How to Get Grease/Wax Stains Out of Your Clothes. . .and Your Washer

This was a post that happened to me by total mistake, but since it worked, I felt I needed to pass it on.

Yesterday during my lunch break, I bought this beautiful shiny emerald green piece of fabric at the thrift store. (You will notice it is in the trash. . .more on that later.)

All afternoon at work, I sat daydreaming about what to make with it. Would I make another dress? Would I make a skirt? Would I change it up and make something else? Finally, I got home, and, like I do with all my thrift store fabric, I threw it in the wash. I had a few other dirty things including my two Twice dresses pictured from former posts below, and figured I might as well get them clean too:

Well, anyways before throwing the green cloth in, I noticed it was a little sticky. I figured that was because it had been sitting on a shelf for awhile collecting dust? I had no idea. I mean, a lot of thrift store items have weird stuff on them. That's why I always throw my purchases in the wash! 

THIS IS THE PART WHERE DISASTER STRUCK...

To my absolute horror, when I opened the top of the washer, every garment in the wash was thinly coated in this waxy, sticky teal colored substance and also covered in little balls of the stuff that would smear when you touched them. To my further horror, after pulling out all my sticky clothes, I found that the bottom of the washer itself was coated in waxy teal skid marks! It's bad enough when your clothes are ruined, but your washer as well??? (I didn't take any pictures, because I didn't realize I would be blogging about this until after. Trust me, though, it was horrifying.)

I was so close to throwing all my clothes away, but. . .I love my new dresses!!! I just got them! True, one of them was free, but. . .still!

Luckily I was on the phone with my Type 1 mom (still don't know about Types? Go here) and she told me about an idea she'd found years ago in a magazine. What you do is to clean your clothes with not just detergent, but also liquid dish soap. Fortunately, I had a bottle of Dawn. This isn't the most nature-friendly method, but it ended up being very effective.

This is what I did:

First, I had to clean the actual washer, so I removed all the clothes and carefully shook them outside to get rid of all the excess balls of goo. Then I poured some bleach and Dawn into the washer along with three white hand towels and ran it through a hot water washing cycle. It took two times of doing this to get the washer clean! Then, I separated the clothes that were 100% polyester and washed them in warm water with bleach and Dawn. Then, I washed my casual clothes in cold water with my homemade detergent and Dawn. Finally, I washed my two Twice dresses in cold water with detergent and Dawn. All clean! Even the black dress that is made of wool and is supposed to be dry clean only!

I will say that some of my things still have a slight tacky feeling, but that will go away over time. I also hung everything to dry so that the waxy feeling wouldn't set in.

Crisis averted! Thanks, Mom!

The End.

Make Bug-Repelling Laundry Detergent!

Let's make our own laundry detergent and stick it to the man!

**UPDATE**(for an even faster and easier recipe, scroll to the bottom!)

Things that you already have:

1. Baking Soda

2. Bar Soap

3. 1/2 cup measure

4. Plastic Bottles/Containers (enough to hold 6 quarts).

5. Cheese grate

Things you might not have (but should):

1. Stainless steel stock pot (at least 12 quarts) with a lid.

2. Essential (or Skin So Soft) oil of your choice.

3. Box of Borax 

Directions:

Step 1: Grate 1/2 cup of bar soap.

Step 2: Pour 1 quart of hot tap water into your pot and heat on stove.

Step 3: Pour in the bar soap shavings and stir till they dissolve.

Step 4: Remove pot from heat.

Step 5: Pour 5 more quarts of hot tap water into the pot.

Step 6: Pour in 1/2 cup of Baking Soda and 1/2 cup of Borax.

Step 7: Drop in several drops of oil and stir.

(I used 2 capfuls of Skin So Soft to keep bugs from biting me!!!)

Step 8: Let it stand overnight.

The End.

It took about 10 minutes total (not counting the night part).

Costs of Things and Where To Buy Them:

1. Baking Soda - $0.50 - Aldi or Dollar General

2. Bar Soap - . . .I HOPE you already have this. . .

3. 1/2 cup measure - Free - Stolen from your mom's house.

4. Plastic containers - Free - If you use old detergent bottles.

(Mine, in the picture below, are from Dollar Tree.)

5. 12-quart Stock Pot - $9.00 - Walmart.com 

(Probably cheaper at Big Lots)

6. (Optional) Essential Oil - Varies in price 

(You don't need anything over $10.00. . .

no matter what the person at Whole Foods told you.)

7. (Optional) Skin So Soft - $16 (I got mine on sale for $10)

- Your neighborhood Avon Lady

8. Borax - $4.00 - Dollar General

Total Price: $13.50 - $41.50 for literally tens of gallons of detergent!

Me, I already had everything but the Borax, so I'm out $4.00!

Feel free to play around with the measurements. My concoction is a bit potent compared to others' online, but that's 'cause I wanted to use the cap from an old bottle of detergent to measure.
**NOTE: The liquid turns almost Jello-like after a few hours, but a simple shake before pouring alleviates this problem.**


**UPDATE** The above recipe is super easy and only takes about 10 to 15 minutes to make, but letting it stand overnight is kind of a pain. Since posting this blog, I've figured out an even simpler, faster, more immediate recipe! Double this recipe to make 6 quarts of detergent in under 5 minutes!

To make 3 quarts of detergent:
1. Pour 1/4c of borax, 1/4c of baking soda, and 1/4c of table salt into a 3 quart container.
2. Pour hot tap water over the mixture leaving a little space at the top.
3. Stir until the powders dissolve.
4. Stir in 1/4c of Dr. Bronner's castile soap ($12 for 32oz. at Food Lion) and scented oil.
(Don't shake!)

Whenever you are ready to use it, simply tip it upside down and back upright to get all the sediment to disperse and then pour the same amount into your washer as before. Don't shake it, because that wastes the lather. This mixture is far more liquid than the other mixture.

**Another note: Neither of these recipes give a very lasting fragrance to laundry, so don't waste too much scented oil. Also, you will get better results if you pour your laundry soap into the washer, turn the washer on, wait for the water to rise a bit, and then add your clothes.