Removing stains from children’s clothing is always an interesting topic. You have probably heard so many solutions on how to get clothes clean. Some have worked, and others do not.

Until a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser for clothing is made, I will continue with my tried and true method for removing stains. 🙂

In this series on my organized laundry routine, I shared last week, in step one, how my family prepares throughout the week for laundry day. Towards the end of the week, I begin step two.

 STEP TWO: Pre-treating soiled clothing

The items in my toddler’s hamper that need pretreatment are taken down to the mud sink in our garage. To remove stains from our clothes, I follow this routine:

• Turn on the hot water in our mud sink,
• Place one or two scoops of powdered OxiClean in the water,
• Wait for the OxiClean to dissolve,
• Put each clothing item into the solution separately, and
• Leave the clothes in the sink for a few hours to a few days.

By pre-treating the soiled clothing before beginning any loads of laundry, I can add these soaked items to their appropriate colored load on laundry day. The OxiClean solution usually releases all the stains from the clothing. In the event that a stain remains, I will treat the spot with Shout or Spray ‘n Wash before tossing in the washing machine.

These stain-releasing options have served my family well in our laundry routine. Next week, I will continue this series with the events on laundry day.

Question: What products do you use to release stains from your clothing? Please add your answer to the comments.

Photograph Credit: Flickr (remember everyday)

Though I prepare for laundry day throughout the week by checking to be sure that all clothing items are placed in a hamper or laundry basket, there are still items to prepare on laundry day before adding that first load to the washing machine.

Thus far in our series, we have looked at STEP ONE: Preparing throughout the week and STEP TWO: Pre-treating soiled clothing. Today, we will proceed to STEP THREE.

STEP THREE: Preparing on laundry day

While the soiled clothes continue to soak in the OxiClean solution, I prepare to begin the laundry by:

• Gathering the laundry baskets and hampers and bringing them to my bedroom,
• Sorting all the items into the dark or white baskets from my bedroom closet,
• Choosing a load of laundry to wash, and
• Carrying the basket with those clothes down to the washing machine.

Before starting the load of laundry, I will check the items soaking in the Oxiclean solution to see if any of those items can be added to this load of laundry. If I find some, then I will wring out those items and add them to the laundry basket before adding this load of laundry to the washing machine.

With all the items gathered, sorted, and assigned a load of laundry, I can quickly begin using time wisely to get my family’s clothing items washed, dried, and put away. Next week, I will complete this series with my system for performing the laundry task.

Question: Where do you sort your family’s clothing? Please add your answer to the comments.

Photograph Credit: Flickr (BamaCIT)

I love the smell of clean laundry. In fact, I get asked often how I get our clothes smelling so good. You want to know my secret? You think I will share it with you? Yeah, I will. 🙂

It is a combination of a fragrance-free laundry detergent with Snuggle liquid fabric softener. Because the laundry detergent has no fragrance, the Snuggle permeates our clothing for a fresh, clean smell.

Before we get to clean-smelling clothing in our organized laundry routine, let’s review our first three steps: Preparing throughout the week, Pre-treating soiled clothing, and Preparing on laundry day. Today, I will complete this series with STEP FOUR.

STEP FOUR: Performing laundry tasks

To get the fresh, clean smell throughout our loads of laundry, I follow this routine:

Washing the Clothes

1. Use All Free and Clear detergent since my children have skin sensitivities which perfumed laundry detergent irritates.

2. Wash all loads on warm/cold, and all load sizes are large or super.

3. Add Snuggle liquid fabric softener during the rinse cycle to make the clothes smell great without irritating my children’s skin.

Drying the Clothes

1. Place one Snuggle fabric softener sheet into the dryer with the clothes to keep them static cling-free.

2. Pile the clean, dried clothes into one of two blue laundry baskets.

3. Remove the lent from the dryer vent.

Folding and Putting Away the clothes

1. Fold the clothes and place them back into the clean blue laundry basket.

2. Take the laundry basket upstairs.

3. Put the clothing in the appropriate dressers or closets.

The two blue rectangular baskets are for clean clothes. The oval blue basket and white basket are used for dirty or used clothes. Having different shaped and different colored baskets helps my family differentiate between clean and dirty clothes. Since my family knows which baskets are dirty and which ones are clean, I avoid getting questioned on whether items are clean or dirty. This system of using different baskets makes laundry days simple and organized.

As you work through laundry days at your home, I hope you will find a system that works for you while using time wisely. Whether you choose a weekend or weekdays to tackle your laundry pile, you can stay organized by preparing prior to laundry day, pre-treating soiled clothing, preparing on laundry day, and performing laundry tasks. Happy laundry organizing!

Question: Do you use different baskets for clean and dirty clothes? Please add your answer to the comments.