A week ago today, I opened my dryer to get a load of the kids’ clothes out of the dryer to be folded. It was a full load of all of their church clothes. I knew it was bad as soon as I opened the door. There was blue everywhere. (All over the clothes and all over the dryer) The only thing left from the crayon was the wrapper completely intact but no crayon.
I wished I would have grabbed my camera to show you what I saw but I was going through several different emotions all at one time and the camera never entered my mind!
This has happened once before but not at this magnitude. Last time, it was only a little crayon not a whole crayon. I spot treated every little spot with Shout on each piece of clothing several times between several washings until I got most of the things cleaned. However, I knew this was going to take much longer. It would have taken me a long time to treat each spot on each piece of clothing in this load. I had to find another solution.
I immediately got on the computer and searched for how to get crayon out of an entire load of clothes. I found a site that gave several different varieties of mixtures and decided to try one of them. However, I didn’t have all of the ingredients that I needed to tackle this job.
First, I had to get my dryer clean in order to finish the other loads that needed to be done. Ian quickly got to work on the dryer. We turned it on for a few minutes so it would get hot and loosen the wax to make it a little easier for him. He used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (only it was GV brand) and a towel/rag and got most of it out. I came along behind him on a few spots with a soft toothbrush in some hard to reach places. We ran a few white towels (old ones) to make sure there was no more crayon left to get on the rest of the clothes that we needed to dry.
After lunch, the children and I loaded up and went to get the supplies needed to tackle the load of clothes that I just threw in a basket. Once we got back and they were down for naps, I started with the mixture from the internet. This is the concoction:
2 cups of Laundry detergent
1 cup of Oxiclean
1/2 cup of Borax
1 cup of Shout
1 cup of White Vinegar
I let it fill up and agitate a little in HOT water and sit for a little while before turning it back on to finish. Once it finished, I pulled each item out one by one. If it was clean and looked good, I threw it in a basket. If it still had spots, I set them aside. About 3/4 of the clothing came out good with one washing. Next, I spot treat each spot/area with Shout (rubbing it in good) then washed those clothes again with the mixture.
I had to do this three times total. Two items were white (white dress shirt and a white shirt with a little pattern around the edges) so I used a Clorox bleach pen to treat those individual spots and washed. After the bleaching load, I threw all of the clothes back for one more washing in the mixture. All of the clothing was spared except for Emma’s white skirt. There were a few very light spots on some of the khakis but wearable.
I was very disappointed with Emma’s skirt because it was one of my favorites. The bleach pen left all of the bleached areas with a bright yellow color so she won’t be able to wear it again. It would have been better for me to just leave the little light blue marks on the skirt then she might could have still worn it.
I am thankful that most of the clothes were spared and that the concoction worked even though it took me four times to wash them. That was better than having to replace all of the church clothes for eight children. I think I better start checking their pockets so I don’t get stuck in this situation again!
BTW, does anyone have any ideas about how to get the yellow spots out of her skirt?
8 comments:
Have you ever head of Fels Naptha soap? I was having so much trouble get food stains out of Reid's clothes. They sell bars of this soap at Ace Hardware stores. There happens to be one down the street, so I grabbed one for a little over $1. You wet the clothes and then rub the bar on the stains. It has worked even on some set in stains. It may be worth a try on the white skirt. You can also add it to any wash (using a cheese grater--I bought one at the Dollar Tree). It has worked so well. And it's CHEAP!
Amy, this just happened to me too the other day! But our crayon was orange and thankfully it did not fully melt... there are just hints of orange on their clothing. Glad you posted the recipe, because if I missed an item that had lots of orange on it, I will tackle it like a pro now!
Wow, that sounds like a disaster! I'm glad you were able to save nearly all the clothes! Would you be able to add some cute iron-on patches to the areas with the yellow spots?
Oh Amy, I would just be heartbroken. Glad, for the most part you got it out.
Is Emma's skirt totally white? I've had good success with mixing equal parts Cascade and Bleach and then rubbing it on clothes. Supposed to be ok for colors but I've ruined some items with bleach spots - maybe my mixture separated and just the bleach got on those spots? Anyway, I haven't had as much success with the powdered Cascade or the color safe Bleach. And I don't know if it works with other dishwasher detergents? But if it is ruined anyway - might be worth a try. I've had good success getting some old spit up stains out of baby clothes with this mixture. Hope it works! And glad you saved the rest!
Oops,
I forgot to write my name in that Cascade reply - too early to post a reply - I'm not awake and functioning yet!
It was me!
Nikki
Oh wow!!!! I am so glad it all worked out as well as it did. That must have made your heart skip a beat when you opened your dryer. Aagh!!! I have no other advice as far as the yellow goes, but good job on the stains you did get out.
Wow. It sounds like it was a science experiment to get the clothes clean. I'm sorry to hear about her skirt.
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