With 10 people in my family I do a lot of laundry and it makes me laugh when friends say to me “Today is laundry day.” Laundry day? I don’t have such a day, I have laundry life and because of this I have had my share of numerous laundry disasters. Have you ever washed a diaper? Not the cloth diapers – I am talking about the super mega, super absorbent disposable kind that could hold an ocean kind. I have – and let me tell you, it was not a pretty site! The sticky, nasty, evil gel stuff that makes these diapers so absorbent was everywhere. My washing machine and every piece of clothing was covered in cold, wet, sticky, puffy water filled gel particles!
Along with diapers being washed there are the explosive diapers that leak all over the twins clothes, and then the formula, and all that spit up that take place. Daily. Then there are my older children who like to play games such as tug of war with the neighbours on muddy grass,
or who join the football team and end up with clothes like this:
![P271011_1504[01].jpg](http://www.urbanmoms.ca/eight_is_enough/P271011_1504%5B01%5D.jpg)
Every day is a laundry disaster or challenge in this household of monkeys, but there are a few things that I do that help deal with the biggest and toughest stains:
I always carry a stain removal pen. They are great and the latest innovations in convenience. The pens are great but they are not magic – you still need to wash the garment to prevent damage.
Before loading up the washer I check every garment for stains that may need additional treatment before washing. If I don’t have time to treat the stain right away, I mark the spot with a clothespin or huge safety pin so I remember to handle it before washing.
Tough stains like baby food, formula,
blood, egg, milk, mud or ice cream are common in this house and can be removed by soaking or rubbing the stain with cold water before washing. Remember those explosive diapers I was talking about? Well fresh diaper stains can be removed by soaking and agitating or rubbing the stain in cold water before washing as well. Using hot water on these types of stains can actually cook the stain and drive it deeper into the fabric fibres, so once the clothing is ready to be washed, a great detergent to use is ARM & HAMMER® Coldwater Liquid Laundry Detergent.
Cold Laundry detergents are specially designed to lift dirt and get rid of stains without having to use Hot water. Not only am I saving money on my utility bills but I love the fact that it washes over 60% more loads than leading competitor brands at a fraction of the cost – 44 versus 26 loads. When you are the Laundry Queen and fighting tough stains this means a whole lot!
Until next time,
Chantel, momof8crazymonkeys.
We have all had our share of laundry disasters! Comment below to win a 6 month supply of ARM &
HAMMER® Coldwater Liquid Laundry Detergent…FREE!
The laundy tips and tricks series is sponsored by ARM & HAMMER® . All content is true, based on Chantel’s personal experience.
Click here for Contest Rules and Regulations.
UrbanMoms.ca members are eligible to win so don’t forget to sign-in. Not a member yet? Click here to join.
The contest closes on Nov 28, 2011.
Apple now has Rhapsody as an app, which is a great start, but it is currently hampered by the inability to store locally on your iPod, and has a dismal 64kbps bit rate. If this changes, then it will somewhat negate this advantage for the Zune, but the 10 songs per month will still be a big plus in Zune Pass’ favor.
kjhadkljhadkjawhdklawjhd
The new Zune browser is surprisingly good, but not as good as the iPod’s. It works well, but isn’t as fast as Safari, and has a clunkier interface. If you occasionally plan on using the web browser that’s not an issue, but if you’re planning to browse the web alot from your PMP then the iPod’s larger screen and better browser may be important.
You completed certain great points there. I did searching on the subject matter and discovered most persons will go together together with your weblog
Wonderful stuff from you, man. Ive read your stuff before and youre just too awesome. I adore what youve got here, enjoy what youre saying as well as the way you say it. You make it entertaining and you still manage to maintain it intelligent. I cant wait to read far more from you. This is genuinely a great weblog.
This is one of those blog posts that need to be bookmarked and revealed with the rest and this is what i’m going to do at least on my hub pages wall for sure. Thanks again pal for making my day.
A real interesting read, I will must visit this blog more often.
I’m developing a blog site and I was thinking of modifying the template.Yours looks pretty decent! You could visit my site and tell me your viewpoint!
This informative article the reality of the matter. Considerably passion, as a minimum from myself for the superb, i love read through landscapes which disclosing valuable in characteristics.
When you have finished a enterprise administration diploma on the internet, there will be a quantity of benefits you will commence to discover nearly quickly. For a single, you will be able to comprehensive your every day responsibilities with a renewed feeling of goal and self-confidence. Additionally, you will be eligible for a increased situation and better pay. If your job refuses to offer you you this, you have the skills and the credentials to find work elsewhere.
