How Do You Get Out Massachusetts Mud?
From Our Members...
Originally printed in October, 2005

How do you get out Massachusetts mud??  I've tried Shout and other prewashes, 
and a bleach pen (which takes out the color of the garment and leaves the stain!).  
The girls have ruined so many nice things with Jell-o, juice, Gatorade and mud 
that I hate to let them wear anything nice anywhere.    ~Trish

I have had luck soaking things for several hours in a solution of OxyClean 
(follow the ratio for stains on the package).  I make up a bunch of it in a 
pot or bucket and just let the whole garment soak instead of scrubbing at it.  
I have found it works best to soak ASAP to keep the stain form setting further.    
~Thea

Dreft has a product called Dreft Laundry Stain Remover.  This works wonders.  
I spray it on the stain and just drop the clothes in the hamper - the next 
time the laundry is done, the stain is gone!  I do saturate the stains with 
the spray... but then I forget about it.  This product has worked for me on 
grass, mud, blood, formula, food (including spaghetti sauce) and more.  The 
only time it has been hit or miss with me has been if the clothes were washed 
and dried before treating the stain.  Even then, I've sprayed it on the stains, 
rewashed and many have come out fine.  I can't find this product everywhere - 
I usually buy it at Toys R Us or Babies R Us.  I have yet to see it in 
BJs or grocery stores.    ~Linda

Hello, fellow stain-fighters!  I've found that pre-treating stains with liquid 
Tide (with or without bleach alternative) works very well.  Pour it on the 
stain as soon as possible, let it sit for minutes, hours, days, whatever, 
and wash in warm.  Repeat if any stain remains before putting clothes in 
the dryer.  Once stains have been "cooked in" by the dryer, they're much 
more difficult to remove.  Washing machines make a difference also, I have 
found.  My old washer was a top-loading water guzzler.  We now have a high-
efficiency washer that definitely gets our clothes cleaner and uses much 
less water (good news for our testy septic system!)    ~Sue

I'm a big believer in the Spray-n-Wash Stain Stick.  Put it on when the stain 
is fresh and leave until laundry day.  For really tough stains, I'll soak in 
OxyClean (I love this stuff).  I add it to almost all my loads as an extra 
fighter against nasty stains.  Everyone has mentioned great stains they can 
treat, but I find the biggest problem for me is mustard.  It's worse than 
ketchup.  If I get to the mustard right away, I can get it out with the 
stain stick/OxyClean.    ~ Laurie

I received my first bottle of this [Dreft Laundry Stain Remover] as a shower 
gift and have been singing the praises of this product since the days that I 
used it while the kids were in NICU - those messy first few diaper blow outs 
came right out of all their/my clothes and never left a stain.  I had a hard 
time finding it at first too, but then was thrilled to see it at Target 
($2.99 instead of $3.49 at Toys R Us!).  We use it on everything - our clothes 
too - even washed my husband sneakers after saturating them!  Glad to hear 
someone else loves it as much as I do!!!  ~Cathy