So early in the morning? Well, sometimes, but not always. Actually, it seems like the washing machine and dryer rarely stop around here. With sheets, blankets, towels, whites, jeans, light or bright colors, dark colors… it can pile up quickly in any family. To keep clothing clean and ready to wear, try these tips:
Muddying the Water
The best method I’ve found for ridding clothes of mud is letting it dry, pulling off as much dried mud as possible, and then soaking the item. I never thought letting it dry would work and used to spend a lot of time trying to scrub away the mud. It just grinds it into the fibers. Where we live, we have red dirt, which means red mud. If you don’t get it all out, a reddish tinge remains. So, this time, I tried the above method, pulling off dried clumps, soaking my daughter’s pants overnight (in an extra dishpan I keep handy for such uses), rinsing thoroughly, and then washing as usual. They came out great.
*Always check to make sure stains are completely gone before placing items in the dryer.
Greasy Foods aren’t just bad for Your Health
They can also be bad for your clothes. However, a little grease-cutting dish-washing liquid can be a lifesaver. I’ve tried different stain removers and pretreaters. I have applied laundry detergent directly to the affected area, but as far as I’m concerned, dish soap works better than most of these other products when it comes to greasy stains like salad dressing, mayonnaise, etc.
Don’t spill the Bleach!
Oops, a few drops of bleach just found their way onto your child’s favorite jeans or shirt. Now, what are you going to do? All may not be lost. Some items can simply be washed in bleach and will just fade a shade or two so the spot won’t be noticeable. In other cases, you might want to work with what you have. Carefully add a little more bleach to make it look intentional. You can even use a bleach pen to decorate (this tip comes directly from a teenager who thinks her bleach spotted jeans are cool).
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