Retro Saturdays give Ivy and I a chance to replay some of our favorite posts and spend some time with our families.
Ivy says:
So much I wanted to write about, but alas, I’ve been spending all night dealing with a crayon in the dryer disaster. Anyway, my loss is your gain, since I’m sure you’ll remember this and make sure to apply the lesson I learned: always check the pockets of every item that goes in the wash, even top pockets of shirts that belong to little boys.
So, what do you do when you run a crayon through your wash and then it makes it into the dryer? First, cry. Then, panic. No, wait, that’s what I did. No, just go to the Crayola website where they have instructions on how to get rid of Crayola stains of all sorts.
In case you don’t feel like trekking all the way over to the Crayola website, I’ll tell you what it said. First, get the crayon marks out of the dryer by spraying it down with our good friend WD-40. Then wash the WD-40 residue out of the dryer with dishwashing liquid. Then run a load of clean rags through the dryer to make sure there’s no residue left. No need to have to do this next part on another load of laundry. Because it is a pain in the butt, but it works.
Make a little pad of paper towels. Then get out our good friend, WD-40 again and spray the clothing. Let it sit for a couple of minutes and then flip it over on the other side and repeat the process. Then take liquid dishwashing liquid and work it into the stain.
Then, if that wasn’t enough drama, wash the clothing with hot water, with laundry detergent and bleach (color safe bleach if you’re dealing with colored clothing, natch) for either 12 minutes if your washer has a timed cycle, or the heavily soiled setting if it doesn’t. Use warm water to rinse. Check your clothes before you put them back in the dryer to make sure you got all the stains out, but you will. Any process that is that big of a pain generally works. It worked for me, yo.
Finally, put your feet up and pour yourself an iced tea (or something stronger, if you’re into that) and relax. You deserve it after that drama!
Submit your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.
Crayons in the dryer… now that brings back childhood memories. I used to get scolded about leaving crayons in my pockets all the time on wash days.
But, hey, I was an artist. What could I do?
Never washed a crayon but I did run a tube of lipstick through the washer and dryer. Some things just had to be tossed.
Try that with a crayon melted on the back seat of a car…the car smelled like WD-40 for months (it had gone into the foam). Call me a heretic, but I do not miss having small children. ;o)
But I do have a husband who uses red shop rags, which at least once a year end up causing some sort of laundry disaster. I would ban him from doing laundry, but its one of the few chores he will do… :o/ Ikea is now selling white washcloths with hanging loops on them for $3.99 for 10…those red rags are going to be history after my next trip to the big blue box.
Oh, and kudos to the makers of Sharpies…I’ve found two of them in dried loads (hubs forgets to take his last dried load out almost every time), and NEITHER of them leaked!
I’ve had good luck removing really nasty crayon stains from car upholstery by first removing as much of the melted wax as possible, then covering the residue with a clean rag, and ironing on medium-low. Gets the wax out (it goes into the rag, so don’t use a dishtowel) and avoids that special WD-40 scent (which I find more appropriate to a garage than a hot car).
These are my thoughts, exactly. I think all men and women should employ some tips from their mother.
I taught my 4yr old to always empty his pockets, and so far he does. Now my husband, that is a different story. He leaves stuff in pockets and I forget to check them. I have washed countless pens, chapstick, dry erase markers, mints, one cell phone and one Ipod. Grrrr. I am trying really hard to check pockets all of the time now he has to put his clothes in his own laundry basket so its easier for me to remember to check everything in that basket when I sort! (and yes the phone and Ipod never worked again!)
My son left a pen in his pocket a while back and it blew up in the dryer and everything was ruined. I never could get it out. I tried everything.