Laundry Tip: Pre-treat with Tide Stain Release

Baseball season has just started around here, and of course I find myself washing white pants every week - white pants that have grass and mud stains all over, especially on the knees. After the first game, I had to wash the pants four times and I still couldn't get out one tiny little spot of mud.

After the second game, I was mentally prepared to wash the pants four times again, but I decided to experiment a little bit. Instead of pre-treating the stain with a spray like Zout or Shout, I used Tide Stain Release. It's a fairly new product that you add to the washing machine at the same time as the detergent, but the bottle says you can pre-treat stains with it too. I left the pants on the washer overnight, and washed them the next day.

I couldn't believe it when they came out completely white after the first wash. I was thrilled! I know I sound like a paid commercial for the product, but I don't think I've even gotten a free sample of this stuff. I did get a couple of bottles for free back when Vons stacked paper and electronic coupons, and now I'm going to have to keep an eye out for deals.

I don't know if this will work after every game, but I'm pretty excited that I won't have to wash the pants four times every week!