Mom Hack: Clothesline + Sun = Ultimate Stain Remover

 Oh, laundry.  It NEVER ends.  Add to that the fact that both of my kids are/were MAJOR spitter-uppers, and the quantity of stained clothing/bibs/blankets/sheets/burp cloths is insane.  It wasn't so bad during the first 6 months when it's just milk spit-up, but ever since baby food and solids came into the picture (and even now, in the preschool years), we have had a ton of hard-to-beat stains.  I tried lots of Pinterest tricks - rubbing the stain directly with Tide or Dreft detergent, Oxiclean spray, soaking in hot water with Oxiclean powder, Dawn + hydrogen peroxide + baking soda, etc - and they worked fine on surface-level or fresh stains but couldn't get out the tough stains, particularly red and orange ones - carrot puree, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and the like, or - the worst - baby poop stains!

Enter: the sun.  The sun gets out ALL kinds of stains, but especially the tough ones!  Anytime I have stained laundry, I do my standard Oxiclean-spray-and-launder; if the stain is still there after a wash cycle, I let the sun do its thing - I just set the (wet) item in direct sunlight, and the sun bleaches out the stain (while not affecting any colored fabric or graphics).  Initially, I laid the stained clothes on our patio dining table, but then (since those got the clothes dirty again from sitting on an outdoor table) I'd have to rewash them after the sun got rid of the stain.  Also, in the height of the baby food stain stage, I didn't have enough surface area on our table for all the stained clothes!  

I eventually invested in an inexpensive clothesline; it is retractable, so when it's not in use, it's unobtrusively hidden by a gutter downspout in our backyard (B's biggest hesitation with getting a clothesline was that it would be visible all the time).  

I also bought wood clothespins and this hanging clothespin bag, which hangs on the clothesline for easier access to pins while I'm hanging up or taking down laundry (instead of bending down to get them out of a basket on the ground).  

This has saved me SO much time and energy using different stain removal products, scrubbing stains with a toothbrush, and washing and re-washing - now, the stains are gone by the time the item dries in the sun!

Have you tried using the sun to get rid of tough stains?  Try it, you'll be amazed!