WFMW: Stain Removal Tips

Spring and Summer usually mean more stains in the kids' clothes in this house. They are always getting into something, getting cut and wiping it on their clothes or doing mini-kid-donuts on their knees in the grass. Here are a few things I use for stain removal:

Removing Blood~ Good old hydrogen peroxide works wonders for this! Test it on a small area of the hem on clothing first for colorfastness, but I use it often on blue jeans and have never had trouble. Works well for hunting clothes and when you prick your finger quilting or embroidering and get it on the piece you're working on.

Removing Grass Stains~ I find that a pretreater such as Shout gets all of our grass stains out. I use both the spray and the small bottle with a scrub brush on the end. Make sure you follow the directions and let the product soak in- don't just spray it on and toss in the wash or it won't work.

Removing Ink~ There are a few things you can use to get ink out. Aerosol hairspray is one. Place a clean cloth over the ink and spray the hairspray from the back side of the stain. Keep moving your cloth so that a clean area of it covers the stain and can soak it up. Pretreat with stain remover and launder as usual. Another one that works well for ink and even permanent marker is rubbing alcohol. I also found out that hand sanitizer is excellent for this in a pinch. Again, pretreat and launder as usual.

Removing Grease or Oil~ Your best friend in the case of a grease stain is a good dish soap. I prefer Dawn because it is one of the best grease-cutters. Get it onto the grease stain ASAP, pretreat and wash. Another product that works well is waterless hand cleaner. My husband uses this in the garage and you can get a tube of it cheaply at most dollar stores. Work the product into the stain, let soak, pretreat with stain remover and wash!

For more tips, visit Rocks in My Dryer!