With four kids, I have learned the art of cleaning a dirty uniform. From the knee stains on the baseball pants to the shoulder stains on the football uniform…and even to the pizza sauce stains on the wrestling uniforms because an 8 hour wrestling tournament calls for a pizza break.
Over the years… and the many sports, I’ve learned a thing or two about cleaning & I’ve picked up a few tricks from other moms at the field…
And if you’re like most people, the stains don’t stop with sports uniforms. School uniforms, work uniforms – the dirty husband kind, the nurse uniform kind – you get the idea. The thing is, these hacks really apply to most any uniform out there that come home with, well, ick. And even be applied to many other things around the house too.
Grass stains, grease stains, blood stains, and yes, even wine stains. We all know too well how it feels to pull out that uniform, that favorite shirt, and have a stain staring right back at you.
5 Cleaning Hacks that will Save Your Dirty Uniform
Soak it!
If I can soak a uniform, sheet, or other garment with Molly’s Suds Oxygen Whitener for an hour, then run the machine as usual, it really works well. (works great on towels & sheets, too!)
Hack: I grab a 5 gallon bucket that I have from Home Depot & soak it. When I’m done, I throw it into the washer to complete the wash I’ve turned many dirty pants white again.
I know that there are many times when we want to grab bleach, but remember that this isn’t the time. A uniform made of polyester fabric can be damaged with bleach. Use Molly’s Suds Oxygen Whitener instead, because it is Chlorine-Free & Color-Safe.
Pre-treating stains is KEY to successful stain removing.
Rinse the stain with tepid water through the back of the stain. This pushes the protein out of the fabric instead of forcing it deep into the fibers! Add a drop of All Sport (or dish soap) and gently scrub by rubbing the fabric against itself. Rinse.
Now add a sprinkle of baking soda and rub it in. Rinse. Now Repeat both steps. Done. It should be gone. If the stain sat too long before an intervention could be done, let the All Sport mixed with a little water sit on the stain until you are ready to do a load of laundry. They key is early intervention!
Hack: Club soda works well instead of water for wine spills and hydrogen peroxide is great instead of water for red sauce-based stains.
Wash it alone
I have found, only by mistake, that washing a pair of baseball pants with the sweatshirt that he wore to the game, doesn’t turn out well. The red lint of the sweatshirt ended up all over the gray pants. Lesson learned.
Hack: Have a separate laundry basket for uniforms of any kind. I throw all of their wrestling singlets in the wash at the same time and it’s simple if I grab the “uniform” basket.
Wash shoes & hats, too
We grab Molly’s Suds All Sport to clean shoes. If you’ve ever seen (or smelled) a pair of shoes after a rainy game, you know that air drying isn’t nearly good enough. Toss them into the washer with Molly’s Suds All Sport to remove lingering odors.
Hack: Add in an old towel – it aids in the friction (this is a good thing!) – adding one scoop of whitener helps to whiten the shoes. The Whitener + All Sport together makes for a true home run (lol!)
Extra Tip: I don’t dry them for more than a few minutes (I toss in Molly’s Suds Wool Dryer Balls, dry for about 3 minutes then take them out to air-dry)
Wash the uniform right after the game, after work, or after a spill!
The longer the uniform has a chance to sit, the longer you’ll spend soaking and washing it. When the kids get home, they give me their uniform and I wash it, while they jump in the shower. No one likes to sit around in their dirty work uniform, either, right? Throw that uniform right in the wash as you take it off! Molly’s Suds All Sport is #1 for eliminating tough odor-causing bacteria in uniforms. They use colloidal micelles, which creates an energy field of safe cleaning power. It breaks up oil and dirt molecules into soluble biodegradable components.
Hack: When traveling (on a travel team, at a meet away from home, business trip, etc…)… Fill a 2 gallon zip lock bag with 1 ounce All Sport. Then grab an empty water bottle & fill it with water. Bring it with you to the game or if traveling for business, leave it in your hotel room. When the game is over, or when the workday is over, dump the uniform into the pre soaped bag, add the bottle of water, and zip it up! Knead the bag to get the uniform to absorb the water. When you get home, throw it into the washer.
For more stain tips visit our Stain Central Page.
Be sure to check out our DIY page for natural alternatives to many household cleaners – we update it often! You can also join us in the fold by subscribing to our newsletter to get notified when new DIY’s are published, new products are released, sales on Molly’s Suds products, and more!