Hi, Neat post. There is an issue with your web site in web explorer, could check this¡K IE still is the marketplace leader and a huge component of other folks will omit your wonderful writing because of this problem.
Thanks for your article, it was an interesting read, and very helpful for me. I hope you will continue to write more quality articles like this one.
I have to agree with Chantal … we don’t have a laundry day and I only have 2 kids! But because they are so active, I always have to stain remove before washing. I can never figure out how they end up wearing whatever they have been eating? It’s like they forgot they have mouths! My 5yr old son loves muddy-puddle jumping – I firmly believe he thinks it’s a new sport. And my 9yr old daughter … cartwheels and somersaults on grass!! Oh the horror! I love the idea of the safety pin on stains – I’ll start doing that as laundry now has to wait until after 7pm on weekdays or I have to for the weekend … seeing as we are on ‘time of use’ rates… Grrrrrrr!!!
I spray every stain with Oxyclean before throwing into the washing machine.
sorry to say I still love bleach and if the stain doesn’t come out I might think about changing my item to a different colour with bleach like a funky tie dye??
I remember throwing a dry-clean only suit into the laundry machine. Result wasn’t pretty.
Bleach is BANNED from my home… the fumes are hard on tiny lungs. In fact I only use products “certified” as chemical free, non-toxic, pesticide free ~ you’d be surprised what manufacturers are not obligated to tell you.
I pretreat anything with grease, blood, egg, milk or anything else ‘cookable’ like Chantel says. Blood IS one of the worst if you don’t run it through cold water immediately. Anything greasy that is dried, you have to reactivate with something greasy, so I use tea tree oil (its a natural anticeptic too).
Add about 1/4 – 1/2 cup of vinegar with your laundry load. It’s a natural cleaner.
Ive washed Kleenex, haven’t we all! Markers & pens too. But the worst, most costly, thing I ever washed was my iPod! Yeah, it doesn’t survive!
I have 6 & 3 boys & to have 6 months of laundry detergent would be a godsend. Then I could use all that $$ I save for all the milk, bread, peanut butter & jam I buy weekly!
A laundry disaster I`ve had (or should I say many) is when using bleach! I always seem to drop a bit on my shirt when pouring it in the washer,,and then its another shirt ruined!! Or when using bleach,having a hidden away dark item in the washer as well,,opps..lol
Stains come out often just hanging wash in the strong sun!
If you’re lucky to be with them as soon as they have a stain, treatment pens are the best. However, I usually see these annoying stains as soon as they come home from school. (Some days I think mud wrestling is a subject). So when I’m faced with these after school stains, I pre-soak the clothes with a stain remover right away until I get a chance to run a load.
Over the last few months I have became a fan of baking soda to remove stains and not just on the laundry
With 2 active kids in school and after school sports and a husband that works in a warehouse and plays hockey, and let’s not forget that both kids suffer from nosebleeds since they were 1 years old(week nose vessels) blood stains on shirts, towels, pillows, sheets, comforters (what a nightmare they are to remove (I have tried the baby powder on these stains and they do come out – but only on fresh blood)) stains are an everyday laundry nightmare.
I also use bar soap to scrub by hand the grimy clothes and then place them in a basin with cold water. They stay there till I load up the rest of the clothes and then place the treated clothes into the washer. Stains are lifted 🙂
I love the smell of clean clothes just out of the machine. Thank you so much for your insight. Mommy’s rule :O)
I have found that Oxiclean works well on most stains. Yes, treatment pens are the best!
I find that treating stains immediately works quite well. And I like using natural products like baking soda, lemon juice and vinegar.
With an active 5 year old and a 6 month old, laundry is certainly a big deal for me. I am always on the lookout for products that clean well. I actually enjoy doing my laundry and love it when my clothes come out clean and I have managed to get rid of all stains. Food stains are the hardest to get out. And let’s not forget coffee stains. I have thrown out a brand new pair ofbeige pants because I spilled coffee all over them:(.
I pre-soak anything really suspect (like whites) ahead of time – that and a little bit of hand-agitation usually loosens up any stubborn grime. I should totally add “stain fighter” to my resume…
I find the best thing for greasy stains is baby powder. Pour some on and let it sit for a day or two and then brush it off and usually the grease stain is gone too.
With DD1 (and thankfully there weren’t 2 of her) she would have poop-sasters in the poop-er-saucer almost daily. I don’t know what it was about the exersaucer but it seemed to get the poop out of her! LOL!!! I used to keep a bucket handy for her poop-splosions to soak whatever it was in cold water as soon as poop happened!