What Kind of Stain Removal Products to You Use for Laundry?

I use baking soda and vinegar in my rinse cycle. I try to sun dry my clothes. The sun takes out any stain. I know, I use cloth diapers and it has taken out all the poopy stains.

I use Melaleuca Pre Spot as well as MelaPower (laundry soap). Both are non-toxic and biodegradable, which I feel really good about. They are also gentile enough to use on my youngest's clothes (age 1). If you are interested, I would be happy to give you additional information.

E.

I use Shout Advanced. This stuff really works. Spray it on the garment as soon as you take it off and let it it a day or so. Then before I wash it, I spray it on again. It is amazing how many stains have come out of clothes.

hi, for greasy stains use Dawn dish soap before washing. and for other stains i soak for 24hrs in a mixture of 1gallon of water and 1/4 cup of oxybrite. that works really well.

V.

Wash with Tide, not other laundry detergent. My husband is a veterinarian and the stains he gets on his clothes..... Not necessarily the same as a kid, perhaps but mostly organic stains.

For my grease splatters from cooking, as I take off my clothes I'll rub a stain remover stick (mine is green, spray n wash I believe. But I've used others too.) onto the spots then drop into the hamper. For blood, soak in cold/cool water first, then wash, it is actually pretty easy to wash out, just have to do it with cold water instead of hot. (for grease you need hot water tho)
For other stuff, I keep a bottle of spray n wash and spray the clothes as I sort/load the washer.
And for still other stuff like dried on wood glue on my dad's shirt or a mysterious black stain on my husband's under-shirt.... I haven't had luck yet! :(

You get best results when you can get the stain while fresh before dried & set in. Always always let the clothing air dry before putting it in the dryer to make sure thes stain is out. Once it's heat set, it's MUCH tougher and longer to get it out.

With your 5yo, I imagine you are getting a lot of food spills, art mishaps, some mud and dirt, etc. I'd spray or rub a stick on each night or as the clothes are changed out of. Spray stuff should not dry on the clothes (they can remove the color on clothing) but rub on sticks can stay on the clothes until you're ready to launder (up to a week I think they say. But really, with kiddos, you probably are doing laundry *at least* once a week.) And my next suggestion is to do laundry every couple days at least, so the stains dont sit as long and get set in before laundering.

HI,
I use a product called HogWash. It is all natural and you can only get it online. It is made by a company called Sally Anders...I think that is spelled correctly. There is another product called Hog Wash that is hand soap for grease monkeys...this is different. Hog Wash is a little bar of soap and I swear by it. It removed grease, paint and dirt that was pretty ground in! Good luck and if I manage to find the website I will let you know!
I found the website...it is SallyeAnder.com. Soap is a good deal and really does last a LONG time. I got mine when my son was born...he is turning two and I am just now ordering a new bar.

I have found Zout takes out EVERYTHING (including a spaghetti sauce nightmare!).

Hi L.,

I've been using PreSpot for a few years now and wouldn't go without it. I also use Solumel for the real bad stains such as hubby's grease from work. Best of all - they are non-toxic. I am a customer of Melaleuca, which is where I buy them.

Let me know if you would like more information.

L. W.

Zout! My sister, while in Culinary school, was told by the chefs to get it for her uniforms, and it works wonders! Also, I have had success soaking clothes overnight in Oxyclean, and my daycare suggested using Murphy's Oil Soap for oil stains, paint stains- it works too! Good luck!

Try Simple Green! Works wonders. And yes, even on whites!

I use PreSpot from Melaleuca and it gets everything out.

Good morning

I just started carrying the Tide Stain stick in my purse and it's fabulous in helping to get rid of the stains before they set in. I also use the Shout stain remover that has the brush attached before putting things in the laundry.

good luck
K.

fels naptha soap bar. rub it into the stain then wash. it's cheap, lasts forever and really works.

Zout spray, buy it at Target. Works great!

I finally found one that works great the first time. Its called Zout. I got it at Winco of all places.Good Luck, It works great on grease stains for sure.

I always have a spray mixture of equal parts ammonia and Era available for most stains. And for the really tough ones (including ones that you found AFTER they were washed and dried, especially grease stains), if you really soak them with this mixture and let them soak several hours or even better, over night (sometimes I have also put them in cold water), has worked great.

Good luck!

I use one called Soil Love, it comes in a green pretty generic looking bottle that you can find at most supermarkets. My dad heard about it on talk radio a while ago and now that's all anyone in my family uses. Its a miracle worker.

When my oldest son was a baby (he is now 22 yrs old) my grandmother told me about Fels Naptha, which is a bar type laundry soap. I swear by the stuff for getting stains out of clothes. It takes a little time but so worth it. I have passed on many of my kids outgrown clothes to others and many comment on how they look practically new because they don't have stains. To use it you wet the item of clothing and the bar of soap, rub the soap into the stain. If it is a tough stain you can use a small brush like a finger nail brush and the let the item sit or soak for a little bit, then toss it into the wash with the rest of the laundry. It works great on grass stains, baby food stains, grape juice, and even red kool aid. It can be a little hard to find as not all stores carry it. I think I have found it at Food 4 Less or Pak N Save before in the laudry detergent isle. Good luck!

