Several years ago before we had any kids, my husband did the sweetest thing and I came home from work one day to find three gorgeous crisp, white chairs for a surprise around my kitchen counter. They were so sparkling white and I couldn’t have been more excited. He nailed it! I should have known then that they would only stay beautiful and white for so long with a couple little rugrats using them regularly.

I had my daughter first and she is honestly quite a clean person, even from the time she was a baby she didn’t like to make messes so they stayed pretty clean. That is until my son came along. Oh boy!! Just the other day I watched my two and a half year old son eat spaghetti and then some razzleberry pie and treat those beautiful chair covers like and napkin and smear both of those things all over those chairs. No amount of asking him not to helps. Thankfully, I have a super fantastically awesome stain fighting treatment I can do with my whites and it can remove about 90-95% of stains that little Charlie leaves behind. It is pretty incredible.

So I’m going to share this awesome miracle whitening treatment for the wash, which is from Martha Stewart at the end of this article. Originally I tried it to whiten my pillows, which works incredibly well for that too, but then I thought about my poor chair covers that I was one step away from throwing away because they were so badly stained and it really cleaned them up nicely!

So first, here are a few of the most common food stains and how to get them out.

Coffee:

If you spill your cup of joe, pour cold water on the back of the stain over the sink or a small container. If the coffee stain persists, massage the affected area with liquid laundry detergent and soak it in cold water up to 30 minutes. 

Chocolate:

Grab a knife and scrape off all the chocolate you can. Pour milk over any spots that remain and wait five minutes. Then run the stain under cold water and rub with your fingers to lift the stain. To finish, dab liquid laundry detergent on the spot before you put it in the wash. 

Wine:

If it is a fresh stain, pour a liberal amount of salt all over the stained areas. The salt will absorb a lot of the wine. If that doesn’t do the trick, pour club soda on the stain and blot it with a towel.

Soy Sauce:

Lift a soy sauce stain by running it under cold water. Then blot it with a paper towel that has been dipped in an ammonia solution (one part ammonia, two parts water). 

Ketchup:

Use a knife to scrape off all the ketchup you can. Next, cover the stain with dish soap and top that with white vinegar. Finish by running the spot under cold water.

Mustard:

Just like you did with ketchup, use a knife to remove as much mustard as you can. Then mix a cup of cold water with a teaspoon of clear liquid laundry detergent and sponge the solution over the stain. 

Salad Dressing:

Generously spread cornstarch over the salad dressing stain and let it sit for at least five minutes to give it time to soak up the oil. Then run the spot under cold water and apply liquid laundry detergent. Let it sit for 15 minutes before putting it in the wash.

Grease:

Sprinkle the baby powder on the spot, let it sit for 30 minutes, and then use a toothbrush to lift the remaining stain. 

Miracle Whitening Solution

• HOT HOT HOT water

• 1 cup of laundry detergent

• 1 cup powdered dishwasher detergent

• 1 cup bleach

• ½ cup borax

Fill the washing machine about 1/3 full with HOT water (I even added a couple of pans full of boiling water). One thing to remember is to add the above ingredients to as small a load size as possible. You are looking for concentrated cleaning power, and the more water you have in the tub, the less concentrated it will be. Shoot for just enough water to cover the article you’re washing.

Add all the ingredients in the Miracle Whitening Solution then start the machine and allow it to agitate for a few minutes to makes sure all the detergent dissolves before adding the pillows or other items.

Once the detergent is dissolved, add the items, and then allow the washer to fill the rest of the way with HOT water.

Agitate items for several minutes, then flip over any big items like pillows to allow the top side to get the full effect of agitating in the HOT water. Agitate for several minutes more.

Put your machine on the 2^nd rinse cycle or just run it through twice manually.

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