Our Favorite Stain Removal Hack
Laundry is a universal household task that we all deal with in the juggle of daily life. It’s… not my favorite. (Though I’ll still choose laundry over dishes any day.)
To make laundry, particularly stain removal, a little less painful, here’s my favorite hack that gets out almost any stain. Yes, even mud and grass stains on baseball pants from a few days ago. (Sports parents, this one is especially for you.)
You’ll need:
Blue Dawn dishwashing liquid
A scrub brush (I recommend one with a short handle)
Hydrogen Peroxide
A dark colored, non-transparent spray bottle
From grass stained and filthy to WHITE!
First, let’s create the mixture that will go in the spray bottle, which you’ll use as the last step of the process before adding your clothes to the washing machine.
In the spray bottle, add 1 part Blue Dawn dishwashing liquid and 2 parts Hydrogen Peroxide.
Shake to mix everything up.
That’s it! The reason you need to use a dark spray bottle is because light reacts with peroxide and accelerates the rate of its decomposition. (You’ll also want to get in the habit of spot checking the mixture on a discreet area of fabric before using it.)
Now, for the overall stain removal stepS:
Cover the stain with Blue Dawn. Be generous, especially if the stain is really bad!
Wet the area with cold water.
Using your scrub brush, scrub the dickens out of the stained area. (Obviously don’t scrub too hard if the fabric is delicate… use your judgement here.)
Continue rinsing under cold water and scrubbing, and you should gradually see the stain come up. Continue adding Blue Dawn and cold water, and scrub more as needed.
When you’re happy with the stain removal, rinse the garment to get rid of the excess lather.
If some of the stain still remains or you just want to be extra certain that it’s gone, add a few sprays of the Blue Dawn/hydrogen peroxide mixture to the stained area and let sit, anywhere from 1 hour to overnight. (Don’t let it sit too long if it’s a delicate fabric, and remember to spot check the mixture first and foremost.)
Throw the garment in the washing machine with regular detergent and on its regular cycle.
When the item comes out of the wash, if the area still looks stained, you can repeat the steps above. Don’t put the garment in the dryer unless you’re happy with the stain removal.
There are very few stains I haven’t been able to remove with this hack. It comes in especially handy during baseball season, as you can see above!
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Want more tips like this? Check back to the Balance Bound blog regularly, AND listen to Good Enough-ish, a new podcast from Balance Bound’s Brooke Forry and her co-host Amanda Jefferson of Indigo Organizing for more tips to simplify and streamline ALL your adulting tasks.
