Messy kid
featured by Vesna Petrova

Secrets for Cleaning Common Kid Stains

Messy kid

Oops! Your kid spilled fruit juice on his new shirt. What every parent knows is that most stains can be removed with a rinse-and-wash process in the washing machine, but some common kid stains can be stubborn and are difficult for removing.

Let’s be honest – kids can really be messy. Whether it’s ketchup stains from their lunch, paint stains from crafts and arts, or grass stains from their sports activities, their clothing often gets dirty. How many times you had to scrub crayons stains out of their shirts? My point exactly.

Following is a list with the most common kid stains. Don’t worry: we’ll also share the cleaning secrets with you.

  • Marker stains

So, your little Picasso used his clothes as canvas? How can you remove permanent marker from clothes? You may be surprised, but hairspray is an excellent way to remove marker. First, moisten the clothing with water and clean it with fabric that has been sprayed with hairspray. Another hard-to-believe remover is milk. Soak the stained shirt in bowl of milk. Once the milk has changed color, put the shirt in bowl with new milk and repeat the soaking process until the shirt is cleaned from marker. And of course, if you think hairspray and milk won’t do the work, you can go with the already-tried “rubbing with alcohol” technique.

  • Crayon marks

Yeah, yeah, we all know that prevention is the best solution, but can you keep crayons away from your kids? When it comes to removing crayon marks from clothing, you should try the combination of dishwashing liquid and WD40. Place paper towels under the garment, spray WD40 onto a clean fabric and rub the marked area on both sides. Then, rub a dishwashing liquid on the mark and leave the towels to absorb the mark.

  • Chocolate

We all love chocolate, but hate chocolate stains that always manage to find their way onto your kids’ clothing. The first thing you must do when cleaning chocolate stains is to remove the excess chocolate with a dull knife or spoon, but be careful because you don’t want to spread the stain to clean parts. Then, rinse the garment with cold water and rub in liquid laundry detergent. If necessary, add a stain remover and wash normally.

Chocolate stain

  • Fruit juice stains

Same as with any other stain, fruit juice stains need to be treated as quickly as possible, so make sure you remove the excess fruit with a dull knife or spoon. Launder the garment as you usually do at the hottest water temperature which is safe for the material. Soak overnight the garment in a solution of water and detergent. If the juice stain is still here, a solution of dishwashing liquid and white vinegar will do the work.

Whatever you do, do not put your kids’ clothes in the dryer if the stain isn’t totally removed because this way, you’ll only make the stain permanent. We can’t prevent kid stains from happening, but we can buy clothes that don’t soil easily. So, when buying kids’ clothes, choose natural fibers clothes: for example, cotton. Not only is cotton comfortable and easy to wear, it’s also very simple to clean.

About 

Unlike many people, Vesna enjoys spending time in the laundry room of her house. She is not a fan of strong perfumes, which is why she has learned plenty of smelly laundry tips and became a mad scientist when it comes to removing stains from clothing. In her spare time, you can find her drinking cappuccino on her balcony, watching French movies or eating chocolate when no one’s watching.