Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cleaning and laundry

How do I get dirt stains out?

otherwordlyglow — Fri, 15 May 2009 08:22:55 -0800

How do I remove dirt stains on pants? My daughter came home from daycare with the knees of her pants totally saturated with a mixture of sand and dirt. She's a crawler and I expect this to happen a lot but have no experience with dirt stains. (I don't do a lot of stuff that leads to dirt stains on me). For the most part it doesn't matter too much: the pants were cheap and I'm sure she'll grow out of them in another month but what's the best way to treat these kinds of stains? I'm sure there will be plenty more.

The complicating factor is that they've already been washed and dried and still have stains on the knees. Is there any hope of getting them totally clean? Generally, I know to pre-treat stains but I neglected to do that this time. So the question really is two-fold: What are best practices for dirt stains and then what do I do in this case where it's already been laundered but the stain remains? I'm in the U.S., so product recommendations will be most helpful if they're available here.

Bonus side question: Does anyone remember a solvent/stain removal product that used to be available maybe up to the 70s and 80s? It was alcohol based and came in a narrow, tall-ish glass jar with a felt tip that you dabbed on to stains? I can't find it anymore which leads me to believe it was toxic and so they've taken it off the market but it worked like a charm on a lot of things.

More Efficient Laundry System?

jacksides — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:08:54 -0800

How do you keep your laundry system running smoothly in a bi-level (or larger) house? I want to hear how others have set up hampers, etc or otherwise established a system to efficiently move clean and dirty clothes to and from the laundry room. Growing up, we had laundry chutes (one on each floor) that we used to send all of our dirty clothes down to the basement. It was a great system - clothes never piled up anywhere; it was so easy to just throw everything down (and the laundry fairy -- okay, my mom -- did laundry almost every day ... how she kept up with it, I'll never know...).

Now that we have a small family (1 year old + 3 year old + two parents) living in a bi-level townhouse, it seems like clothes pile up in corners constantly (especially upstairs). I've tried putting a hamper on the landing to create a centralized place for the dirty clothes upstairs, but that doesn't seem to be enough (plus, when we bring the full hamper down to the laundry room, it seems to sit down there for awhile ... which means clothes upstairs start piling up on the floor again ... aggggggggggh). When we do get the clothes clean, we tend to use the laundry room as our closets -- just grabbing what we need when we need it ... no one actually wants to put away an armful of hanging clothes or a whole laundry basket. Part of it is laziness, I'm sure, and part of it is that it just seems like I always have a baby on my hip, so having two free hands and a few minutes to go upstairs and put clothes back in my drawers is rare.

This seems simple enough, but I'm sure someone out there has a hack or two. I'd like to hear how other people have set up a productive laundry system -- from how/where you set up your dirty clothes repositories to how often you actually do your laundry. Are you on a schedule? Do you just do it when you run out of clothes? Do you return the clean clothes back upstairs immediately after washing them?

Any tried and true solutions/methods for removing deodorant build-up from the armpit area of T-shirts?

karizma — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:35:08 -0800

Any tried and true solutions/methods for removing deodorant build-up from the armpit area of T-shirts? On several of my T-shirts I have a noticeable build-up of deodorant in the armpit area. It makes the fabric somewhat rigid and definitely unsightly. I have tried stain stick, hot water, detergent rubbed into the area, multiple washings, etc. - and nothing seems to work. I really like these shirts and it would be a shame to have to throw them out. Thanks!

Ancient L'oreal-Sublime-Glow Secret.

AthenaPolias — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:58:41 -0800

help! I adore gradual self-tanning lotion, but it's turning my laundry yellow! I've been using gradual self tanners on and off since last Christmas. I love having a hint of a tan, especially now that summer's around, without worrying about sun damage - but my whites are turning yellow. Actually, with long-term exposure, they're turning almost brown, making it look like I have some of the world's worst personal hygiene. This is particularly upsetting on my white bra straps (who really sees the inside of the cups but me?) - they stick out from under tank tops at times and expose what looks like really rotten skin residue. Blech. Plus, it's ruining some relatively nice lingerie.

