The Best Stain Remover EVER!

This is no joke!

I LOVE me some white clothes. In fact, it just may be my favorite color to wear. But, as everyone knows white don't say white for long. I hang on to my old, armpit and NYC-street-water stained clothes out of sentimentality. But I was just coming to terms with the fact that I'd probably have to stop buying white - it was becoming too expensive and wasteful - and throw out my prized pieces.

But then, as a last ditch effort, having scoured the internet over and over again for some kind of miracle whitener I gave it one, final, google: Best Stain Remover Ever?

And I found this:

Best Stain Remover Ever

July 17, 2008 in Homekeeping

You’d never know that a toddler ate played with blueberries in this shirt.

When our white t-shirts start to look a little grungy by midsummer, it’s time to freshen them up. For stains that don’t go away after trying other stain removers, here is what works for practically anything:

1. Heat up some water in a big pot on the stove. Make it hot, but not boiling.
2. Add 2 scoops of an oxygen base cleaner and a small squirt of liquid dish detergent.
3. Put the clothes in the pot and cover it with the lid.
4. Turn off the heat and soak for 4-6 hours, or more if needed.
5. Wash clothes as usual in the washing machine.

Tip! The generic brand of oxygen cleaner at the dollar store works just as well as Oxi Clean. It’s the same thing.

I like that it doesn’t fade colors (but it wouldn’t hurt to test a small spot first, just to make sure). It can remove the yellow storage stains from vintage linens. It can even help to lighten perspiration stains. I’m not kidding, I tried it.

[This is the link to the actual site: http://smallnotebook.org/2008/07/17/best-stain-remover-ever/]

I had a go. Collected my old, dingy, yellowed, nasty, used-to-be-whites and did the procedure on them. IT WORKED!

Some things to keep in mind though:

1 - Put the Oxiclean in a bit at a time. I threw both scoops and the dishwashing liquid in as soon as the water was hot, gave it a stir then watched as the foam grew and grew eventually spilling out over the rim and all over my stove and, as I moved the pan to the sink, all over the floor. So take heed, it gets VERY FOAMY at first.

2 - The clothes will naturally float to the top so you should a) make sure that you saturate them in the solution, and b) give them a good stir a few times over the course of their soak.

3 - if you use an aluminum pan the solution will react with the bolts that attach the handles, which, in turn will stain your clothes.. don't fill the pan too high.

4 - If you're soaking an item which has an iron-on logo or any other kind of non-ink logo it will peel off.

I also left my clothes in the water for about 10 hours as I had to go out. I don't know if that extended time had anything to do with my success. In addition, I gave the clothes a good rinse in cold water before washing them primarily because I don't own a machine and didn't want to ruin the other clothes in the laundry bag as i took them to the laundromat.

But, sincerely. This works.

2 thumbs up to the lady who wrote the blog that saved my whites.

Now to figure out how to do my bed sheets!