I have missed blogging terribly, life has just had some other plans. My computer made a loud popping sound and started sparking a few weeks back. The poor thing is fried so I’m doing my best on a laptop for now.
August and September have been brutally hot here in AZ. My son even had recess canceled for two weeks because of the extreme heat. That of course means our AC compressor went out on Labor Day weekend. 🙁 We are back up and running now, but it was 98° in the house before it got fixed.
In short, I’m doing my best to keep a good attitude and get caught up on all the essentials so I can do some fun stuff like crafting.
Before I sign off I am in need of some advice and tips. My son has to wear uniforms to school and he has stained 3 of his 5 shirts with a marker within the first month of school. I’m assuming it was a dry erase marker but I don’t know for sure. In any case, it will NOT come off any of them. Who gives a kindergartner access to a marker that isn’t washable? Please help me, what are your master laundry tips?
I also could use everyone’s opinion. My husband and mother think it is still okay to wear the stained shirts but I’m having a very hard time with that. What do you think? I sent him to school in one of the shirts today and I’m not going to lie, it’s been bugging me all morning. One is a white shirt with a single black line around the collar/button area. One is light blue with two single marker dots around the button and chest area.
Please help me out if you can with laundry tips and advice! Thanks so much!
Ashley
Oh, that stinks! Uniform clothes are so expensive, too! I wish I had advice. I am the worst at laundry. If oxyclean or bleach don’t work I’m out of ideas!
Have you tried soaking in Oxiclean over night? I would also try asking the school what kind of marker the kids had access to so that you can get an idea of what you’re dealing with! In lieu of that, are there rules about whether you could put a fun patch over the marks? Maybe the school mascot or something?
I use Zout (it gets the stains out)! LOL! It comes in a red spray bottle and works wonders on stains. If you can spray it and let it sit a while it might work better. The bottle guarantees* stains gone. Not sure what the asterisk means, but hope it helps!
There is something called sodium perborate that you can buy at the drug store from the pharmacist. I’ve heard it works wonders, but have never tried it myself. Good luck!
I use Zout as well. It seems to work on ink pretty well. I have also used WD40 for permanent marker. It worked pretty well. You spray it, then use a clean paper towel to soak it up. I then sprayed Zout on it to make it look a bit better.
I am also of the belief that if they get a stain on a school shirt, they have to wear it. They just need to learn to be more careful.
Dry erase is really hard! My daughter has gotten it on a lot of her clothes. I have used WD40, Murphys Oil Soap, and sunscreen. I think the wd40 worked best.
i’ve also heard cheap airsol hairspray, biz, and I personally love that yellow bar of soap stuff (can’t remember the name)
Murphy’s Oil Soap… has gotten anything and everything out that I have thrown at it. Good luck hun!
Ink stains suck. I would try WD40 then I would wash, then I would do an overnight Oxyclean soak and wash again. But I would also contact the school to find out what kind of markers they are using so you have more information about what you are fighting.
I’m the proud mother of three sons, (Grown now), marker is just the beginning. I wouldn’t stress over the marker stains too much. No one is judging you as a mother when they see a boy with marker on his clothes. If they did I would have been banished a long time ago. Just to give you a few hints of what’s yet to come: One of my sons begged us for red leather sneakers, which were the rage at the time. He did extra chores and we purchased them for him. After a couple of weeks of wearing them, black and red sneakers became popular so he took a black magic marker and colored those sneakers to make them black and red. Those expensive leather sneakers looked horrible. (We made him wear them anyway) One of my other sons wanted a basket ball jersey. We could not afford it and told him we couldn’t get it for him, so he took a marker and made a jersey out of his school uniform shirt. He only had 3. I let him wear 2 to school and the third I kept in mint condition for special masses and picture day. Needless to say I had to purchase another shirt. To make a long story short, you will see everything from nail polish to tree sap coming home on clothes from school, especially from a long hard days. Boys are going to do boy things, even those in kindergarten. I found for stains that could be removed, BIZ was an excellent product. My boys had the whitest baseball uniforms ever. You are going to lose some clothes, some things just don’t come out. As for wearing stained clothes, why not, they are still good. In another week everyone in your child’s class will have stained clothes, boys and girls. He will fit right in.
also you can try pouring straight rubbing alcohol on the stain of ink…blot…then repeat for a bit…Zout is also my favorite…google how to get out dry erase marker it’s the worst. I’m with you about wearing stained clothes, really bothers me and I usually donate them or throw them away…I know it’s a waste, but I can’t bring myself to send my girls off in stained clothes.
Greased Lightening…go to the Dollar General stsore, pick yourself up a spray bottle AND a refill bottle of it (believe me,…you will use this stuff for EVERYTHING!). Spray on stain, work it in with your finger, let sit for a little bit…wash. Pour some of the cleaner in where you would normally put bleach. Wash on the hottest setting your clothes can endure. It should be gone after first wash, but if not, repeat…let it sit longer this time.
I always use resolve (the carpet cleaner) for my stains. I cleaned my boyfriends wine stained pants that was all down the leg and it sat there for many many weeks. Good luck!
if it’s dry erase, or felt tipped marker, then try spraying hair spray on it before you wash it, also, try rubbing alcohol, on at least the white one, not sure if it will fade or run the dyes on the blue one… Hope these help..
Mix Biz powder in water and soak overnight then wash as normal. If that doesn’t do it, then you might have to just get used to the idea of sending him to school with a mark on his shirts. Personally I don’t think its a big deal, I mean he is a kindergartner and they aren’t the neatest kids on the block lol.
I personally use gojo or similar hand cleaner for stains. While I haven’t yet faced marker it takes out all kinds of things including the yuck that would get on my clothes from my high school restaurant job. I worked in a pizza joint and we would be covered will all sorts of oily nasty stuff by the end of the shift.
With not will. Also, I’m sure you know this but I don’t see it mentioned. The number one rule when trying to get stains out: DO NOT DRY!! Putting a stained item in the dryer will only set the stain in and make it even harder to remove. You can hang dry to see if you have removed the stain.
WD-40 is my new go-to stain remover. I have never tried it on marker stains, but if I had one, I would! I spray on the wd-40, let it sit for about 10 minutes, and then squirt some soap on the spot (usually hand soap because I’m doing this in the bathroom) and rub it in really good. I let it dry completely after I rinse the soap out. Now, I’m left with a spot from the wd-40, which I spray with regular stain remover and wash normally.
Skyler goes off to school in stained clothing. If he loves the shirt and doesn’t care, and it’s not like all over the front of the shirt (usually the accidentally stained at school shirts aren’t), then I don’t care too much. If it’s a shirt I don’t care for, I use it as an excuse to get rid of the shirt! That obviously doesn’t apply so well for uniforms, though. 🙂
I have had the same problem, with dry erase marker, why they give small children non washable markers, I DO NOT KNOW! Let me know what works. I have yet to find what works.
I’m hopeing by now you have solved your problem. If not and it is dry erase marker try blotting the stain with hairspray or rubbing alcohol and then running it through a normal wash. I also found that white vinegar acts a good stain remover when directly applied. It’s also a great fabric softner.
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