I've scrubbed, etc., but haven't been able to get this stain out. Is there anything I can use to eradicate the color from fabric? Otherwise, not wearing white all summer might be a little tricky...

Funky (smelling) fibers.

the luke parker fiasco — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:34:44 -0800

How do I de-stink the armpits of my sweaters? I tend to wear sweaters frequently in between washings. Recently I've been wearing a couple of heavier-weight sweaters pretty often, in and out of significant temperature changes. This, combined with prolonged use, has caused the armpits of a couple of these sweaters to remain stinky, even after washing.

Any tips or tricks to dissolve the funk? I've seen this thread, but as all the sweaters in question are black, and a myriad of fibers (one is acrylic/cotton, one acrylic/mohair/nylon, one acrylic/nylon/wool), I want to use something that won't bleach, fade, shrink, or otherwise damage the fibers. I assume vinegar would be safe, but other remedies like peroxide are a bit more questionable.

Also, I don't have access to Febreze, Oxy Clean, or any other spiffy US-oriented cleaning agents, so simpler remedies appreciated.

Why is my shirt all bumpy?

saeculorum — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:25:47 -0800

I have a short sleeve shirt that consistently comes out of the drier "bumpy" all over. There is a very repetitive pattern on the shirt like a checkerboard. The pattern alternates bumps and depressions. I can easily get the bumps out by ironing the shirt, but I'm lazy and would much rather just dry the shirt. Is there anything I can do to avoid the pattern? Or, should I just give up and relegate the shirt to my "do not wear because it's too hard to clean" bin? The shirt is 81% polynosic rayon and 19% polyester.

Amazing Dryer Balls!

tpl1212 — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 17:28:01 -0800

"Amazing Dryer Balls"...anyone use them? Do they work (as a replacement for chemical-y dryer sheets)? Because these dryer balls are an "as seen on TV" thing, all the warning flags for "useless, over hyped, under performing product" are up. I'm skeptical? If you need to say a product is "amazing," i'm tempted to believe it is not-so-amazing.

That said, i'm curious about using these to replace dryer sheets. We don't use dryer sheets in the loads of laundry we do that contain baby clothes (to avoid chemicals), and I think i'd just as soon avoid the chemicals of dryer sheets all together. Is a product like a "dryer ball" a good alternative (or would I be better served simply not using dryer sheets)?

The only discussions i've found about them tend to be fairly neutral/across-the-board (from total waste to wow!...from what i've read, the "reduced drying time" claim is pretty bogus (or at least hard to judge)

Laundry woes

sanitycheck — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 23:54:07 -0800

LaundryFilter: Help me get rid of a mystery green stain! My new khakis, worn only once, came out of the washer with a mysterious green stain on the leg. I am pretty sure the stain wasn't on the pants when they went into the wash, but nothing else that was in the washer (all light-coloured stuff) came out stained. Unfortunately, my boyfriend put the pants in the dryer before he noticed, so the stain is good and baked in now. I've tried treating with generic stain remover and repeated washings in cold water, to no avail.

The pants are 97% cotton, 3% spandex and are a light beige colour. Help!?

Can I hand wash 'dry clean only' wool pants?

naomi — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 10:57:57 -0800

I've got several pairs of lightweight wool dress pants from Ann Taylor. They are marked dry clean only. Suppose I hand-wash these pants in cold water and lay them flat on a towel to air-dry. Will the laundry gods punish my impudence?

How do you remove silicone based lube from fabric?

pieoverdone — Mon, 08 Nov 2004 14:24:57 -0800

How do you remove silicone based lube from clothing/sheets/cotton based material? Traditional stain removers have not helped. Ammonia was suggested, but I've no clue what that would entail doing and whether everything I owned was destined to smell like that forever.