bottle, & keep a cheap little plastic trash can filled with cold water on top of the dryer. Even if her clothes have food stains from lunch/early in the day, I just spray her clothes that same night and dump them in the trash can. They stay there until I wash her clothes. We have VERY FEW clothes that have any stains on them after this. *I do check each piece I sprayed before I put them in the dryer. If they still have a little bit of something on them, I spray it again and it always comes out the 2nd time.*

I use Zout, which I buy at Target or Walmart. Once, my husband picked up a small tube of lipstick our daughter had been playing with and stuck it in his pocket. Somehow it made it into the laundry and "ruined" his favorite shirt. The shirt had been washed and dried and stuck in the back of his drawer for weeks by the time I ran across this product and used it on some bad stains on the kids' clothes. Figuring it wouldn't hurt to try, I pulled out his shirt, pretreated it with the Zout, and threw it in the washing machine. I could not believe it when I pulled out the shirt and the lipstick stains were GONE!!! Since then I swear by Zout and can't imagine ever needing anything else to remove stains from my families' clothing.

I also recommend the idea from another mom here about buying some oversized cheap shirts to use just for eating. That's the same thing I do for covering my kids when they paint and it would work just as well for messy eating.

Most importantly, talk to your sitter and let her know what a concern this is for you. If you provide the pretreatment product and changes of clothes for your daughter, there is no good reason that your sitter couldn't help you out in the first line of defense against ruined clothing.

Good luck!

try using hairspray, it works on most stains. Just spray it on a couple of minutes before you wash. Good luck.

Ha Ha.. I have to laugh b/c I am in the same boat. I have a 21 month old and a 7 month old that are both pukey and messy kids. So stains are a common thing in my house hold. I have found that Shout works the best. I don't spray the clothes until about an hour before I am going to wash them and I use Baby ALL as my detergent and include a scoop of oxy clean with the wash. Occasionally I have to wash a couple of articles twice but the stains come out in the second wash. Also, I keep the loads smaller so that they are not jammed packed into the washer. Since I have two kids and do the smaller loads I wash two loads on Wednesday (so I have the clothes from M-W) and then another load either Sat or Sun. This seems to help keep the stains out and away. Also, my husband works out of town M-F and I work full time as well so I kind sort of feel your pain of doing it all yourself. Good luck and hope it works as well for you!

Hi A.! I found this product called Awesome at the Dollar General Store. I have never had any problems when using that product. My Aunt is a cook and she uses it to get grease stains out too! Good luck.

I second AWESOME. It really is great and it is only $1.00. It gets out ANYTHING.

I recommend SA-8 products, they are #1 in Consumer Reports this year. I do sell these items, and can work out a time to drop some samples off to you any time that works for you. Email me if you like ____@____.com
I swear by these products, and know many people with children who do also - they even work on set in stains!

SHOUT pre-treating Gel. Don't know if you've tried this yet, but I swear by this product. I've put it on dried blood (from my son's boo-boos hours before), and tons of food stains after they've dried, and they are gone with one washing. It comes with a little bristle/brush thing on the lid so you can rub the gel into the stain. Maybe that's what does it. I just know that I'm safe with it. Hope that it works for you! -A.

Rather than trying to treat the stains (and you've got some good advice on that from others), what about just sending her to the sitter's in something you don't care about?

I usually purchase 3-4 cheap outfits at Walmart (like sweats and a t-shirt) that can be intermixed (Preferably dark colors, because they won't show so much wear and tear and stains). I also try to make sure my sitter has one "nice" outfit that she keeps on hand, so that if she needs to go somewhere nice, she's not embarrased to take her out in public.

Trying to keep kids clean all day is rather unrealistic, so not sending her to the sitter's in her good clothes allows me to feel less stress. And as a friend of mine pointed out... at least when she comes home looking like that I know that she ate and she played. Which means she probably had a pretty enjoyable day.

The best, cheapest and least toxic remedy that I have found for my 4 daughters, husband (and anything my dog can dish out!), even on passed down clothes with stubborn stains set in them that have sat for several years! Is handmade soap and a soft tooth brush... this also last a long time. I have been on the same bar for over a year! All I do is wet the area and smear soap on inside and outside of stain and scrub both sides with the toothbrush. It's gentle on clothes, hands, & lungs. Plus I don't have to worry about the spary getting in their eyes or all over the floor. This has gotten blood out, old stains, babyfood, grease, oil, dirt, grass, etc...

One thing I use to do was strip them down to their diaper. I know being out in public that won't work, there was one kind of bib that i found helpfull also. It was a plastic one with a pocket in the front. It was longer then the reg. bids I have seen n the stores before. Maybe that will help. Also when it comes to washing..try some oxi clean. I have found that it helps out a lot. Good luck

A., My daughter just turned 3 & she is always spilling something on herself so I am constantly pre-treating clothes. I have found that Spray & Wash Dual Power (it has enzymes in it that break down the stain, you can see it work when you put it on the stain) works very well, especially when it's paired with Tide. Tide gets almost anything out, especially when paired with a product that breaks down the enzymes. Good luck!

A friend of mine gave me this recipe for stains and it works really well.

1 cup clorox 2
1/2 cup cascade powder (plain/no flavor)
8 cups water

soak clothes overnight and then wash.

I find you can put a few items in and soak overnight and then do a second batch if you still have more. Good luck.

hi A..

this isn't 100%, but i have 5 kids, and 3 grandkids, and what i have found that does the best is pre-treat with dawn dish soap. the sooner the better, but better late than not. then wash with tide/bleach. maybe even soak awhile in that before putting through the entire cycle.

good luck, i know it can be horribly frustrating!!

C.