I'm setting myself up for spam here, I know. But I need some sort of miracle laundry product or concoction. My little girl was recently given an adorable pair of white capri pants with embroidery on the cuff. They're just precious. But they're white and, naturally, she wore them to play outside. Now the entire tush is covered in tree sap, with dirt ground into it.I used an old bottle of Shout Gel that I had lurking in the back of my laundry shelf. No luck. Any miracle cures out there?
And speaking of laundry, my clothesline challenge has been a bust this month. Well, a bust for me. I started the month with 13 loads of laundry in a row being line dried. Then came the rains. Now I'm down to about 16 load line dried and 8 machine dried. (Yep, 6 people in a house = a lot of laundry!)
Hopefully next month will be better. And sunnier.
11 comments:
Try a bar of ivory soap. Wet the stain, rub it with the bar of soap and let it sit for a while and wash as usual. It doesn't work every time but it has gotten some really amazing stains out for me.
Well, it isn't green, but for tree sap we used a product called GoJo when I was little -- I grew up on a Christmas tree farm. You can buy it at hardware stores.
The other magic laundry solution I have is to soak an item in a mix of dishwashing liquid, vinegar & water. You probably have that on hand, so you can try it. I've had a lot of luck getting out blueberry stains w/that one.
Deidre Imus' green cleaning book recommends baking soda & peroxide to get blood stains out of whites, but I don't know if it works on dirt/tree sap. And I don't know if I would try it on delicate fabrics?
Good luck!
Sounds like good advice so far. Just wanted to extended my sympathies for stained white clothing---white has been, for the most part, banned at our house :)
Well, this isn't green, but it will probably work....
It is called Carbona #10 (for Candle wax and Tar) It also removes tree sap. I get mine at the local grocery.
Good luck!
Thanks everyone! I finally have a few minutes to work on this. I'm going to try the natural option first (I actually have that Deirdre Imus book, I don't know why I didn't think to look there!). If that doesn't work, I'll head to Home Depot for the hardcore stuff! You all are the best!
My family swears by Lestoil. It gets out oil and everything. It's amazing. It smells a bit bad, but if you just rinse it again before drying, it won't smell.
I'm a devotee of the ivory soap bar too, it works wonders. I've passed on the "one lovely blog" award to you :)
Oh, drat! Isn't that always what happens?
If the Ivory soap idea doesn't work, try a bar of Fels Naptha, which you often can find at Ace Hardware. This is not hand soap, BTW, & shouldn't be used that way--it contains some petrochemicals that can irritate your skin. But it's safe enough to use for spot cleaning.
If you can find liquid Wisk (lately I've had a hard time locating it on grocery shelves), try dampening the stains with hot tap water. Then pour on a film of liquid oxygen bleach (not chlorine bleach!!). Then pour some Wisk over that. Let it sit for a couple of yours. Come back and dampen it again and scrub.
Run it through the washer. If there's any residual stain, fold up the garment with the stain on the outside and set it in the freezer. Let it freeze good and solid. Then take it outdoors and place it in the full, glaring sunlight. Let it sit there until the sun goes down. There's something about freezing followed by sunlight that bleaches out a lot of annoying stains.
Good luck! Another possibility is to dye the outfit green... ;-)
I've found the best way to whiten and remove spots on light colored fabrics is with Hydrogen Peroxide. I'm not sure how effective it will be on tree sap but if nothing else works, then you can use try this. I use it in a spray bottle with a 2:1 water to peroxide ratio. I spray the stain and wash with the next load. Usually it comes out. I've successfully removed RED Koolaid from my light blue carpet with this mix too...and it didn't remove the color from my carpet either. Just saturate your stain and work into the material a little and watch the stains fade away!
Oxy Clean is another product I love. Run some super hot water in a sink or container large enough to submerse your clothing and mix in about a half to a full scoop of oxy clean. I use a full scoop for REALLY soiled clothing. Let your clothes soak overnight. Lightly scrub the stained area with a laundry brush (I use the scrubby end of an old Shout gel bottle). Dump the clothes with the cooled water into the next load of laundry. Wash as usual. It hasn't damaged any of our colored clothes and I see excellent results this way too. I've successfully removed ground in axle grease from my hubby's jeans with this method so it should fix your daughter's dirty sticky tushy problem! lol
Good luck!
Hey Kellie, great blog! I would like to touch base with you about your blog. Please contact me directly at chris@greenpress.com
Look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks,
Chris
Hi Kellie! I've found that bleach alternative packs from Grab Green work really well for getting stubborn stains out of my kids' clothes. It comes individually packaged in dissolvable packs, so I just add 1 to the machine, add the stained items, let it sit and soak for half an hour, then run the load. It's been especially great for grass and food stains. I bought it at their website, www.grabgreenhome.com. Best of luck!
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