This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Clorox for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
For the longest time I could pull off wearing the same jeans for like a full week before washing them. But, then I had kids who become toddlers, and ruined my freshly washed jeans on that first day out of the wash. I actually needed to have more than like two pairs of jeans now to last me the week.And white clothing? Magnet for stains.
So, if you aren’t a parent, let me explain. Little people, beside being adorable, and also loud, are dirty, a lot, and they don’t usually care what they wipe this dirt on, because they don’t think about how things affect others. (Heck, some adults don’t either, but I digress).
10 Reasons You Can’t Wear White and Keep It Clean as a Parent
1. Spit-Up and Throw Up
Every child begins this messy business with some spit-up. Some babies are crazy awful, and everything in the house is soaked, especially the shoulders of all your shirts, but some of the goodness likely dripped onto your pants. And at some point the spit-up will be replaced horrible real throw up, which will likely be all over your lap.
2. Excrement
Diapers leak and potty training doesn’t always go so great. Enough said.
3. Drool
Spit doesn’t really leave much of a trace once dry, but if that saliva has traces of their food, chances are it’s time to launder your shirt.
4. Blood
Kids hurt themselves all the time. Toddlerhood is rough. From scraped knees, to bug bites, to bit tongues, kids bleed. And because you are a loving parent, you pick them up and help them out. Unfortunately, you will likely need to pretreat some clothes afterward.
5. Messy Hands
Finger foods are the staple food group for kids 9+ months old. Unfortunately, those greasy, slimy, salty, messy little hands don’t always have time to get washed off before they run up to give your legs a big old hug.
6. Messy Faces
Right along with the previous point, kids love to snuggle their little head in your shoulder or in your lap, and when they have a messy face, it means laundry.
7. Dirty Shoes
This is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to keeping myself clean. If there is any amount of wetness on the bottom of your kids shoes/feet, then when you pick them up, you will get awesome dirt and mud streaks on your nicely washed jeans and possibly on your shirt, as they eventually squirm and want you to put them back down so they can run and play.
8. Snot
Allergies, a cold, or lots of tears can bring on the runny nose. And that runny nose will leave a snotty residue on whatever it is they rub there face on.
9. Spills
Sometimes accidents happen, and your kid will spill that awesome red Kool-Aid you just made for him, and it will flow across the table and right onto your lap.
10. Food
And sometimes kids, lovingly, want to share their food with you, but unfortunately it is something messy, half eaten, or covered in ketchup, and ends up all over you.
So, not only are you having to do laundry more often, but you to pre-treat a lot of things as well. And when it comes to keeping whites, white, it can be a pain.
1 Awesome Solution to Still Let You (and Your Child) Wear White
Thankfully, Clorox has come out with a new product – Clorox MyUltimateCare Bleach, available at Target. And Target currently has a 10% Cartwheel for this product to make even more affordable.
This bleach is formulated to pre-treat stains, and gently whitens your most delicate fabrics, but without the bleach odor and that you can pour directly on fabrics! You don’t have to be afraid of splashing this bleach on your white clothes.
I personally don’t buy bleach for laundry purposes, mostly because I don’t want to ruin something, and to stream-line my laundry system.
However, I thought I would give it a go, and dared to wear white while taking care of my toddler and preschoolers, and even dared to let my son wear some white onesies. Thankfully, I didn’t get as dirty as a thought I would wearing all white (which felt pretty taboo to do after Labor Day), but my son’s shirt? Different story. And so, I used the bleach on our load of whites, including my white shorts, our white bed sheets, my husband’s white dress shirts, and my son’s white onesies.
I poured a cap of the MyUltimateCare Bleach into my washing machine, like I do I would normally do with a laundry detergent, and then put my clothes in. After the first wash, my son’s onesies still had some stains left on them. So, I decided to pretreat them by directly pouring the Clorox on the shirts, and rubbing it in, per the directions on the back of the bottle. I let it sit for three minutes and then threw it into the next wash of whites.
They then came out pretty darn bright and white! And so did all the rest of the whites.
And, maybe I shouldn’t have done this, but I totally used a little of the MyUltimateCare Bleach on a stubborn orange stain on one of my daughter’s white and purple striped shirts. It had already been washed and dried, and the stain was still there, so I was curious to see if a little of this could do the ‘ole trick of getting it gone. So I poured a little on the stain, rubbed it in, and then washed it. And wouldn’t you know? It was completely gone! So happy because I probably would have had to give away the shirt or trash because it was right down the front of this otherwise nice (and relatively new) shirt.
So, while kids mess your white shirts and shorts and skirts as you care for them, they also mess their own white shirts, skirts, and shorts too. Thankfully, there’s a great bleach for that.
Do you use bleach as part of your regular laundry care? Why or why not?
*Image by Jomphong from freedigitalphotos.net. Edited.
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Elizabeth says
I use bleach but only regular bleach. When you put it directly on the clothes, did you find it “ate away” at the fabric. I know regular bleach does that, so I try not to do that unless desperate. Is this only for whites? Do they have a color-safe bleach? Anywho…great way to do a sponsored post. Moms typically better not wear white – or let their little ones!
Lauren Tamm says
I do use bleach from time to time for laundry. It’s also a great way to manage mold. The humidity is so high here in Okinawa, mold grows like wildfire. So it’s a great way to keep things clean in our home.
Lauren
Hilary says
That stuff does look great!
Hezzi-D says
This goes for teachers too! I quickly learned not to wear white to school because I came home covered in grime, dirt, boogers, etc. We use bleach with our sheets, towels, and all of our whites.
Brenna @ Life After Laundry says
All these reasons are so true. My son has done about everyone of those to me and my clothes. Thanks for the tip about Clorox UltimateCare.
Kathleen says
Wow! The difference is amazing! I will have to look for some of that stuff for our under clothes.
Katie @ Clarks Condensed says
I feel like no matter how hard I try, both Jack and I end the day with dirty clothes! It drives me crazy. hahaha. I will definitely be looking into this product though – it looks like it works GREAT!