Oxi-what?(Make your own Oxi-Clean)

“It’s not clean, unless it’s Oxi-clean.”

Yeah, I guess. It’s also not expensive unless it’s Oxi-clean.  I tried using the product a while back and I have to admit, it did work like gang busters. It was around the time that Sonny Boy was eating lots of different baby foods, so stains were at an all-time high. I needed to use something to get those sweet pea, squash, and carrot stains out of his bibs and onesies.  Oxi-clean really did the trick, but I LOATHED the price. I felt bad using it every time since I saw how much money was being thrown into the washer.

This time around with kiddo number 2( and the crazy stains we have from the vitamins she takes), I needed to figure something else out.  Of course, I turned to my good old friend vinegar. I knew some type of vinegar solution would help and that it wouldn’t cause any types of breakouts on her sensitive skin.  Then, I remembered a middle school science project: the volcano. Remember that? Mix together vinegar and baking soda can make your own cool lava! A vinegar/baking soda solution is a old remedy but is tried and true. I decided to give it a go.

Well, I have to say, it worked wonderfully! I worked with the ratios a bit, and found that 1 part baking soda to 2 parts vinegar worked the best.  I placed all of her stained clothing into the washer, set it on the soak cycle, and once the water was just over the clothes, I placed the vinegar in first then the baking soda. I let the machine “swish” a bit just to get the magic going in the washer, then I turned it off and let the clothes sit for about 15 minutes. I then turned the washer to the spin cycle.  Once that’s all done, I add in the rest of her clothes and proceed to do a regular wash. The soiled clothes not only come out stain-free, but nice and soft(the vinegar is a great substitute for fabric softener). I even tried it on hubby’s grease-stained work clothes and it even worked on that. I’m so happy to have found this out; I guarantee it’s going to save us a bunch!