Tip For Baseball Moms

This post is a little random.  But, as I was doing this laborious, but somewhat rewarding. chore the other day I thought maybe this might be a useful post for someone out there so here ya go.  I have been doing a lot of this lately.

As with any other spring over the past 13 years – sitting and watching my oldest play baseball.  (Thank goodness it is getting warmer!)

For all of his little league career my son was blessed to have grey pants as part of his uniform – fairly easy to clean – spray treat, throw it in, done.  Then comes high school….WHITE PANTS!!!  Seriously what crazy person ever thought white pants would be good for a baseball uniform (or football).  White + dirt = headaches.  And, if you are fortunate enough to live in those areas that are blessed with lovely red clay rather than dirt like we are – even better.

Some affiliate links used for your convenience. See disclosures for more details.

Many of you mommas may be dealing with this, maybe for a long time, maybe you have your own tried and true method.  But, let me be honest and say, I was clueless and I did a lot of things wrong in the beginning.  And then one day I was chatting with some of the other moms, and one shared her secret.  A soap I had never heard of, but over the past couple of years I have seen it crop up everywhere, called Fels-Naptha, I buy mine at Walmart, but I have seen it at several other grocery stores – it is located in the laundry isle and the best part is it only cost around $1!! Or you can order it from Amazon here. Here is what I am dealing with about twice a week.

How to Remove Red Dirt From White Baseball Pants

This is a pretty average representation.

UGH!!  

So, let me tell you what I tried in the past that DIDN’T work.  All sorts of spray treatments; washing in hot, warm, cold – didn’t matter; oxygen cleaning products worked fairly well but not completely; bleach – DO NOT BLEACH white polyester – turns in yellow.  {Can you tell I learned that lesson the hard way?}

What I do now that does work?

I throw a bar (or a half of a bar, or a piece of a bar, whatever is left at the time) of Fels-Naptha soap in my sink, and then fill the sink with warm-hot water.  Then I put in the pants (jersey too sometimes :)).  I let it soak – no particular time, just however long I have or whenever I have time to get back to it.  I would say at least 30 minutes, but it’s never too long.

After they have soaked for a time, it’s time for the magic.  Not kidding, couldn’t believe my eyes the first time.  I had really resigned to the fact that his pants would never be white or even close to white again.  Take your bar of soap (which is quite squishy by this time) and rub over stained area; rub pants together in said area like you are washing by hand.  And then rinse – voila!!  Most of the stain is GONE!!  If it is a deep stain – ie. lots of dirt – you made have to repeat this process of couple of times, same goes for grass stains – may take a little more rubbing.  But in the end…

Then I DO NOT RINSE the pants.  I drain the water and somewhat squeeze out the pants – I say somewhat because they are dripping and heavy with water when I throw them in my washer.  Then I wash as usual.  {If there are grass stains that don’t come out with rubbing, then I spray treat.}  I have washed on cold, warm, and hot all with the same results.

Here is a before and after side by side so you can get a better idea.  Pardon the after shot, I was rushing to take this photo before they had to packed up for the next game.  Unbelievable huh?  Ya I’ve been doing it this way for 3 years and am still amazed EVERY time I take them out of the washer.  (This is not a sponsored post – I just really love this soap and it really does work.)