to think that when clothes come out the washing machine they should be clean?

[glasjam]

Yeah, I know I could have put this in Good Housekeeping but I wanted a wider audience.

Yet again I have started off to iron a few things and item after item has had to be chucked straight into the washing basket again because it is stained with miscellaneous food stuffs, general grease or deodorant marks.

It's driving me fecking mad!! I use Fairy Non-Bio (yeah, wimp's stuff I know) because my ds is prone to excema and I use Bold Biological if I am just doing an adult's wash. I had eco-balls for a while but they didn't cut the mustard.

I think I have only noticed the extent of this problem since I had kids because I like wearing alot of dark colours myself. Now my kids have lovely white, pink, pale blue t-shirts, dresses etc... I realise just how crap the washing powder is. It took three washes to get the smell of salmon out of my son's trousers (I have since educated him to stop wiping his hands on his trousers while eating it and have resorted to having a wet flannel at the table to wipe hands the instant they've finished eating)

Or do I need to leap like a lunatic the instant my child drops food on itself and dib-dab away with some magic solution rather than just chuck it in the washing pile?

Or maybe I should just dress my children and myself in wipe-clean vinyl?

[Pinkjenny]

I have exactly the same problem. I pass everything that I can't get clean to my mum, who has magic washing powers.

She is thrilled by this, as you can imagine.

[sweetcat]

I will watch this thread with much interest. I am thinking of renaming the house stains-r-us

[nancy75]

non bio is rubbish. do you use the quick cycle on your machine? what temp do you wash on?, i dont care what persil say, you cant get stains out at 30, you need to use the longer wash cycles at higher temps. if clothes have greasy stains squirt on and work in a little bit of fairy liquid, its better at getting grease out than any washing powder.

[bakerslovecakes]

can you share your mums secret I really hate this problem too, my sister has a 1 and half yo and she spends alot of money on these "stain removers" which do not work.

[SoupDragon]

You need to use Vanish Oxy Clean. The advert says it remove everything. bullshit

I used to use Tesco non-bio and have recently switched to Tesco Bio. There is no difference other than the Bio is far more strongly scented.

[BalloonSlayer]

Have you seen the ad where he gets all the stains like baked beans off at 15 degrees.

My arse!

Although if it does work it's probably because there is practically nothing in the machine. Which sort of stuffs the idea that it's so environmentally friendly to use their liquid.

( I find napisan, with water added, and applied to the stain an hour before the wash works well on white clothes only. Then hang it in the sun if there is any stain left.)

But YANBU, I am sick of having to chuck things back - always after you have ironed 95% of it as well.

[Podrick]

Try using shout spray on stains before you wash - this will remove lots of marks. However, generally speaking it is better to remove the clothes immediately and treat the stain. It is a high risk business dressing kids in White IMO!

[ShannaraTiger]

I have exactly the same problem. Changed from fairy non bio to Persil non bio, still won't get any stains out.

[Pinkjenny]

Right, have consulted my mum. She uses washing soap (which she got in Spain, handily) and hand washes heavily stained items, then puts them through the machine at 40 degrees.

[roulade]

I always keep a bottle of Bio liquid and pour directly onto the stain before putting into a wash with non bio powder, or, do a bio wash then redo it non bio if sensitive skins

[Sonnet]

I too have had this problem when my dc were younger

I do either of the following two things:

1. Pre-soak item before washing with Fairy at 40 degrees
2. Using a pre wash of biological powder/liquid followed by main wash in Fairy.

Both myself and dc suffer with sensitive skin but only using the bio stuff in a pre wash seems not to cause a problem - and gets the clothes clean!

[Bombus]

Second what Balloonslayer says about drying in the sun - it works miracles on stains such as baby poo, tomato sauces and other food-based stains.

[bakerslovecakes]

I've just remembered what my great aunts used to do with their white washing. They used to "boil" all their white washing, basically putting it all in a big pot of very hot water mixed with Bold, leave for about an hour then put it through a normal wash. I know a bit time consuming but it worked and saved my mum alot of money and not having to keep replacing grey/white socks.

[Poledra]

Drying in the sun is the business, but not always practical in this country. I do find that sometimes I am overloading the machine and if I keep the load a bit smaller, things get cleaner (I use Fairy non-bio too).

[McDreamy]

Non bio persil is crap! Was on special offer recently so bought it rather than the usual Fairy. It's so rubbish. Have gone straight back to Fairy which I don't seem to have much problem with (occasionally use Vanish on v bad stains). So much for saving money

[Spidermama]

I think we could all do with relaxing about clothes and lowering our stain standards especially where kids are concerned. It doesn't really matter. Also using nasty chemical boilogical washing powders is bad for the environment, as it using the power and water to do too many washes at too high a temperature.

If you really can't bear stains, put them in darker coloured clothes.

[Rialentless]

my mum also has magic washing powers, how do they get them?

[lizziemun]

YANBU

I don't remember when mum used to wash our clothes when growing up adding various 'stain' removal products.

FWIW i use herbietea i scrub all stains before washing with household soap 1st.

[Sunshinemummy]

Fairy liquid is also my trick. I put it on any stains that look tricky and it seems to work most times.

[staryeyed]

I like oxy clean the real one that is the fakes ones just dont do the job. It gets baby pooh out and most food stains mostly at 30C short wash sometimes 40C long wash if its a tough stain. The only stain that really wont come out is the paint DS keeps getting on his t-shirt at nursery. Also vanish bar is pretty good for pre treating.

disclaimer- I am n no way trying to sell this product nor am I in anyway related to the company or its employees.

[Longtalljosie]

My mum does too. I don't understand it. I had a white dressing gown with stains I couldn't get out, no matter how many times it went through. Rather than ditching it I left it at my parents' for visits - the first time I went back there was the thing in the fecking wardrobe, gleaming.

[GetOrfMoiLand]

I find that putting fairy liquid direct on to the stain and rubbing it in prior to putting it in the wash gets rid of most things. It worked on my new white shirt (which I dripped barbecue sauce and orange juice on - glamour!). I wash everything on a quick wash at 30 degrees as well.

I can't seem to stop the general degredation of greyness though. My mum says it is because I overload the washing machine. When I go to my mum's I take a bag full of greying whites, and she does something magical with hot water and soda crystals

[EyeballsintheSky]

So fairy liquid is the way to go? I am sick of dd's lovely crisp ironed clothes being turned into stained dishcloths. My SIL gives me a beautiful pile of hand me downs, all looking like they just came from the shop and within six feet of dd I can see stains appearing on them

[readyfornumber2and3]

Get yourself some Borax (£1 from tesco natural range)
Sprinkle about a tables spoon in with your liquid/powder and problem solved

It works fantastically on tomato based stains and I never have to rewash anything now