What to do with stained clothes

[KBecks]

OK, I could use some guidance on this. We are at the stage where we are getting stained and ripped clothes. Mostly stained. I am not sure what to do with them.... I have ended up sometimes with a pile of stained clothes on the dryer waiting for...... I don't know.

I don't think it makes sense to donate to Goodwill, I don't feel really compelled to do a free listing on CL, but maybe.... it seems like a hassle.... I feel guilty chucking them.

So I right now have two shirts, one Gymbo and one some other cute shirt sitting on the dining room table.... I am just stuck. I don't want the kids to re-wear stained clothes too much, a little paint on pants might be OK but not a shirt. I realize we are at that stage where clothes will be stained at school and that's part of our life.... I don't spend tons on clothes and we pass down to all three boys so it's not a huge financial loss to lose maybe 6 shirts a year to stains and such.

Everything is getting so dirty -- I can't tell you how quickly the boys get messy each day and we will be at the park a ton this summer -- it's just the beginning! Dirt I can handle though.....

But do I chuck these shirts? I'm stuck!

Thanks!

[wellyes]

Do what you can to get stains out and if you can't, chuck 'em.

My Depression-era grandma would have cut them up & make a quilt out of them. But she's from the time when clothing was much more expensive (relatively) due to lack of cheap overseas manufacturing. As in, each person had a couple of outfits and a Sunday Best church outfit and that was it. Very different times. In the event of a serious economic downturn, clothes is not what would become precious to us like they did back then.


Of course if you enjoy quilting or want to learn how, stained clothes are a great way to start!

Otherwise, life is too short to fret about this sort of thing :) I say toss 'em.

[mamicka]

OK, I haven't read the responses but if the alternative is throwing them out - I'LL TAKE THEM! Seriously! Please? :waving4:

[KBecks]

Of course Allison! If you are looking for boy clothes, I can seriously load you up! Come over anytime for a playdate.

[mecawa]

I do everything possible to get the stain out and then if that doesn't work they go in the trash.

[Momof3Labs]

You could try an Oxy Clean soak.

Honestly, I listed a bag full of clothes with stains and/or small holes on freecycle and it was gone within hours so someone has a use for that stuff somewhere.

[JBaxter]

I have had great luck with a scrub of fels naptha then a long oxyclean soak.

[jerigirl]

Take them to Goodwill and get the tax write off. If they feel they can't sell them, they will send them to other companies that can use them for other reasons- stuffing, carpet backing, etc.

[Wife_and_mommy]

There are missionaries that take clothes to impoverished countries. Staining on clothes doesn't matter a twit to these people so I gladly send them ours. I was able to send a bunch of stained pj's that I felt bad about tossing to Haiti recently.

[ewpmsw]

Take them to Goodwill and get the tax write off. If they feel they can't sell them, they will send them to other companies that can use them for other reasons- stuffing, carpet backing, etc.

Yes! There are options other than chucking them. This topic came up recently a few times on BBB. I almost wish there could be a sticky addressing this. Goodwill finds ways to repurpose clothing that can't be sold in its stores. People from Freecycle take them. Some people repurpose them for rags and baby wipes.

Here is a recent thread on the subject, which included a post about Goodwill's thoughts on the subject:

http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=355012&highlight=Goodwill

What happens to donated items that aren't sold at Goodwill stores?

Our goal is to try to generate money to fund Goodwill programs from every item that is donated. So in most cases, we'll do what we can to get items in salable shape. As for items that can't be sold in our stores, we've found other creative uses for them. For instance, some member Goodwills recycle old clothing scraps into industrial wipes (cleaning cloths) for industrial buyers. Other items that are too damaged for retail sales are sold to salvage brokers
http://www.goodwill.org/page/guest/a...o/misc/FAQs#d5

I know a few people who shop for their work clothes at Goodwill. Stains/minor tears don't matter on a shirt that's going to get filthy and ripped up on the job. I have found great knock-around clothes for DN and DD at Goodwill and didn't mind stains. IMO, there is more value in adding to available, inexpensive clothing resources available to people who need them than there is in chucking things. Certainly there are items that can't be reworn, but some could still serve as rags or stuffing.

[wellyes]

It's not exactly an open-or-shut case. I know my own Goodwill does not repurpose, it just tosses them. I don't want to MAKE work for them - tax write-off or no - I only want to donate if it will be beneficial.

I guess the best course is to go to your own Goodwill / St Vincent de Paul / whatever and ask a staff person there what happens to stained clothes. If they say that there branch makes money off every donation, you have a good outlet for stained clothes. If not, toss without guilt.

[amyd]

We are lucky. Our consignment shop ( called Other Mothers, othermothers.com they may be a chain?) will take donated (stained) items and sell them for 25 cents the last weekend of each month if they don't sell they donate them.So we just make 2 bags consign and donate ,they do the rest.

[hillview]

I sometimes wear them if it is a minor stain. If a major stain, I give them away or toss them depending on how bad they are stained. My cleaning woman likes the t-shirts for cleaning.
/hillary

[Globetrotter]

We use stained clothes for play or when they are painting/doing crafts/ etc... If they are playing in the yard, I certainly don't care.

Once we are done with them, I have posted them on freecycle. Be upfront that they are stained. I'm useless with stain removal, but I know many of our stains could probably be removed if done correctly, so why not give someone a chance to resurrect a nice outfit? I have some Naartjie and Hanna outfits in this condition, and it seems like a real shame to just throw them out!

At the very least, use them as rags (last resort for me) or freecycle them to someone who would want to do that or make a quilt. Kids also need fabric for school projects, so I save leftover bits and pieces for that, but you could use stained clothing for cloth scraps.

[maiaann]

I try really hard to get stains out (if something comes out of the wash still stained I let it air dry - it will eventually come out). But, if my kids' clothes do get a stain, I just shrug and hang it back in their closets. Save big stains for play clothes and don't worry about the small ones. Most people won't notice and kids are kids. I figure if I throw out the old and buy new they're just going to stain the new stuff too!

[kijip]

We turn such clothes into garden or paint clothes. I have a bin for them and when he is doing those things, he has to wear pre-stained clothes. That helps contain the number of clothes that get ruined.

[MommyAllison]

We turn such clothes into garden or paint clothes. I have a bin for them and when he is doing those things, he has to wear pre-stained clothes. That helps contain the number of clothes that get ruined.

We do the same - if the kids are playing in the backyard, they pick from the "play" (aka stained) clothes. They are usually digging in the dirt in the garden and getting grass stained and muddy, so stained clothes work perfectly.

[euno]

definitely try an oxiclean soak. i didn't believe that it would work but we had a HUUUGE chocolate milk stain on one of my daughter's new shirts and we had washed it several times, and dried (!) and nothing happened. so a few weeks later my husband soaked it in oxiclean and ta-da. you can see a very very faint outline, if you were in bright light and looked closely, but i let her wear it still. so you should try that. it does feel like a waste to throw them out, yet, you don't want to donate stained clothes.

try the oxiclean, though! you just followt eh directions (dont know the ratio) and soak it for several hours.

[DrSally]

Save them for art projects or back up clothes in the car or try an oxyclean soak.

[jjordan]

Biz is great for stains too. I used it to successfully get old spitup stains out of baby clothes that had been stored for a couple of years. (You know those stains that magically show up while clothes are stored?) I had pretty much given up on the clothes; this was a last resort. It worked wonderfully.

[Radosti]

Organic stains like food will come out with Fels Naptha scrub and hot OxyClean soak like Jeana said. Oil stains come out with a Dawn pre-scrub. Charlie's Soap all purpose left on for a couple hours will also take out many many stains.