This post contains affiliate links. Chances are you have heard of the soap Fels-Naptha. It is a common ingredient in home made laundry soap. Many years ago, before the home made laundry soap became all the rage, my mother-in-law gave me a bar of Fels-Naptha. She said it was fantastic for fighting stains. It really is! If you haven't tried it, you must get a bar and try it out!
Above you see Kaitlyn's fleece pants. She wore them to a soccer practice. I didn't notice the grass stains until after I had washed and dried them. I was folding her pants and saw the stain (this is a major hazard of having kids sort the laundry to be washed). At first I thought, "Eh. Oh well." They are just fleece pants and really the purpose is for things like soccer practice. So they are stained. Plus they had gone through the dryer and it would be a tough battle if I chose to take it on.
Then I remembered my Fels-Naptha. I decided to give it a try.
Above is the after. There is still some green there, but it isn't so noticeable. I actually gave it another scrubbing and it is even better.
Above you see leggings. These had matching stains on each knee. I decided I would do Fels-Naptha on one knee and not the other to see the results. Pretty amazing right? I have since used Fels-Naptha to get both knees looking good as new.
All you need is some stained clothes (you probably have some of those if you have kids), a bar of Fels-Naptha, and some sort of brush. The brush pictured to the left isn't ideal for all fabrics--it is very hard. I use it when there is a bad stain and I will either be getting the stain out or the clothing item will be moved to play clothes only status. You can use something like a toothbrush if you have more delicate fabric.
Here is how I do it.
- I get the stain wet.
- I get the tip of the bar of Fels-Naptha wet.
- I rub the bar over the stain.
- I then rub the soap in with the brush a bit.
- I then run the stain under water for a bit again. This is so the fabric will get more wet.
- I rub the stain with the Fels-Naptha again.
- I then use the brush and really scrub it out.
- I toss it in the washer and wash it.
This works even on old stains that are set in. You can get a 4 pack for less than $10 on Amazon (see link below). One bar will last you a really long time, so find 3 friends and go in on it together. It is so worth it!
See Also:
Vinegar and Laundry
Making Laundry Easier (and more tolerable!) {5 Tips}
I found some smaller hampers to use and replace my older ones that took up more space. This way, I can have more hampers in the same area--which means laundry can be automatically sorted as it is put in hampers. This means less sorting on laundry day. Follow me? Easier.
A huge annoyance with laundry is folding socks. You have to sort out the matches, and them match them, and then the most annoying aspect of all is when you have that stray sock that apparently was "eaten" in the laundry process of the day.
. They also said the powder cleaned better than liquid in all detergents. So we used that for years. 
(linked is the liquid but I use the powder). I have been really happy with it.
(in liquid) or 
(in liquid).
liquid detergent for use on delicates.
. I add a scoop to every white load and usually to my towels as well. One day, the stores was out of the powder so I tried the 
and I think I like those better, but it is more money overall I think, so I am still analyzing the whole situation. Another great booster is 
. I keep Borax around at all times because you can use it in a lot of homemade cleaners (like for scrubbing grout).
right now. I have also used 
and 
in the past and have liked those. 
is a fabulous bar of soap for getting stains out on whites for sure. I haven't tried it on colored yet--just whites.
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but have no good reason why.
