Every.single.day. I now have a rule that everything she wears to daycare is $4 or less, and dark whenever possible.
I started a thread about laundry tips a few weeks ago and the vast majority of people recommended switching to tide detergent. I did and I have noticed an improvement but there are still some stains I miss.
I need to find that thread. I am terrible at laundry. My stains never come out and everything looks dingy. I suspect this is both because I try to be environmental by mostly running cold water and buying eco-friendly detergent, and because I'm too lazy to do things like separate lights and darks and pre-soak.
Oh yeah, definitely get rid of the eco-friendly detergent. I tried it (Ecos) and it couldn't even get my clothes clean and I work in an office. I do wash mostly on cold though! I'll link to it in just a minute, have to get off mobile
ETA: I wash kid stuff and sheets/socks/undies on hot, but our clothes on cold.
Mix up a paste of baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and Dawn original blue dish soap. Use a toothbrush to scrub the paste into the stain. Let it sit for a few hours or overnight if really bad, then wash as usual. It has gotten all kinds of junk out of clothing for us - blood, grass, mud, red sauce, paint, mold. It's also cheap as hell to make.
I need to find that thread. I am terrible at laundry. My stains never come out and everything looks dingy. I suspect this is both because I try to be environmental by mostly running cold water and buying eco-friendly detergent, and because I'm too lazy to do things like separate lights and darks and pre-soak.
Oh yeah, definitely get rid of the eco-friendly detergent. I tried it (Ecos) and it couldn't even get my clothes clean and I work in an office. I do wash mostly on cold though! I'll link to it in just a minute, have to get off mobile
ETA: I wash kid stuff and sheets/socks/undies on hot, but our clothes on cold.
Maybe this is my problem. I only use the eco-friendly stuff and I really hate smelly detergent. I also typically wash everything in cold and line dry if I ccan.
pizzapizza I really do not understand why scented laundry detergent even exists, and was skeptical of the tide due to sensitive skin, but so far we've all done fine. I've been using the Costco brand tide pods and the smell is just barely noticeable.
I send DS to daycare in nicer clothes now but once he's in the next room, it'll basically be cheap stuff. Not necessarily ugly stuff either. I'm a good sale shopper. Children's Place basically exists solely for daycare clothes.
Blue dawn, I got some cheap bottles from amazon and put some dawn and a touch of water in 1. Gets pretty much any stain out. Also have a squirt bottle of the tide for pre-treating.
We are a daycare clothes and weekend clothes house as well.
I work for an in-home DC and we take old baseball uniform shirts that our own (older) kids have grown out of and turned them into eating smocks. They are so long on the toddlers that they pretty much cover neck to toes. We very rarely have stained clothing.