Thursday, October 11, 2012

Decrusting Laundry

Once upon a time we had a whiteboard hanging in our kitchen. We kept a pretty long To Do list on it. One day yours truly wrote something silly on the board and forgot about it. A month later we had a dinner party, or some family get together, and my sister-in-law found herself reading my To Do list out loud. "Attic fan, clean chairs, fix screen door, decrust ass. Decrust Ass? Baw-ha-ha-ha." And now it is forever part of our family history.

Not really sure why I shared that. This post is about getting stains out of clothing. The Hulk is still working on his potty training (for the love of God, how long does it take!?!). Unfortunately for me, he would rather play a video game than go use the bathroom. 

When the kids were still having diaper explosions I would just rinse off the clothes and wash them like normal. I quickly figured out that wasn't enough. I tried all the Spray 'n Wash and Shout -like products. No luck. I finally figured out a method that actually works and minimizes exposure to nasty stuff. 

Enter: Peroxide, and Washing Soda. 


You can get washing soda in any grocery store in the laundry section, its about $3 for a box that will last forever. 

All you do is put the offending item in a zip lock bag, pour on some washing soda (up to 1/4 cup for something heavily soiled) and cover with peroxide. It helps to keep the bag nestled in a small container (like an empty cottage cheese container) to help keep the clothing submerged without using a whole bottle of peroxide. Let it soak overnight (or 3 nights...not that I would know...). Then pour off the liquid into the toilet, drop the clothing in the washing machine, and toss the bag. Wash the offending items like normal (the germ-a-phobe in me makes me put them through the wash cycle twice). After washing there should be no trace. 


I couldn't remember which pair was soiled, and after being washing I couldn't find any evidence. No stains. No discolorations. No scrubbing. Very minimal exposure to...you know what. This is by far the easiest way to deal with these sort of items. No more throwing away icky clothes! Did I mention you don't even have to touch the yucky stuff!?! Win-win.


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