Super Cheap Stain Pretreat

[Leta]

After extensive experimentation, I think I have discovered the ultimate stain pretreatment.

1/4 cup each:

white vinegar
ammonia (plain or sudsy or lemon)
water
Simple Green
liquid laundry detergent (I used concentrated "Small and Mighty" Wisk and concentrated Tide, they both worked fine)

plus a scoop of generic Oxy Clean

Shake to mix. Will be slightly foamy. A squeeze bottle works better than a spray bottle. DO NOT USE WITH BLEACH! (Bleach and ammonia make mustard gas- seriously.)

This removed ink, grass, blueberry pomegranate juice, play lipstick, mud, and grease before my eyes. (I did a little dance.

I know that this is not the most environmentally friendly thing on Earth, but I think it's got to better than endless plastic bottles of Shout. And it is very cheap- a whole tub of generic Oxy Clean costs a dollar, as does a gallon of ammonia. A gallon of white vinegar costs $2.50, a half gallon of Simple Green costs $6, and a jug of concentrated liquid detergent costs $5. So that's a decade's (or more) worth of pretreat for about $15.

[traceface]

thanks for posting that. I always read about various formulations and wonder which to try, good to know that you came up with this after much experimentation.

off to work on stain removal...

[mommaof3boz]

fels naptha-rub on and wash works like a charm

[Leta]

See, I think that my clothes had Fels Naptha fatigue.

I thought that Fels Naptha was actually a detergent, so I was not anticipating soap buildup, but after 2+ years of using it as stain pretreat and as a component of our homemade laundry powder, my clothes were looking... funky. Dingy. And I couldn't get stains out like I used to be able to.
In particular, my towels and everything fleece was looking really bad.

So I ran an empty load with Simple Green to clean the machine, and since then I've been pretreating and using a double scoop of Oxy Clean as my detergent, and everything is coming out nice and clean.

(It is possible that our water has changed, since we are on city water/sewer, but I haven't noticed changes anywhere else.)

I think it's like shampoo: every so often, you need to change things up to remove buildup.

[normajean]

My mom used to save the little soap ends leftover in the shower that were too small to really use to wash in a jar. When it was half full, she added ammonia to cover the soap, and let it set until it formed a goupy stuff. She'd apply that to stains with a toothbrush.

[bwylde]

I find plain old shampoo is good. I have even gotten out years old grease stains out of clothes with a little shampoo when I read about it (even the cheapest kinds work well)

[AngelBee]

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