Airing My Dirty Laundry

Crayons have been providing children with colorful entertainment for years and years. I am now guessing that they have also been providing moms with headaches and extra work for just as long.

Every mom has had a kid color on the wall or on some piece of furniture. I learned as soon as Jack was big enough to hold a crayon that Mr. Clean Magic Eraser was a good tool to keep around the house for these mishaps. I also heard from some other moms that WD40 is the trick to getting crayon off the walls. Easy enough- we will keep the crayons.

Last week I ran down to my laundry room to grab the boys some clean pajamas out of the dryer. I opened the dryer and immediately noticed a big clump of green wax sitting right inside the door. I began to inspect the clothes, and sure enough there was crayon melted on every single piece of clothing in that load. The load consisted of all three of the boys colored clothing- so pretty much everything they wear! Ahhhhh!!!! Orange and green speckles were all over the clothes. It was too much for me to deal with at bedtime, so I grabbed their pajamas and closed the dryer.

The next day while they were at school I googled "Crayons in the dryer" and was overwhelmed with potions for getting crayon out of clothes and out of the dryer. So, I picked one and went to work. Luckily, the green crayon seemed to have melted right by the lent catcher, so it was a pretty easy clean up. I scraped up the wax with a credit card and then wiped down the dryer with WD40 and then soapy water. All clean! Now on to the tricky part.

I found a recipe for what I termed "magic potion" online. I went to the store to make sure I had all the proper ingredients. I came home, mixed it all up in my bathtub and soaked the clothes over night. Then I hand scrubbed the spots on everything I cared about (I am not too worried about underwear and pajamas having colorful spots) and put everything back in the washing machine for one last soak. A couple hours later I held my breath as I opened the dryer again, and Voila!!!! everything (almost) came clean!!!!

I had thrown in a few items that were not in that fateful load of laundry, but had been sitting in a pile labeled "stained." They all came clean too! So, I thought I should share my new magic potion for all of you out there.

Magic Laundry Potion:

2 cups Tide

1 cup Oxiclean

1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
1 cup Shout!
1 cup White Vinegar

The only casualty of the situation was Jack's seersucker shorts. He was caught as the culprit "orange pocketed." Jack and Luke have now received a lecture in never putting crayons in their pockets. And I have learned my lesson about checking every single pocket!

It's all in a day's work as a modern housewife!!