Yesterday, we were in the car, en route to the grocery store. Pea was in the backseat, with a little notebook. She asked me for a pen, to make her own “list.”
I reluctantly handed her one. Something told me not to do it, but I did.
And then… the pen exploded. All over her hands. And in the amount of time, all of about three seconds, that it took me to grab a wet wipe for her? She wiped her little ink-stained hand all over her white jeans. The white jeans that are the cutest little pair of pants you’ve ever seen on a kid.
I didn’t want to alarm her. Didn’t want to make her feel bad. So I bit my lip. Hard. How am I ever going to get blue ink out of white pants? How?
This is how…
I sprayed the heck out of the stain with Dreft stain spray.
Then, I threw it in the wash on very hot with my Tide Free HE detergent and a giant scoop of Oxiclean Free stain removal powder.
When the cycle finished, there was still a smear of ink on the pants. So I dribbled Clorox bleach directly on the spot and threw it back in the wash on “speed cycle” to get the bleach out.
Voila!
No more ink stain on Pea’s adorable white jeans!
I am officially crowning myself “Laundry Queen” for the day.
And geez, does anyone else out there feel the way that I do? Like all you do all day is laundry? Load after load of laundry?
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Hair spray will get ink out of clothing. Yes, it sounds weird, but it works. Better living through chemistry.
I just discovered this blog…great design!
Isn’t Dreft Stain remover one of the best products ever invented? I wish I had known about this BEFORE I had kids….
One thing I could not do without is Oxi Clean… I even blogged about this same issue a few weeks back:
http://mumof2boyz.blogspot.com/2008/04/inked.html
I definitely feel like you that I’m doing laundry ALL the time… but why should I be surprised – I have 2 preschool boys!!!
Oh, and I also have a front-loading washer and use Oxi Clean. The unfortunate thing is, there are not enough HE products out there yet! Just my faithful HE Tide…
In my family of 6 I have 4 sons and let me tell you, the laundry NEVER ends! I have to do 3-4 loads a day to keep up and if I take a day off…forget it…I’m behind for a week! BIG congratulations on the removal of the ink! All Hail the Queen!
BTW, I love your blog! Cute girls, cute dog, just all around cute!!
I think I did FOUR loads yesterday. That’s one per member of our family. I’m glad to know your stain removal tricks! Thanks for sharing!
We have between 17-20 loads per week in our house. Seriously. I never stop doing laundry! And I have to admit, I do feel like SuperMom when I manage to get out a particularly stubborn stain!
that is the FUNNIEST and BEST laundry story!! good for you for not getting upset…it’s so good for them when they realize that something has gone wrong yet no one is mad at them!!
XOXOXO
meredith
Impressive, remind me to call you if I ever get some ridiculous stains. (see, I don’t buy white, because I almost immediately ruin it) I’m glad you were able to save her pants. I don’t do too much laundry since it’s just me (and I have to use $1.25 in quarters for each machine I use) but I know at my parents’ house the laundry just never seems to end.
Latte Mommy,
We do have a front-loading high efficiency washer in our laundry room. And I try very hard to only use HE products. But… with small kids and dogs, sometimes I just need to toss in some Oxiclean. It hasn’t been an issue yet, I don’t use a full scoop. About half, I’d say. In fact, I’ve even been known to use regular old detergent in the washer, too! But I think that as washers make the move to HE, the cleaning products will catch up. Well, I hope they will…
Laundry is taking over my life! And my house!!!!
I’m intrigued to hear that you use Oxyclean in your front-loading washer (I’m assuming because you said your Tide was HE). I’ve been reluctant to do so because I thought that you couldn’t use it in HE machines. I was worried about too much sudsing. Obviously you don’t have that problem?
Congrats on conquering the ink, by the way. The jeans are too cute for such a sad fate.
So, I just had my first child 3 weeks ago. I was prepared for the lack of sleep, the sore boobs, the loss of my dignity through child birth but I was not prepared for the overwhelming amount of laundry that I would be doing each day! Who knew!!
I’m laughing as I’m reading this because I have every single one of those products in my laundry room! Although I’ve never had to use them all at once.
It’s not the DOING laundry that I mind — it’s the folding and putting away.