stain remover

I love that Kenyan schools all have uniforms. The kids are so cute all dressed up in matching uniforms: buttoned shirts, dress shoes, and sometimes ties. Precious. As a mom, I love uniforms because it cuts down on morning fights.

"I don't want to wear that!"
"Sorry, buddy. You don't have a choice. Teacher Leah will send you home if you go to school wearing something else."
Case closed.

But.

On Mondays and Wednesdays they wear white shirts. White shirts? On 3-5 year olds? That's gonna be tough.

Maybe they chose white because it can be bleached. But, I reserve bleaching for a "when all else fails" situation and try to use alternatives first. Also, they wear yellow shirts on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and those get stained, too, but can't be bleached.

The source of their stains is either dirt and sweat or food. Food is harder because it often involves some kind of tomato sauce. I have tried every DIY stain remover I can find online. Here is my best method, though tomato stains still give me troubles.

1. Mix equal parts powdered laundry detergent
(I use a hand washing powder because it's made for scrubbing)
and baking soda. Add enough liquid dish detergent to make a paste.

this is a little too runny

2. Apply to stains and scrub by rubbing two sides of fabric together.
For very deep mud stains, I scrub with a (designated) toothbrush.
"Ring-around-the-collar" will disappear before your very eyes.

the T/Th shirt, ready to be scrubbed

 3. Soak. It takes my washing machine a long time to
fill up with water to begin the wash cycle.
This is plenty of time to let the shirts soak.
Anything that doesn't come out with the scrub gets a squirt of hydrogen peroxide.
Then, when the machine is ready, I throw them in the wash.

4. Dry in the sun. The sun has ruined so many of our clothes by bleaching them.

But it sure helps a lot when it comes to stains!