Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Laundry Lifesaver


So, I grew up in a house where laundry was pretty much an art form.

When it came to doing the wash, there were rules that had to be followed. And the women in my family, well, they took laundry very seriously.

The cardinal rule: Always sort your loads according to color and/or type of fabric -- whites, pastel colors, primary colors and fragiles.

That rule has pretty much stuck with me.

Except that after a while, I get lazy.

That's when I start throwing everything in together. Just so I can finally be done with the laundry.

So, that's exactly what I was doing the other night when I threw my daughter's white school uniform blouse in with a pair of red shorts. The shorts had been washed a bazillion times before. I had never had a problem with the red color "running" over other articles of clothing.

Until that night.

In fact, I was in such a rush to finish laundry duty, that it was only after I took the blouse out of the dryer that I noticed the pink splotches.

Great. There goes $30, down the tubes.

But, a moment later I recalled a conversation I had with a friend about laundry mishaps and she heartily recommended this:



My friend had washed a pair of white pants with a rust colored shirt and claimed that Carbona Color Run Remover worked miracles. It contains no bleach, formaldehyde or phosphates -- but claims to be effective, even on previous color run accidents where the streaks or dyes were set in the dryer.

I dissolved the powder in a bucket of water and emersed the shirt. Within seconds, the stains were gone.

Whew! Now if I could only find a spot remover that was as instantly effective.

For more helpful tips, head on over to Works for Me Wednesday!

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Now THAT is a WFMW post I need!

I just so happen to have a BRAND NEW white shirt of Munchkin's that she never even WORE that has a red splotch on the shoulder because of a rogue red stripe on a sock.

I wasn't too terribly upset because I got the shirt on super discount off of the summer rack (hello? summer is ALL YEAR in Florida!) but still, she never even wore it once!

I'm adding this to my shopping list, thanks!

Anonymous said...

I'll tell you what a laundry lifesaver would be . . . someone/thing that would sort the clean laundry and put it away! now THAT would work for me!! :)

Michelle@Life with Three said...

Spaz -- If you can't find it at the grocery store (I couldn't find it at Publix or Walmart), check your local fabric store. I found it at Hancock Fabrics. Good luck!

Buzzings of a Queen Bee! said...

What a great tip! I am going to have to remember that one. So glad I stopped by! :)
Carrie

Hopewell said...

I'll stop at Hancock Fabrics and Joanne and Walmart and ANYWHERE to find this! I just "ruined" a new white shirt and have it soaking as I type! One of those stupid kid-made tye-dye shirts [that had been washed and washed] (I say "Stupid" because HOW MANY do you have to make to get to high school?????)left green all over the new shirt!!

Cindy said...

I see this post exactly 3 days too late: I don't know if it was a color run from something else in the wash, but I tried everything on one of my DH dress work shirts, finally resorting to bleach, which ruined the shirt, without removing the stain (of course!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Nikki said...

I am definitely going to try this. Several of my shirts have stains on them that Oxyclean did not remove. Ugh! And you know what kinds of stains babies make.

Anonymous said...

That sounds like a miracle product that would make a great addition to my laundry room shelf...thanks Michelle!

Kristen said...

I've got a green sweater that looks like it has a white button-down underneath it, but really it's just all one shirt. The first time I washed it, the green from the sweater part ran all over the white cuffs and collar. I was so upset. I tried generously coating the cuffs & collar with my bleach pen and then washing again. But the green is still there. Think this stuff will work on my sweater? Or will it be so effective at ridding the green from the cuffs/collar that my sweater will no longer be green?

SH said...

Definitely a post I needed to read! Thank you so much!

mer@lifeat7000feet said...

I definitely need this product...because I'm a lazy laundress and have way too many oops moments.

Unknown said...

I'm actually in the process of using this. My results certainly weren't instantaneous, but it does seem to be fading. It's been soaking for about half an hour now.

P.S. it smells terrible, like sulfur.