I love being a parent. Truly. It is the best thing that I've ever done in my entire life. That said, there are certain things that I despise about being a parent, and number one on my list is laundry. It should be noted that I don't mind doing my own laundry or even my husband's laundry, but children's laundry is about the worst task I've ever encountered.
When I moved out from home about little over 10 years ago, my mom and I spent a great deal of time stocking my new apartment with everything I would need to live on my own... towels, sheets, furniture, etc. During that time she stocked me up on laundry detergent and one bottle of stain remover. Until Lorelai joined our family, I still had that one bottle of stain remover. Seriously. That's how rarely I ever needed to use it. This week alone, I have no gone through two bottles of
Totally Toddler stain remover. It is the only thing that I can find which will take out baby formula stains. And for some reasons, which I do not know why, soy formula seems to stain so much worse than regular formula. If Totally Toddler can't get the stain out, I turn to my good buddy Lestoil.
Formula stains in the making!
The biggest problem here is that these stain removers aren't cheap! And I'm convinced I'm going to contract some type of respiratory illness with all the fumes I'm inhaling as I spray down each item of clothing. And nothing frustrates me more than when I can't get a stain out. Today was a five-star day because one of Lorelai's shirts (which I have treated and washed 12 times) finally came clean today. Of course, the shirt looks like she's had it for 10 years now instead of the one time she's actually worn it...
So in an effort to find a cheaper, more effective option to my stain removal woes, I've decided to make some homemade stain removers. After scouring the internet, it looks like most of the recipes I found rely on varying proportions of four main ingredients: ammonia, vinegar, laundry detergent, and water. Here are a few of the options I came across:
1) 1/2 cup ammonia
1/2 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons liquid laundry detergent
2 quarts water
- mix together and store in spray bottle.
2) 1/2 cup ammonia
1/2 cup liquid laundry detergent
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup water
- mix together and store in spray bottle
Others had some varying ingredients like Borax or liquid dish soap:
3) 1/4 cup Borax
2 cups water
- sponge on to clothing and let dry or soak fabric in mixture before
washing as usual
4) This one is for heavily stained whites only:
1/2 cup laundry detergent
1/2 cup dishwasher detergent
1/2 cup bleach or ammonia
- soak clothes in washing machine overnight or until stains disappear;
launder as usual
5) 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup ammonia
1/4 cup liquid dish soap or heavy duty laundry detergent
- mix well and store in spray bottle
6) 1/3 part non-sudsing ammonia
1/3 part liquid dish soap
1/3 part water
- spray on clothes and let sit no longer than 5 minutes before
laundering as usual
So I'm going to give some of these options a try. Hopefully one of these will make my laundry chores a little easier! I'll be sure to let you all know if I find a miracle solution. In the meantime, I'm off to wage battle on some stains.
