I imagine I’m not alone in my dislike of laundry. It isn’t the worst chore out there–especially for a mom (cleaning poop off the floor anyone?), but it is not my favorite by far!
My mom started us out doing our own laundry when we were pretty young and I thought I had it down to a mindless task, but then I had kids! Stains of all kinds were all over every single outfit! Bibs or no bibs, food stains ended up on the collar or on the sleeves!
Between my exhaustion as a new mom and then a mom of two, and being blessed to have lots of “new to us” kid clothes, I was not doing laundry all that regularly. I learned quickly that leaving food stains on kids clothes for any amount of time was setting myself up for failure!
I Googled, searched Pinterest and asked around in mom groups for stain removal suggestions and tried them all. I’ve come to the conclusion that some of the old stains are there for good and I just have to deal with them, but I have come up with a solution to keep new stains from taking over our life!
Taking dirty clothes to the laundry room to stain treat every night after a long day with my kids was not working for me, so in a moment of desperation, I decided to take the stain remover to the bathroom! It is a simple solution, but sometimes it takes me some time to re-frame how things “should” be so that they work for me.
We get undressed in the bathroom most nights before bathtime. This allowed me to treat the stains while my kids were splashing in the tub so that it was done and I didn’t have to think about it again.
I took the recommendation of someone in one of my mom groups and started using the OxyClean stain stick. It is relatively inexpensive and you can leave it on the spots for up to 7 days before washing it. Let’s be honest, sometimes clothes are going to sit for a few days before I get a chance to wash them! You can do this with any stain remover you use, but I thought I’d share what I use in case you need a recommendation!
I also leave a hamper in the bathroom so that all dirty laundry can be dealt with in one spot. This works well for my family and I hope that it helps your family if you’re dealing with stains too!
Any stain fighting tips that work for you? I’m always on the look out for new ideas, so sound off in the comments!
Author Bio – By day, Pamela is a librarian and mom to two crazy toddlers. By night, she is a Virtual Assistant and blogs about finding a work life balance.
Jennifer says
I’ve had the best results from Resolve spray or hydrogen peroxide (I haven’t had this fade colors, but I think it could). I usually put badly stained clothing to soak overnight in warm water, then wash in cold.
patty dunlap says
For oil based stains I use the Stanley brand degreaser. I order it through Amazon and it’s more than you’ll pay in the store for a degreaser but I user it sparingly and only on tough stains. I let it sit for 30 minutes or so then soak the items in the hottest water your fabric will allow. I soak overnight if possible. Works great on most oil based stains.
patty dunlap says
Great article by the way. I love the suggestion of pretreating in the bathroom!
Tessa W says
We have only all natural ckeaners in our house but I may need to lift that rule and get one of those stain sticks. There are some shirts that are in too good of condition to be turned into play ckothes.
And I have to say that your haircut is FANTASTIC! You look absolutely beautiful! Not sure how long ago you cut it so I may be way behind but your glowing smile was the first thing I noticed on your page. Perfect :)
Paula says
Thanks so much! You are so sweet! I grew it out to save money for our house, but now that we’re here it’s back to being short again! ;)