Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Original poster

Yawn- white school polo shirts

33 replies

YoureBeingASillyBilly · 12/01/2014 22:39

I am sorry in advance- i know this has been done countless times and i wish i had saved all the threads but i havent so i need help.

Could some washing genius please tell me step by step how to either revive the ones i have and keep them sparkly white or how to keep the ones i'm going to have to go and buy like new.

OP posts:
CocktailQueen · 12/01/2014 22:42

Hahaha! Buy lots more from Tesco. £1 each.

My DS arrives home with his polos covered in mud, grass, paint, food etc. some I wash and use stain remover and nothing works so I have to bin them. Sorry!!

BankWadger · 12/01/2014 22:48

And how the feck do you get white board pen marks off them? (really 5 year old boys and white shirts are NOT a smart combination)

I've been soaking DS's shirts in bleach every few weeks which keeps them white, but the ink won't budge. The damned stuff wipes off a white board, so why not a white shirt?

Moln · 12/01/2014 22:51

I soak in the aldi vanish stuff, and only wash with other whites. DS2 is a filth magnet I'd prefer navy to white!!

fedup21 · 12/01/2014 22:52

Whiteboard pen is a bloody nightmare! Our polos have the school logo on them so can't be easily bleached either.

Original poster
YoureBeingASillyBilly · 12/01/2014 22:52

Nope ink wont budge at all. Nor will bolognese sauce or paint.

I guess it's back to asda then. I think the schools have a deal going with asda to do as many messy activities as possible.

OP posts:
Original poster
YoureBeingASillyBilly · 12/01/2014 22:53

I only wash whites with whites too. I never stick even a white sock with the colours or darks.

OP posts:
CatAmongThePigeons · 12/01/2014 22:54

Napisan is good to soak in. I prefer dying the
navy to prolong life

secretsofsanta · 12/01/2014 22:54

Buy cheap new ones?

Hassled · 12/01/2014 22:56

Soaking overnight in bleach helps. Eventually I did end up treating them as almost disposable, which is awful of me, I know.

Original poster
YoureBeingASillyBilly · 12/01/2014 22:59

I only buy cheap ones anyway Grin

Will try soaking in bleach before chucking them.

OP posts:
IrisWildthyme · 12/01/2014 23:27

Sorry of this is heresy or something, but I don't get why it should be an issue that the white polo shirts are not sparkly-white and new looking.

So long as the one worn on school-photos-day is fresh out of the £5-for-3 packet, it really doesn't bother me that the rest of the time they are in somewhat tired-looking off-white shirts that have clearly been washed with items of other colours and without bleach - who is being harmed by the lack-of-brilliant-whiteness?

ravenAK · 12/01/2014 23:31

Buy cheap & regularly, & don't lose sleep over whether they sparkle or not.

If you have the option, polycotton 'proper' school shirts seem to wash more successfully.

(Although then they should really be ironed, & bollocks to that, frankly. My kids are doomed to scruffiness.)

notso · 12/01/2014 23:33

Finally Iris someone like me. DS wears his jumper most of the time so it doesn't matter then. In the summer even if he goes in with a brand spanking new one I can guarantee it won't stay like that past first break when he rolls around on the field.
Life's too short to faff around bleaching a polo shirt for and hour and a halts cleanliness!

Original poster
YoureBeingASillyBilly · 12/01/2014 23:34

Well i dont really need them sparkling but the stains look awful and as if it hasnt been washed which i would rather not have. Less than brilliant white is fine. Red saucy stains, paint, food stains are not.

OP posts:
racmun · 12/01/2014 23:34

What annoys me is that they've gone bobbly!

Ds' have the school logo on them at £12 they're not disposable. Only ever wash them with whites and i wash everything with Aeriel stain remover - they do one especially for whites and you can soak them too it seems to have lifted all stains so far. The sun (if it ever comes out) is also good

I also iron them and starch the collars which I think helps them look a bit smarter.

Original poster
YoureBeingASillyBilly · 12/01/2014 23:36

My two wont keep their jumpers on! I wish they would. Ds1 will saunter out of afterschool club at 5pm in the middle of winter with no coat or jumper on!

OP posts:
notso · 12/01/2014 23:44

Thankfully DS1's school makes them keep them on unless it is really hot.
Really though no-one at school cares. i stopped buying the logo t-shirts after the first day of term last year and he came home with pasta sauce all over the front and grass stains all over the back.
I have one logo one for summer school trips and the rest are 75p Tesco value.

notapizzaeater · 12/01/2014 23:47

Red saucy stains will come out by hanging outside straight out of washer, in winter sun might take a couple of days, in the summer a couple of hours.

Not found anything to get whiteboard marker off ....

fedup21 · 13/01/2014 11:21

I have never found sunshine gets tomato-based stains out! I have read that on here lots but it has never worked on any white tips here! It might have faded them slightly but they were still v obvious.

littone · 13/01/2014 11:29

I soak in napisan overnight and then wash at 40 in cottons stains setting on my machine. If still,stained go on washing line until sun bleaches out...stay out in rain or shine, it may take a couple of days.

BankWadger · 13/01/2014 20:42

I refuse to keep buying new shirts every few weeks, so my DS is doomed to having clean, but marked shirts. Maybe he'll learn not to draw all over himself (Hmm not likely!)

Rooners · 14/01/2014 11:27

Oh this drives me nuts.

We had lovely, pleasant, light blue ones till about 3 years ago when someone's stupid idea meant they changed to white.

With the blue, though they still got as dirty and still had stains on, the colour was the same tone as much of the dirt so it camouflaged it.

They always looked nice in blue.

Now I have to buy new shirts every bloody term. It's such a con and so stupid. No common sense.

gobbin · 15/01/2014 06:59

Woah! I agree with Iris too much time and effort going into this! Buy cheap, buy lots or use Vanish on the stains as soon as they get through the door with a appropriate cycle on the machine - that is what the washing machine is for.

BikeRunSki · 15/01/2014 07:07

Stained ones go for a soak on Vanish. All whites hi in a seperate laundry basket and washed by themselves with some Vanish on Fridays after school. Seems to have wielded ok so far, but it has only been a term. I bought white expensive shirts (Next) to start with. I wonder if they stand up to harsher laundering than cheaper ones.

Rooners · 15/01/2014 08:01

Gobbin I think most of us understand the purpose of a washing machine...

Iris is saying that the stains don't matter

But when you have a school that criticises the children for looking scruffy and sends them home in tears - then you feel caught between a rock and a hard place.