I’ve been fighting a war – against laundry stains

It appears that no one in our house, including myself, is able to keep their clothes clean.  My pregnant belly is just a huge stain catcher.  Add in a four-year-old and an almost two-year-old and you have a recipe for disaster.  Evidently being a stain catcher is contagious because in the last few weeks I have had to double check all of Steve’s clothes.  In his defense it is not always his fault.  He became Megan’s napkin the other night when we were out to dinner with his parent’s for Mother’s day.  He had a nice jelly handprint on his shoulder.  :) 

Here are some ways that I have been able to treat and remove most of our stains:

• Pre-treat the stain as soon as possible.  I have had lots of success with a Spray ‘n Wash Stain Stick or Shout Advanced Gel.  I keep a stain stick upstairs so that we can try to remember to treat the stain when we change our clothes.  (I really like the Shout product because it is in a spray bottle and can really saturate the stain.  All you have to do is spray it on, rub it in, and let it sit and do it’s magic.)  I have successfully removed strawberry stains with the stain stick and grease spots with the spray gel.

 

• Soak the clothing.  There are some things that my girls get on themselves that I just need to soak right away.  I actually keep a bottle of detergent upstairs.  When I need to soak something and laundry day is a few days off I just pour a little bit of detergent on the opposite side of the stain and rub it in.  I then just let the clothes soak in a bathroom sink for at least a day or until the next laundry day.  (I have double sinks in both of our upstairs bathrooms so it isn’t a huge inconvenience to lose a sink.)

 

• Let the really dirty or just dingy looking clothes soak overnight.  My washer doesn’t have a soak cycle, so I created my own.  I sort the laundry that has been treated or that needs to soak.  The night before I am going to do the laundry I fill my washer with the water, the laundry detergent, and Tide Stain Release liquid.  When the washer is almost filled to the water level I selected I add the clothes.  I close the lid for about a minute so that all of the clothes can get pulled into the water with the agitator then I open the lid to stop the cycle and let them sit overnight.  The next morning I just close the lid and let the cycle finish.

 

• If I have a small load of mixed colors I add a Shout Color Catcher to the load.  I have found that I can successfully wash lights and darks together without the colors bleeding onto each other if I use the color catcher. 

 

• I always double check the clothes before moving them to the dryer.  I always give everything a double look to make sure that it looks clean before I move it over.  If I am unsure if something came out, like a grease stain, I just let the item dry on a drying rack.  That way the heat doesn’t set the stain or make it harder to remove on the next round of laundry.

 

If all else fails here is a sure-fire stain removal tip from a friend of ours who has spent 30+ years in the dry cleaning business.  “Get a pair of scissors and cut out the stain.”  :)

How about you - do you feel like you are always fighting a stain war?  Do you have any stain fighting products that have worked wonders on stains?  Do you have any special techniques that work for removing stains?  Feel free to share any tips that work for you.

**The products that I mentioned are all products that I have purchased and use per the package directions a regular basis.  I have not received any sort of compensation for reviewing or using these products.**

Memories...

I am fortunate to only work one day a week. I wanted to work a minimal amount after Natalie was born so that I could keep myself current in pharmacy and talk to people in complete sentences. :) I like working part-time, but I really enjoy the days that I am a stay-at-home mom.

Today was one of those days - both girls were just so cute today.

Megan, now 16 months old, is starting to really talk now. We were playing together while dinner was in the oven. I play a game with the girls where we do silly things like make faces and then tell the girls they are silly. Tonight Megan started telling me I was silly. She said it again when she realized I didn't catch what she was saying. When I realized it I repeated it to her and then she just started laughing soon we both were laughing at each other.

Natalie, who will be 4 in December, stood up on a stool today in the kitchen while I was making our lunch - grilled cheese and tomato soup. She told me that she wanted to watch me so that she could learn how to be a mom. I asked, "What does a mom do?" She replied, "All kinds of things, like she takes care of girls, makes grilled cheese, makes bread, plays outside with us."

Her response was definitely prompted by the things we had done that day, or we were getting ready to do after lunch (make bread & play outside). [On a side note, this afternoon was the first time we were able to go outside and play on the grass in our new backyard.] Her answer did make me think. I am home most days with them so that I can watch them learn things, and hit milestones, but also so that they can have memories of me and things that we can do and play together. I hope that when they are all grown-up and on their own that they will look back on days like today and remember playing together, making bread and just laughing together. It is also what I need to remember when they want me to read to them or play and I have "something" that I "have to do".

A day off

When I worked full-time as a pharmacist I used to dread going back to work the day after a holiday. That day was always a horrible day because even though people knew that the pharmacy was going to be closed for the day, somehow they didn't think far enough ahead to realize that their pills were not going to magically multiply in their prescription bottle and they always ran out on the holiday. They then proceed to arrive at the pharmacy first thing in the morning the day after the holiday so they can complain about running out of their medication. I would usually hear some sort of remark like, "I need to wait for this. That is one of my heart medicines and I didn't have any to take yesterday or today." I, of course, with a concerned look on my face would say something like, "Oh no. Well, I have several people ahead of you so it is going to be about 20-30 minutes before it is ready." I would then go to refill the prescription and realize that if they really were taking it like they were suppose to they would have needed a refill last week. I always called those days Monday & Tuesday rolled into one.

In my stay-at-home mom world I don't dread the day after a holiday. But, I have realized that I am still playing catch-up for having a "day off" yesterday. I obviously was still a wife & mom, but it always feels like a vacation day whenever Steve has the day off also. Whenever Steve has a day off it is amazing how much smoother the day seems. Yesterday we were able to run some errands and get some things that we needed (see my Old Navy haul 2 posts before this one). But, because we were out of the house, things at the house that normally get done on Monday didn't get done. So, here I am trying to finish two days of chores in one day.

Thankfully it is not as stressful at home. I got to finish my morning coffee, hear my girls giggle while we were playing this morning, and eat lunch with them. Those are great benefits and a reason I am happy to not be working in a pharmacy today, the day after a holiday.