Friday, January 24, 2014

Homemade Pre-stain treatment

This is a very simple yet effective way to remove stains from clothing. It can be an old stain (I'm not talking about a stain that's been on your shirt since 1999 either) or a new stain. I like this recipe because not only does it work, the ingredients can be found right in your house. Also, if your into hand washing your clothing (I hand wash my son's school clothing practically every other day smh) this treatment leaves your clothing very soft so there's no need to use fabric softeners.

WARNING: Please Please Please be very careful with this! I learned the hard way and ended up with blisters on my fingers the first couple of times (nothing too crazy but still, a blister is a blister).

Here's what you need:
Gloves (the most important thing)
White vinegar
Baking soda
1 - 2 Tbsp of your favorite laundry detergent
A small bowl (I use the laundry detergent cap)

I start by putting the clothing that needs treatment in a sink. I pour the baking soda in the cap or bowl and mix it with the laundry detergent. Keep mixing until it makes a paste. Take the cap and pour in the vinegar and mix. REMEMBER: This will have the same reaction as the "Volcano" science experiment we all did in school, so do this over the sink because it WILL overflow! I continue to mix it while its spilling over onto the clothing. I lay the clothing out and with a paint brush (ladies a make up brush will work just fine) I saturate the stain with the mixture. After everything is treated I go back to the first stain I treated and I scrub. Remember your gloves! The mixture with the scrubbing motion with irritate your skin. You should begin to see the stain fade away. Blood, wine and grass stains may take a little longer. If this is the case, I apply the mixture again (after scrubbing the stain for 1 - 2 mins) and let it sit for 5 mins. Repeat the scrubbing process and the stain should be gone.


Now if you decide to hand-wash afterwards....

Fill up a bath tub or 5 gallon bucket with hot water and add a little bit of detergent (I make my own laundry detergent too). Let you clothing soak in the water and after 5 minutes agitate the water (act like a washing machine and beat the crap out of your clothing!) Swish it, mix it, beat it, however you feel will effectively clean your clothing. Some people use a plunger (they poke holes in the suck part so it doesn't stick to the tub or bucket) to agitate the water. I just take a stick (usually a broom handle) and "stir" the water. Empty your tub or bucket, remove the clothing and refill the tub / bucket with clean water, then replace your clothing. This will rinse the clothes. You can also add a cup of white vinegar to the water as a softener. Now ring out by hand and hang to dry. Although I'm starting to become anti-dryers, a dryer will definitely speed up the drying process.

Mini rant on dryers coming in 3.......2.......1........

 "OMG all this time I thought the lint in the dryer was from sock and towels when it's actually pieces of my shirts, jeans, jackets, etc!!!! No wonder some of my shirts only last about a two years tops. I thought it was the clothing companies being cheap (they probably are) but nope its my freakin' dryer eating up my clothing. Maytag and Clean Rite owe me a Sh*t load of money for all of my clothes they destroyed. Ain't no body got time to be buying clothes all willy nilly because your dryer enjoys consuming my drawers!"

OK, I'm done now lol.

As usual, please feel free to email me: Sociallyarkward@yahoo.com or comment below with updates, suggestions and recipe alterations. I'm loving the feed back I've been getting. Keep it coming guys!


xoxoxo
Chan


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