How do Mom's of boys keep clothes looking nice

[lcarlson90]

I was going through DS's closet today to see if there is anything we can salvage from last school year. Every single shirt is stained. I hate sending him to school in shirts that have stains on them but at a certain point that's what happens. If you have boys, how do you keep their clothes looking good or do your boys just wear stained clothes like mine? :bag

[crl]

:hysterical: Oh sorry, you really meant that. Well, I confiscate clothes with holes. And when the cuffs of the long sleeve shirts get permanently and seriously grimy looking I confiscate those as well. And I buy dark colors for a lot of stuff and no white or cream anything. . . .

But, yes, ds wears pants with ground in dirt and grass stains at the knees. His shirts don't usually get stained though, except the aforementioned cuff grime. I do try to have a complete wardrobe that looks decent at the start of the school year at least. My standards slide as the year goes on.

Catherine

[carolinamama]

LOTS of Shout spray and Biz soaks. I spray almost every shirt for both boys - treat all stains before they are washed. Soak in Biz if it isn't clean after the wash and ALWAYS make sure it doesn't got through the dryer if it is still stained. I don't think we have lost many clothes to stains and my boys know how to get messy.

Oh, yeah my kids wear lots of navy and almost no white. The navy (and other dark colors) still needs shout to make sure it doesn't get grease stains but much easier than soaking the red clay dirt stains out of a white shirt.

[KpbS]

I try to buy only one white polo and have only 1-2 white t-shirts. White clothing is just destined to be terribly stained, imo. I have my DSs wear an apron (not a girly one at all!) or take their shirts off for really messy foods at home like spaghetti or cherries but when things do get stained, I used oxy-clean spray stain treatment and dishsoap (to remove grease stains).

hth

[Cam&Clay]

My boys aren't allowed to wear any kind of white shirts. Or even light colors. I find the better brands, like Gymboree, wash up better. His cheaper stuff from Target, Kohls, etc. tend to stain more easily.

[curiousgeorge]

Lots of oxyclean and very few light colored items!

[lcarlson90]

For those of you that use the oxyclean stain remover, do you spray the item and wash it immediately? I just can't see washing each shirt every night and I always assumed that spraying it and then letting it sit in the hamper for 4 - 5 days until I wash it would not really help.

[bisous]

I found treating immediately to be really helpful. Every single day my kids have FILTHY clothes. I watched my nephew a few months ago (he's 3) and WAS AMAZED that he was really clean at the end of the day! (Of course, he also won't eat anything!) My kids can't wear a thing two days in a row. Its frustrating!

I like dark colors. And find that shorts stay cleaner than pants. I still haven't figured out how to get DS1 to avoid holes in the knee. He attends 3 hours of church per week and has usually one pair of pants for each "size" that he ONLY wears at church. He gets holes in those! How?? What is he doing at church for 3 hours a week? DS2 has had to buy all new pants for church as a result.

I'm glad to read this thread and realize I'm not the only one with this issue!

[JustMe]

I wish I knew! I am posting mostly to commiserate as I have been meaning to post something like this myself. Both dd and ds are slow growers. Dd wore her many of her clothes for 3 years and many still look good. Ds wears something once and it has stains in it within a few hours. I will be watching to see more of what others suggest.

[boltfam]

Lots of oxiclean and stain treating right away, even if only with water.

[ett]

But, yes, ds wears pants with ground in dirt and grass stains at the knees.
Catherine

:yeahthat: As my boys have gotten older, I've become way more lax (and lazy) about stains. They use to really bother me years ago, but not anymore. Like PPs, I buy mostly dark colored shirts and very few light colored ones. I do spray with a stain remover when I notice stains but many times, I just forget to check and don't notice it until after it's gone through the dryer. So yes, my DS's (mostly DS1) will go to school in stained clothes. They're usually small stains so not really noticeable anyway.

[niccig]

Lots of oxyclean and very few light colored items!

And zout spray.

Plus until now DS had lots of clothes because of grandmothers buying clothes AFTER I had alredy bought for the season. So somethings didn't get worn every week. DS isn't a messy kid. He's not super careful, but just not as dirty as some other kids I see at pick up. Don't know why.

[bandgsmama]

my son is also a messy boy, but my dd is the worst! just using charlie's soap doesn't cut it around here. i usually pretreat with oxiclean or shout as soon as he gets home. she can ruin her sunday's best in a matter of seconds & not care. ugh!

[klwa]

I confiscate clothes with holes. And when the cuffs of the long sleeve shirts get permanently and seriously grimy looking I confiscate those as well. And I buy dark colors for a lot of stuff and no white or cream anything. . . .

But, yes, ds wears pants with ground in dirt and grass stains at the knees. His shirts don't usually get stained though, except the aforementioned cuff grime. I do try to have a complete wardrobe that looks decent at the start of the school year at least. My standards slide as the year goes on.

