I don’t know about you but I don’t have a lot of extra money to spend on clothes just because the ones I have get stained. (and of course it is usually my favorite shirt!) I started using this household product thirty years ago when my daughter was a baby. I remember her getting chocolate on a yellow snowsuit and scrubbing like crazy to get it out. I wasn’t about to let her wear stained clothes and we certainly didn’t have money for a new snowsuit. You will never guess what worked.
Now I caution you to only use this method if your item of clothing is headed for the trash bin anyway. Most of the time this works, but occasionally it fades the color of the clothing and therefore ruins it. Again, this is only to be used as a last resort!
I would assume that almost everyone has this item in their home unless they substitute baking soda. What is it?
I use this all the time on our clothes (mostly my grandkids clothes) and I would say it works at least 75% of the time and probably closer to 90% of the time. Once in a while, it will not work and we pretty much know the piece of clothing is ready for the garbage.
Simply take an old toothbrush and apply white toothpaste. (I have had some luck with green but I would not recommend red, white truly works the best.) I suggest that you are generous with the toothpaste so that you can really scrub it into the stain. Get the toothbrush and toothpaste wet and start vigorously scrubbing the stain. Add water as needed to penetrate the material. Occasionally, I add some Dawn dish soap but most of the time I have tried that in a previous attempt so I don’t always bother.
Now take it out of the washer and see if it worked. Most of the time it does. If it took most of it out but there is a little left, it is worth repeating the process to get the rest out. I have done this before many times and it almost always gets the rest of the stain out. (My granddaughter thinks I can do anything now.)
This will not work on mold. I have figured that out. Otherwise, I have had great success with this.
Last warning: only try this on clothes that you are ready to throw in the garbage anyway because it may fade or bleach the clothes!
Let me know if it worked for you. Follow me on Facebook for more hints and tips.
Britni says
That is so fun! I didn’t know you could use toothpaste!! We get stains here all the time (two little ones). I’m going to try this next time. Thanks for the great tip!!! <3
Theresa Smith says
I use it all the time on my granddaughter’s stains. The last shirt my 6 year old granddaughter wanted me to “save” took three tries but it got out more each try until it was all finally out. I have a hard time letting my granddaughter down so I didn’t give up.
Tony W says
Interesting. I must give this a try 😉
Theresa Smith says
It works well, especially on the color white. I do use it on other colors all the time but like I said, only as a last resort. It has saved many items of clothing for us.
ANN*H says
Hmmm…. I have never heard of using toothpaste for laundry stains. But this is something I will try for sure. Thanks so much for the tip
RT says
Toothpaste, really??? Now this is very interesting. I must give it a try…nothing to lose.