Amazing Stain Remover

Amazing Stain Remover

Believe it or not, this is my SECOND post this week! HA–I am getting better! 🙂 I have been spending a lot of time studying about essential oils for some classes I am teaching, and that has taken a lot of my time, but I hope to post soon about the incredible stuff I’m learning! It is fascinating to discover how essential oils work, and I am all about the cool sciency stuff (yes, I am a nerd). It truly is amazing though. But today, I am going to share a Pinterest success story. I have a whole pin board titled Pinterest Sucesses and Fails and what I am going to share with you today is a SUPER SUCCESS. There are so many suggestions and recipes on Pinterest for cleaning everything in the world, from carpets to shower grout. Some of them work pretty well, and others fall very short. I was looking for something that would remove stains from clothing that were:
  1. Bad – We’re talking tea stains, bloodstains, coffee stains, grease stains, you name it. Nasty stains that are very difficult to remove.
  2. Old – The stains I’ve tried this on have been in some of our clothes for YEARS because I couldn’t get them out.
  3. Dried and set in – You know how clothes dryers are notorious for setting stains for like EVER? Well, many of these clothes had been through the dryer multiple times.
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to find anything that would work on these stains. I had already given up hope on most of the clothes in question and relegated them to what I call “scum” clothes–the kind I wear when I don’t plan to see anyone or go anywhere. A couple of them were already in the garage in a Goodwill sack. But then my son got a super-cute shirt in a batch of hand-me-downs that I couldn’t part with. I can’t remember if the stains were already on the shirt, or if he got them on there himself, after the first wear. But there they were, 3 blobs, big as day, and somehow I missed them before putting the garment in the washer AND the dryer. I treated it with some extra laundry soap, scrubbed it in and let it sit for awhile, and then laundered it again. I was so dismayed when I pulled it out and saw the stains still there, no lighter than before. I was sad to think of condemning such a great shirt to the “paint and play clothes” drawer. Then I remembered pinning this “miracle” stain remover to my Squeaky Clean Pinterest board, and I decided to give it a try. The recipe is easy: Dawn-with-Baking-Soda-and-P

MIRACLE STAIN REMOVER

  • 1 teaspoon blue Dawn dishwashing liquid
  • 3 – 4 teaspoons hydrogen peroxide
  • 2 Tablespoons baking soda
You mix these together in a bowl, spread on your stain, rub it in, and then let it sit for about 30 minutes. Then launder as usual. If the stain is really bad, or really set in, you will probably need to let it sit longer, and/or repeat the process again. Here is Nathan’s cute little shirt, before and after.

Stained Shirt Before and After - livethereallife.com

I did treat these stains twice. The first time they were significantly faded, but still there. After the second time, they were completely gone. I think I let the stain remover sit on the garment for several hours the second time. You do have to be careful about how long you let something sit with the stain remover on it. I left a couple of really stained garments overnight. The stains were definitely gone the next day, but so was some of the dye in the shirt. So, just use a little bit of caution. I have a friend who used this formula on some baby clothes that had poop stains on them, and she said it took them right out. I can’t tell you how many different things I’ve saved with this miracle paste. Rex had a couple of shirts that had multicolored stripes, and some of the darker stripes had bled a little into the lighter ones. I used this formula on them, and couldn’t believe the results! One of them is perfect, and what didn’t come out of the other one is so barely noticeable it’s not even an issue. I don’t think there is ANY stain that I tried this on that didn’t come out, or come out enough that it made the clothing totally wearable again. Now, those of you that know how crunchy I am may shake your heads at the use of blue Dawn dish soap. I admit, that it is not the most eco-friendly or the healthiest of soaps, but you don’t have to use very much of it, and I’d say saving a garment from the rag pile is a worthy cause, wouldn’t you? NOTE: I did try using the Dawn Free and Clear to try and cut down on the amount of toxins in the dish soap. However, Dawn Free and Clear still has a VERY strong fragrance and it evidently doesn’t work the same way as the blue Dawn. It actually bleached out my clothes when only leaving it on for a short time (I ruined one of my favorite shirts learning this the hard way). So I’d say just stick to the blue Dawn. Let me know if you try this on your stubborn stains, and how it works for you! I’m betting you’ll be dancing in your laundry room when you see the stains disappear. I know I was! 🙂

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