Stain Removal Secret

As a busy mother of 2 children ages 2 and 1, I find my clothes with more stains now than ever before! Not to mention my children's clothes after 1 wear look like they are years old! I have been through every name brand product to attempt stain removal, and declared many of our favorite clothes "lost"... however, my Mom has always been able to get just about any stain out of any fabric- so I finally started following her advice, and it's so simple and cheaper than the name brand stain products! Here's her step-by step of a pair of my shorts:

Here's the stain. Greasy sausage spilled down my shorts. This method is especially good for grease and tomato/red based stains that are usually the hardest!

Here are my two little tricks: 

Lighter Fluid and Dawn dish soap (please note it HAS to be Dawn!) 

Start with the lighter fluid- squirt enough to cover the stain

Then spread the Dawn dish soap into the stain. I just rubbed the soap in gently with my fingers- but you can scrub the material together if the stain is deep/old or bigger. 

Then, I just toss them in with my normal laundry.... AND:

VIOLA! 

All gone!

A few tips to this method: If you just use the lighter fluid the first round, the grease may lift out of the clothing, but I've found sometimes it leaves a ring around where the lighter fluid was (on some thin fabrics, like t-shirts) and so then you'll have to do the step again with just Dawn. That's why I started combining the methods. For color stains without grease- you can just use the Dawn. For more color filled stains, if after the wash cycle, you notice they are still set, DO NOT put them in the dryer, instead lay them outside in direct sunlight for up to 5-6 hours. It's important they are laid out wet- a lot of times I will lay them out wet at night, let the evening/morning dew re-wetten the clothing and let the sun soak on them all day. The sun will lift those color stains right out. You'll have to wash the item again, but it has a very high success rate! White clothes are the hardest to get color stains out of- but I use the bleach stick to touch up those. I've also heard hydrogen peroxide works like a charm on blood stains- I have used Dawn with success on those, but it might be worth a try, too. And hairspray does lift pen/marker on fabrics if you can't get them in the wash machine (i.e. couch, fabric chairs, etc.) 

If you have any laundry secrets, leave a comment!