Oxi Clean and Stain Remover-make your own!

I have learned two valuable lessons recently.
Lesson one.
Double and triple check your load of laundry to make sure none of your husbands filthy work clothes are in there with your clothes, otherwise, your favorite turtle Aerie tshirt WILL get stained. And you will forget to check said shirt for stains before drying it, thus setting the stain in. And causing me to give up hope it will ever be recovered.

Next lesson.
Do NOT forget a load of laundry in the washing machine for several days. Something will mold. That something being your very favorite, new Gap sweatshirt that happened to be a gift from your favorite little sister. Sigh. I was NOT happy about this second laundry lesson in the last two weeks. I threw a fit calmly rewashed my sweatshirt three times. The little evil red splotches all over the once-pristinely white Gap letters across the front..not fazed.
Frustration.
I googled how to get mold out of clothing. No go. Sigh. And then I remembered. Recipes for Oxi Clean and stain remover from my favorite DIY blog, One Good Thing by Jillee. And I had all the ingredients! Worth a try, right? I have to admit I was a little skeptical that it would actually work. I made the stain remover first and sprayed it on the moldy spot, rubbing the fabric against itself. Better, but not quite there. I decided to whip up a batch of the Oxi Clean as well, and let it soak in that. When I went downstairs, I also found my poor, discarded, stained tshirt on top of the dryer. Ehh. Why not? A true test.
After soaking for a couple of hours, much improvement. However, I knew those two lingering red splothes and barely-precieveable stain would drive me crazy. I whipped up another batch of OC and after I spot-cleaned the stains again, I left them to sit overnight in my concoction.

This morning I cautiously inspected my items. It worked. The shirt is stain free (even removed some old stains that have been washed and dried in for months), and the white on my sweatshirt is bright-white again. YES! :)


Homemade “Shout” Stain Pre-Treater

2/3 cups Dawn Dishwashing Liquid (I had Palmolive on hand, so that’s what I used)
2/3 cups ammonia
6 Tblsp baking soda
2 cups warm water

"Mix everything together then use a funnel to pour into an old Shout bottle or other spray bottle.

To use: shake bottle then spray on stains as you normally would.  I usually let mine “soak in” for a few minutes at least.  Then launder as usual."

source: http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2011/08/shout-it-out-homemade-version.html

Homemade OxiClean
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide
1/2 cup washing soda

"Another thing I learned is that once mixed together….the hydrogen peroxide and washing soda only remain effective for up to 6 hours.  If it sits around, it will loose it’s efficacy because the oxygen boils off.   I guess that explains why the original recipe was for such a small amount. :-/ So I basically wasted my “quadruple” batch.

Finally, for maximum effectiveness you need to let the clothes SOAK in the solution for awhile, preferably overnight…but at least for a couple of hours."

source: http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/02/move-over-oxicleantheres-much-cheaper.html