Laundry Tip for Stains
I love a good laundry tip. My mom is kind of like my queen of clean. Whenever I’m stumped for how to clean something, I give her a call. She LOVES to clean and she loves laundry. She really loves to find the most effective methods to keep clothes looking their best.
I take after her, I guess. I hate to admit it out loud, but I really do like doing laundry. I especially like it in the winter, when I pull warm laundry out of the dryer. It smells so good and warms me right up while I fold.
I was talking to my mom last spring about what tips she loves best for laundry.
My dad wears a suit and tie to work and his shirts sometimes get ring around the collar. She told me she swears by Fels-Naptha Soap
My husband’s work is much more casual. Dressing up for a meeting might mean he puts on a button down shirt… no tie. So ring around the collar isn’t a problem for me.
But, I picked up a bar of Fels-Naptha Soap
Lucky I did too. It worked like a champ on the chocolate milk my son spilled on his shirt. I’ve also used it on his baseball uniform that had mud on the knees. It worked great on grass stains as well. After I wet and rub the clothes with the bar, I let it sit for a few minutes and then throw them in the laundry.
I’ve found I actually like it better than Spray n Wash which I have used for years. The Spray n Wash bottle drives me batty because it stops spraying after a minute of holding my bottle horizontal to spray the stain.
Spray in wash is also messy… and too perfumy, at least in my book.
Fels-Naptha Soap
I just wish I could take after my mom and find a way to enjoy ironing…
Thank you for the tip! I am going to run out and buy this today!
Thank you! I’m going to pick up a bar next time I’m at the store. Do you or your mom have any recommendations for the underarm dark stains and antiperspirant build up on my husband’s polo shirts? I’ve tried googling the problem but have yet to find something to remove the build up.
Let the sweat stains soak in hot water and make sure you saturate it well with hydrogene perioxide. Anything human generated hydrogene will get out. Buy a bottle at the dollar store. Make sure its active by watching it react to armon hammer baking soda (sp) if it does not react then it is worthless hydrogene and dump it.
1 more thing put a spray bottle head on the bottle of hydrogene and keep it handy.
I love Fels-Naptha. I use it to make my own laundry detergent and have saved so much money!
I will give this a try, with 5 kids running around here I see every type of stain there is…
I like Ivory barsoap rubbed into Shout! It works for my 4 kids.
A friend of mine told me about it a long time ago. I love it.
Thanks for the tip but now I have a question: how about grease stains? Those are the most vexing to me.
For greasy spots on clothing, particularly dark cottons, I use a small dab of Dawn dish soap and rub it in. It really does take grease out of the way. I also think Fels Naptha is good on stains that have a greasy base like chocolate.
Thank you for sharing! I use fels-naptha in homemade laundry soap, but have not tried it by itself. I am excited to try in on my hubbys collar:)
This definately works! My grandma taught me about Fels- Naptha. I always have a bar in my laundry room. I used it a lot more when I had young children, but it still comes in handy on that occasional stain.
It’s one of our favorites here too, although sometimes harder to find. I have found that locally owned groceries usually have it.
I’ve used Fels Naptha for years for stains. I keep a bar in a quart container and covered with water. To start I cover the bar with hot tap water, pop the lid on and leave it. It will get all soft and slimey. I wet the stain with water and slather on some “slimey” Fels Naptha. It almost always takes out the stain. Another stain tip is to have your family loosely tie a knot out the garment when they take it off to put in the laundry. I always knew when I came across a knotted garment to look for a stain to treat. Fels Naptha slathered on nylon white baseball pants in a bucket of water does an amazing job of removing ground in orange clay from sliding into home base. I treated them first and left them soaking in the bucket and ran that load last on laundry day. Worked wonders!!
i just started using fels naptha, it has gotten out old stains as well as fresh ones. took chocolate out of my grandson’s bright orange shirt. it did take 2 treatments but the shirt looked brand new. i have a deep brown shirt that had a set in by dryer stain that was a few years old and the fels took that out first time
I have used Fels Naptha for years. I drop mine into a pitcher of hot tap water and leave it. It begins to “melt” and makes a wonderful slime. I tell my family to tie a knot in the garment with the stain when they put it in the laundry. When I find a knot I pull out the “slime” and unknot the garment. I wet the stain and slather on some Fels Naptha slime. It has even removed old stains I’ve found that were washed and dryed. As I run out of slime I add more hot tap water. Eventually the bar is gone and I have to add another bar of Fels Naptha, but they seem to last forever.
I too used it on my son’s white nylon baseball pants. He was the king of sliding home on red orange clay! I’d slather on the slime, dump it in a bucket, and cover with water. Then I’d do the rest of the laundry and run that load last. His pants stayed white, while other kids pants were yellow from bleaching. You can’t bleach nylon.
I just found your site and I love this tip thanks!
What store do you find Fels Naptha soap?
Fels Naptha is something I remember my mom and grandma having in the laundry room when I was growing up. I had forgotten about that until I saw your tip! I will definitely be getting some soon.
After having no luck at finding this, I finally found some last night at my local Walmart for 97 cents a bar! I can’t wait for a stain to try it on, which should happen in about….2 minutes or so. :) Thanks for all of the tips.
Yeah!!!!, finally someone else who recognizes what a great product this is. I’ve been using it for years. And if you happen to run out of laundry soap, (it has been known to happen), just grate some into your tub and wash as usual. I use maybe a scant 1/4 cup, and sometimes when I’ve got some stained stuff, I’ll just grate a little into the wash to boost the cleaning. You don’t need very much. And best of all, it’s cheap and natural.
I use this stuff too and it really does work great. Also whiter and or brighter clothes use Mrs. Stewarts Blue (this stuff is in tide and downy fabric softener) because blue is a brightner for sure. Hydrogene peroxide on human generated stains and borax is a great laundry soap booster (uplift for your detergent). Those are my tricks fyi