Friday, August 6, 2010

Crime Scene Investigation: LRE

The victims & crime scene:

The culprit:
(Not the Bounce, that icky little blue crayon on top of the box.)

Welcome to CSI: Laundry Room Edition

I actually thought it was a blue pen at first and couldn't figure out how that made it into the kids batch but when I got to the empty dryer this crayon wraper was left over. How does that even happen. The crayon completely disintegrates but the paper made it all the way through the wash???

The sentence:
I started checking online, I just couldn't bear to throw away all those clothes. I found a solution that looked pretty powerful, plus I had all the ingredients on hand.

2 scoops/or cups Tide
1 Cup Borax
1 C Shout stain remover
2 scoops OxyClean
1 C Vinegar
Mix in hot water and let water agitate for 1 minute and then add clothes. Let clothes soak for two hours and then wash. (I did an additional wash afterwards since the first formula was so concentrated.)

The verdict:
As you can clearly see it didn't take it all out but I'd say it's at least 80% better. Some clothes, oddly enough, that white shirt on the right came completely out, while others still have medium to faint blue smudges.

All in all, I'm not throwing any of the clothes away (the worst was a pair of pj shorts and since they're not worn in public I dont care much).


(*This is actually a recycled post from my family blog about a year ago, but I thought it was an oldie but goodie so I wanted to share.)

11 comments:

Barbaloot said...

I'd rather a blue crayon than gum left in a pocket...

Olivia Carter said...

DUDE! That sucks! I hate laundry for that reason. I've never had blue crayon but I did have blue pen and it SUCKED! I'm tucking away this little mixture for next time! :)

Rochelle Brunson said...

So far I've managed to avoid this kind of disaster with crayons, I have done it with chapstick, and luckily it washes out most of the time.

Jessica G. said...

Wow, it works! I usually think people are insane/living in the Dark Ages when they suggest Borox.

Me (aka Danielle) said...

I hate it when things like that go through the wash. My hubby has a tendency to leave ibuprofens and tylenols in his pocket. The dye in those pills are real buggers.

Unknown said...

So...How do you fix the crayon?

Jill Hunt said...

Very Impressive!

stewbert said...

oh geeze, wish i'd known about that when kiddo put a blue crayon through our wash last year! then she did it again a couple of weeks later.

i made her wear the clothes like that. (i'm the meanest mother alive.)

Sabrina O'Malley said...

Thanks for the recipe! I have a few crayons hit the dryer, red and yellow, but luckily they mostly attacked the towels.

Susan said...

Nice! I will have to try that little recipe! :)

Violet said...

We've had this exact thing happen. What is it with blue crayons?! Thank you for sharing that recipe. I just moved out spotted clothes to the wear-in-the-muddy-garden bins, but I would have loved to salvage a few of my favorites with a handy recipe like that.