I use shout.It has been really useful.
Sometimes I use Spray and wash and that also has been useful.

Hope this helps

Awesome from the Dollar Tree works wonders.

Zout works really good...

I guess it depends upon what kind of stains, but for the nastiest dirty laundry, I love Tide with Bleach, plus Clorox 2, in a hot water "power wash" with an extra rinse cycle. Does the trick every time!

I have to echo Stephanie M's recommendation of the Eco-sense products from Melaleuca. I spray on a bit of the Pre Spot Stain Remover before putting the items in the wash and they come out beautiful! I sometimes find it hard to believe that a little kid's socks that are black with dirt come out white like new.

I use Oxyclean powder in addition to my liquid laundry detergent in every load of my kids' clothes. And for obvious stains (ones that I notice), I used to use Oxyclean spray stain remover & it worked most of the time, but there were times I had to do 2 or 3 treatments/washes b/c the stain didn't come out in 1st wash. I think there was only one time a stain didn't come out after several treatments.

I actually haven't been able to find it again at Costco, which is where I 1st bought it (though they probably have it at Walmart or Target), so I bought Spray & Wash w/Resolve cleaning power recently & I used it on my almost 4 yr old twins' shirts one day after preschool that had paint & food & dirt on them & all the stains were completely gone after one washing.

The key is to get to the stain as quickly as possible. When my kids were little, I bought Spray & Wash and Oxyclean at Costco and didn't even keep a hamper in their room, everything went straight to the washing machine area in the garage for inspection and stain attention. I also use Oxyclean with EVERY load, doesn't matter what it is in case I missed something. Another good product for oil based stains is Watkins Degreaser. I find the Watkins dealers at the County Fairs or similar type events.

hi L. - i use oxyclean (available as a dry powder in tubs in your local drugstore) - it was reccomended to me by a thrift store owner and i'm here to tell you that if oxyclean can't get it out, nothin' can! :)
cheers -
S.

Hi L.,
Great question! My daughter is 4 and 1/2 and I know just what you're talking about. I agree with the OxyClean powder and FelsNaphtha soap bar suggestions, and I also wanted to suggest Stain Devils brand of stain remover.

There are several different types for different types of stains, and while the containers are small, it only takes a tiny bit on each stain. I love them and have used them for many years - the only place I've found them locally is at Joann Fabrics, though (I'm in Livermore). I used to find them at Target but then they stopped carrying them some years back. I especially like the Fat/Grease/Oil one, the Ink/Crayon one, and the Spices/Sauces one (good for mustard and chocolate too). There are others that are great as well, but those 3 are the ones I use most.

Oh - and we only keep washable markers and crayons at home and avoid non-washable! That helps a lot with all the art my little girl enjoys doing. We still have those large heavy oilcloth/vinyl toddler bibs with the snap together pocket at the bottom, and with certain foods that are still dribbly or super-messy we may use one of those (our daughter isn't bothered by it, she's confident that she's a big girl! LOL!).

Good luck with your stain removal adventures! :)

S. M.

Shout, or the other one (can't remember the name right now.) They work pretty well.

Zout!!! It trumps everything!
You can get it at Target, it's usually down at the bottom of the rack where Shout is. :)

I use Zout and Oxyclean. In addition, Heloise has some great tips on stain removal. I have had a difficult time with chocolate milk and hot chocolate and her tips helped. You soak the stain in cold water 30 mins. Then rub in liquid laundry detergent- you may have to scrub a bit. Then launder as usual.
Good luck!

Use Oxy Clean Spray. It works wonders, so many times my 8 year old looks like he rolled in the mud at school and I spray his clothes, let it soak in and wash and you would never know they had mud on them.

I buy mine at Target.

i use oxyclean powder, wet the stain and scrub the powder in.

I always use Spray N Wash - I find it works much better than Shout.

I use Shout Gel. Works well, even for old stains.

I use the EcoSense Laundry line from Melaleuca. The Prespot stain remover is 4x concentrated and I also use the SoluMel on the tough stains. It is safe for newborns and up with no chemicals. Love it!

I keep a bucket with water & a couple of scoops of Oxi-Clean in it. Between wash days, stained clothes go in the bucket, which is just dumped into the washing machine to wash. Works for us--and I have a 2-year-old.

This works WONDERS for me: http://www.spraynwash.com/product.html

Even removed dried blood that was a few days old. Don't worry about it hurting most colored fabrics, just spray and leave on for a LONG time - overnight if needed.

It's great. We were renting a very nice house and it got red wine, spilled by my Mother-in-law, out of light carpet. And let me tell you she got it everywhere when she tripped and almost fell.

What was I to do but smile and graciously and clean it up? I remembered the Spray-n-wash duel action cleaner and thought, "why not try, it can’t get worse. And well, it looks like we’re buying new carpet when we leave”. It was amazing, no site of the wine after cleaning.

Thankfully my husband was there to save her and the spot cleaner I've used for everything else was there to save me.

Good luck!

If you can, go to a medical uniform store. They have the best stain removal sticks.