No need to be embarrassed. Everyone who wears white shirts gets stains at some point. The hardest ones to get out? Ring around the collar and those pesky yellow pit stains.
Ring around the collar usually affects just elders because their collars rub against the skin at the nape of the neck throughout the day, while sisters' blouses tend to have a more open neckline. These tips can help both elders and sister missionaries. Good laundry care helps a missionary look the part.
Since PDay limits laundry to once a week, these habits can help keep your whites white between washes.
1. Pretreat stains: Use a spray-on pretreatment as soon as you take the shirt off. These detergents can stay on your clothes for long periods without damaging them. Look for an enzymatic stain remover, which breaks down oils, fats and proteins left in the fabric. Zout is one of the best-known enzymatic brands. (Our family has used it for years because it worked so well. We just didn't know why it worked so well. Now we do!) Keep a bottle of Zout or another enzymatic stain remover near your hamper, and spray the collar and armpit area liberally before putting your shirts in. Come Pday, they're already pretreated and ready to wash as usual. You can purchase Zout at your local Walmart or find it online by clicking here.
2. Whitening Whites: Even with pretreatment, white clothes can get a little dingy after repeated wear. An oxygenated white bleaching product, such as Oxiclean or Clorox OxiMagic, can help keep them white. For the best results, soak the shirts overnight in a clean container, keeping them fully submerged. Add a full scoop of powder to warm water, stir it in with your hand, and fully immerse your shirts in the bucket. Try this the night before PDay so you can squeeze out the extra water the next morning and put the shirts in a washer. Repeat as often as needed. You can purchase Oxiclean at your local Walmart or online by clicking here. Oxiclean is also safe on colors. If your colors are getting dingy, you can soak colored clothing overnight too. You'll be surprised by what the water looks like the next morning.
3. Getting out grease stains: FelsNaptha is an old standby for removing grease stains. I'm pretty sure the product packaging hasn't changed for at least 40 years, but the product is inexpensive and works well on stains. It comes in a bar that's easy to use. The bar lasts a long time, so there's no need to buy multiples at once. Get the stained area wet, wet the bar, then rub it over the stain. The bar is yellow, but it won't yellow your clothing. Work the product into the fabric for a few seconds, then set the bar aside and rub the fabric against itself to put a little extra elbow grease, the only kind of grease that's acceptable on clothing, into the stain. Wash the item in a normal load of laundry and you'll be surprised by the result. Though I wouldn't recommend it, this product has even worked on set-in grease stains that have been through the dryer. You may need to repeat the process twice for set-in stains, but it will get the grease out. You can grab a bar at your local Walmart or grocery store, or pick it up on Amazon by clicking here.
That's it! Pretty simple, but you'll be surprised by what a little elbow grease and the right stain removers can do for your wardrobe!