I admit it. Laundry? Am I really talking about laundry? There is so much more to being a mom than LAUNDRY. I know that. I get it. But when it’s in piles around my house, it’s hard to remember that fact. Some days it feels like laundry is taking over my life! As I sit here typing this, piles of clean laundry are taking over my couch, begging to be folded. And I’ll get to it…..soon.
And this baseball pants thing, it’s killing me. I am thankful for the hand-me-down pants my boyfriend’s son graciously gave up for my son so that I didn’t have to spend a fortune on the pants he would inevitably have worn out before they got too small. But still….they were a lot whiter when the season started.
Yesterday’s game my son actually did pretty well at keeping them cleaner, at least better than the game before. But before the game even started, he succeeded in kneeling in a mud puddle. It wasn’t until after the game that my son did a running slide on his grandparents’ lawn, resulting in a nasty grass stain that looked near impossible to get out.
And while I sighed in defeat upon seeing his pants, I’ll admit that I was inwardly happy that I had something to work with in The Great Stain Removal Challenge.
Today’s challenge: OxiClean (I realized upon buying it that I had previously misspelled it. Show’s how often I’ve bought the stuff).
OxiClean is about $10 at your local supermarket. I’m willing to bet that it is cheaper at places like Target. But Safeway was where I was at when I went supply shopping. It was actually on sale at Safeway, as it normally runs about $12 a tub.
The directions for OxiClean are to add about a ¾ scoop into the water with the detergent before putting the clothes in. For tough stains (like grass stained knees), add an ounce to 16 oz water and apply the solution to the stain, leaving it on for up to 5 minutes. I did this before throwing the pants in the washer. The result?
It actually did pretty well in getting rid of the stains. There was a little left over on the knee, and the mud stains in the back were still there, but faded. But overall, I think it did pretty well.
This one’s the leading champion, but there have only been two, and I’m hoping to find a product that will work better.
On another note, remember these?
These are the pants that spurred this challenge. And after being washed they are still stained. So I washed these in the OxiClean as well, but I also used Shout Advanced Gel ($3) on the set-in stains, since this is what that product claims to excel at. Here are the results (dirty, washed with bleach, then washed with Shout Advanced):
Here’s a closer look after being “Shouted” at:
Eh, better. But those stains are being pretty stubborn.
Next challenger: Z’Out Spray. My mom used to use this on all our clothes when we were kids. Let’s see if Mama knows best.
Got recommendations for products I should try out? Let me know by leaving it in the comments!
Wine Country Mom 
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