Laundry Gurus Help Please

[Mkrop]

DS9 goes to a Catholic school and wears dress shirts 4 out of 5 days. For the winter he has been using long sleeve ones. They use pencil all the time and he is left handed so his arm drags across the paper and he has pencil marks all across his cuffs. So now that it has been a little warmer he started wearing short sleeves, well since it is muddy up here he now got mud all over the front of his shirt.

I have tried everything I can think of to get these darn shirts cleaned! I have used Zout, Oxiclean, soaking it in Tide, Tide directly on the stain and sitting, and finally straight on bleach (although the label says not to use bleach, they are white so I figured what do I have to lose)

I am out of ideas and I cant keep buying new shirts and even if I do he will probably outgrow them for next year anyway

So help please

 

[BethR]

Mud is one of the few things that I cannot ever get clean. I have tried all of the same things that you have with no success.

Once something has been splashed with mud, it is ready for the rag bag - at least at our house.

 

[slo]

Try getting one of the Clorox Bleach Pens - I love those things - I use them all time!!!!


I have changed from someone never letting my kids wear white, to someone now that doesn't care.

 

[tw1nsmom]

Well, I'm far from a laundry Guru, but have you tried the Shout wipes or stain stick? Something else that sometimes works to bleach whites clean is sunshine. Hang the shirts outside on a sunny day and they'll brighten up a little bit. Hopefully someone else has better advice than I do.

 

[Mkrop]

Try getting one of the Clorox Bleach Pens - I love those things - I use them all time!!!!


I have changed from someone never letting my kids wear white, to someone now that doesn't care.

Tried those too but thanks!!! Now it takes the blue out of my jeans...

 

[RadioNate]

have you tried white soap (like ivory) or a little bit of dish soap on the stain?

Erase the pencil marks?

 

[Mkrop]

have you tried white soap (like ivory) or a little bit of dish soap on the stain?

Erase the pencil marks?

I tired erasing because when I googled pencil stains that is what it said to do, no luck!

I'll try dish soap. I know products like Dawn Dissolver work great on grease and food stains.

 

[Fan2CSkr]

My grandmother used to use a bar of ivory soap on whites with tough stains. Its worth a shot.

 

[mickeyboat]

I use a pre-treater (Shout or Oxy Clean) on mud, and can usually get it out. My laundry nemesis is chocolate ice cream.

 

[TheGottis]

Might try using dishwashing detergent - like Cascade. I run a small load with HOT water squirt some of it into the wash, let it agitate some throw the clothes in, agitate it some more then let it sit for a half hour, finish the cycle out. Then wash as usual.

It worked wonders on baby formula, milk, red AL clay, etc... Good Luck!

 

[AprilShowers]

This is going to sound silly, but treat it from the inside of the shirt, and then rub it with a dish scrubbie. I use shout or whatever is on sale and then I scrub it with something abrasive (mine are homemade dish scrubbies I bought them at a craft fair they are croched out of nylon) but anything like that should work.
The idea is that you are pushing the dirt OUT of the shirt, not rubbing it back in. I read this somewhere else and it works for me most of the time.
Then launder it like normal, but don't put it in the dryer until you're sure the stain is out. The dryer will set the stain in for good.