Catherine

:yeahthat:

[hillview]

The kids have clothes that are very well worn. I recently moved to ALL Land's End Climber pants for the kids since they wear best. Shirts end up with HOLES in them (WTF??). I try to keep a pair of pants and a shirt out of rotation for nice dinners etc. I need to cull clothes soon -- remove ones with bad stains or holes.
/hillary

[wimama]

Good question. I thought I overbought last year for DS fall/winter wardrobe. By the end of spring he had like 3-4 pants that didn't have obvious holes in them. Stains I try not to put stained clothes in the dryer, so I air dry stain clothes and rewash if the stains are bad. Back when I still had my old top loader washer, I often would often not pre-treat any of his clothes. Occasionally, I would just start the washer up and let the whole load of his grimy clothes soak for a few hours. Much less time consuming. I kind of miss being able to soak a whole load like that, since getting a front loader.

Now if I could get my DS to stop using his clothing as a napkin that would be lovely. I still catch him doing this, when there is a napkin in front of him on the table.

[toby]

For those of you that use the oxyclean stain remover, do you spray the item and wash it immediately? I just can't see washing each shirt every night and I always assumed that spraying it and then letting it sit in the hamper for 4 - 5 days until I wash it would not really help.

If I am going to do the wash in the next day or so, I spray. Otherwise, I throw the item into a small basin (that I keep in the bath tub) with warm water and Oxiclean. Or, I will put Oxiclean in the washer, fill it up a little and let the item soak. At least this makes me feel as though I am doing something!

[BabbyO]

For the worst stains, I've found (by accident) that one of the best spray stain removers is Dreft. I even use it for DH's & my clothes when we get stains. I also use Oxyclean...but the powdered stuff...so I usually spray or just scrub a little regular liquid hand soap into a stain right away. Then on Friday pm I sort laundry and throw all the stained items into a bucket of HOT water with oxy....let soak over night...and wash on Saturday.

I only have a few stains that I haven't been able to get out this way.

[alirebco]

I spray with Bac Out or Oxyclean spray if I notice a stain right away. We never get holes or anything like that though.

What have you guys found is the best for grease stains? I sometimes don't notice these until after things have been through the dryer :(

[liz]

First, I designate "play" clothes and I make sure they wear them when playing outside or around the house. That way I don't stress out when they come home and I see what they've done :). Basically they wear their nicer clothes for school and going out.

Second, pick shirts in darker colors and better yet, shirts with some kind of design, stripes, decal etc. I find that stains seem to blend in :tongue5: and only I really notice them.

For pants and shorts, the boys wear jeans and durable cotton shorts from LE. I find that they withstand stains better.

Lastly, like other PP mentioned, they only wear lighter colors occasionally and I pre-treat stains ASAP.

[lcarlson90]

I was at Gap last week buying school clothes and the sales person was trying to convince me to buy more than 4 pairs of jeans and I said, "no...because my son will ruin these nice Gap clothes a month into the school year and then I will be pissed and I will buy his clothes at Target for the rest of the year." :ROTFLMAO:

[HIU8]

I presoak EVERYTHING in oxyclean. I don't let any stains sit. If I do they are permanent. Stained clothing never goes to school. That becomes at home stuff only. I find that if I use oxyclean and pretreat I get about 85% of the stains out.

[lcarlson90]

I presoak EVERYTHING in oxyclean. I don't let any stains sit. If I do they are permanent. Stained clothing never goes to school. That becomes at home stuff only. I find that if I use oxyclean and pretreat I get about 85% of the stains out.

Does this mean that you spray the clothes that night and then soak them a few days later before you wash them?

[trentsmom]

What have you guys found is the best for grease stains? I sometimes don't notice these until after things have been through the dryer :(

I spray with Zout and then let it sit for 24 hours before rewashing. DH is always getting grease stains on his shirts, and I don't notice until removing clothes from the dryer.

[boltfam]

Does this mean that you spray the clothes that night and then soak them a few days later before you wash them?

I'm not sure about lcarlson, but I used the powdered stuff in a basin of hot/warm water. I let it soak for several days sometimes. I usually soak them right away or at night after DS takes his clothes off, and let them sit in oxiclean.

If I'm not ready to wash his clothes, I take them out of the oxiclean, rinse them with water, let them dry, and then put them in the hamper to wash with the rest of the load.

Note: Be careful with HA clothes. I only do this method with HA clothes if nothing else has worked. Oxiclean does make HA and Boden clothes fade, ime.

[kboyle]

i buy only dark colors. cuff stains on long sleeve shirts don't bother me. and we really only play in worn clothes, so our "clean & new" stuff stays that way for quite a while. plus they are slow growers, so their clothes last a good year or two.

honestly, with 3 boys, i haven't had to buy much, most of it gets passed down to another child and i do not pre-treat or use any type of stain remover. i just wash in warm with reg ol' laundry detergent and dry on permanent press. kids are kids, if they ruin clothes we'll survive and get new stuff.

i had about 3 garbage bags of clothes from ds1 on down that i was still able to pass onto a friends child this past year. we live on 2 acres, they kids are always outside, and we camp alot...they get dirty, but they dont manage to really ruin clothes.

[jse107]

I use a little Dawn on the grease stains. Works pretty well. I am also IN LOVE with the Clorox Bleach Pen for stains on white clothing.