Frugal FineBlog

Make sure to wash your clothes properly to preserve your clothing and prevent you from have to frequently replace key peices of your wardrobe.  Especially for children’s clothes, removing and pre-treating stains immediately will pro-long the life for many wears and hand-me-downs for younger children.

The web is a great resource for building a mental guide on the best ways to remove stains.  I found that mrscleannw.com has a detailed article on how to remove stains.

Below is some quick tips on removing the most common stains:

• Wine & Blood - Rinse with cold water, pretreat with dish soap and hydrogen peroxide
• Juice-  Pre-treat with dish soap and rinse with hot water 
• Chocolate - rinse with cold water and soak in non-chlorine bleach and water.
• Grass Stains - Apply a stick stain remover and let it sit over night. Wash with chlorox bleach if the fabric is white.
• Ink - Pre-treat with dish soap or stain remover.  Leave in cold water over night.  Wash with Chlorox if fabric is white.
• Mud - allow the mud to dry completely.  Shake and crack the dried mud off.  Use a vacuum to suck all the dirt off before throwing it in the washer.

For higher priced wardrobe peices like suede coats or boots, pre-treat with a fabric/shoe spray to protect it against rain, mud and wetness.  Also for childrens clothes, try to use a bib whenever possible to the best stain protection.