(alternative title – How Do I Get the Stains Out?)
In between car pools this morning I figured I would throw in a load of laundry. When I got back and took the load out of the dryer I realized that someone had left a black pen in a pants pocket which had leaked all over the place. My new pink shirt that I have worn once is covered with black splotches. My pink, black and white check shirt that I adore – stained. My tan skirt – ruined. Seems my clothes bore the brunt of the damage. I have no clue which of my progeny was responsible for the errant pen – but was it my fault too for not checking the pockets thoroughly enough? Of course, none of the kids will own up to it being their pen (I found the pieces of the disintegrated pen within the laundry) – and their clothes haven’t really suffered. So who is at fault? What if I do find out who the culprit is – what kind of consequence is appropriate? Buying me clothes to replace the ones that are damaged? What if the kid doesn’t have the money for that?
Part 2 – the dryer drum has ink smeared all over it. Any ideas how to get that off before ruining another load of laundry? Is there anything I can do to rescue my ruined clothes? Or is baked in ink the kiss of death?
Help me here – I am trying to tell myself these are just clothes, no one got hurt, it’s no big deal, but I cannot help but be upset. (Perhaps a little mad at myself too…) – is it possible I can salvage anything from this?
Being completely inexperienced, i think it would depend which kid and at which age you feel they should be responsible for taking stuff out of their pockets. of course, there is “i didn’t know/i forgot” kind of excuse which might be valid. Do you tell them regularly to empty pockets? do they know its a rule for laundry?
Although this is MOST annoying, I really don’t think it’s fair to expect one of the kids to reimburse you for all of the ruined clothing. I would DEF tell them what happened though & how upset you are about all of the ruined clothing etc. but I still would not hold them responsible to replace it.
How very frustrating! I am so sorry. I am totally clueless when it comes to getting rid of stains but wish you all the best of luck with them
Been there done that, and – with crayons my kids are little. Its not their fault I didnt check the pockets. Also happened with my husband’s pants. Nothing to do about it. But now I am very careful about checking pockets. Also, everyone’s laundry is done seperately, so if there is a crayon in my son’s pocket only his clothes get ruined.
1) To remove the ink from the drum try either denatured alcohol or acetone; it depends on the type of ink. Make sure it is very dry before you run the dryer again–both solvents are flammable. You can try them on the clothes too, but it is less likely to work and may ruin the dye.
2) Assuming it wasn’t the 9 year old, whom I’d excuse based on youth, yes it is the kid’s fault. But I have to say I always used to check when I was doing family laundry. You can’t be too careful. Now that my kids are older and do their own laundry I got careless; it bit me when I left a pen in a pocket and ruined some clothes.
Hannah at Cooking Manager is looking for challenges – ask her how to get the ink out of the drum.
http://www.cookingmanager.com/
Arg! Silver lining? Reason to go shopping
Safest way to get ink out of dryer:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4867534_pen-ink-out-clothes-dryer.html
(google search the phrase above for more suggestions)
A few weeks ago I mistakenly put a white t shirt in a cold dark wash, the tshirt got blue all over it. I sprayed it with stain remover, thinking to let it sit a few minutes, but then life got in the way and I forgot about it until the next day, when I got to it again I noticed that all the stains were gone!
despite the disasterous consequences, i think this has to be put in perspecive.
there is a story about a wealthy man who asked a famous rabbi (can’t remember who) why his son stopped keeping mitvos. the rabbi replied, “many years ago when i was a guest in your house over shabbos, i witnessed your reaction to him breaking shabbos, you simply told him off. but when he damaged a valuable article, you went mad at him. you basically were telling him money is more important than shabbos, by the emotions you protrayed”
in this case, it was most likely an oversight, and although the child needs to know to be responsible, it shouldn’t (in my humble opinion) be a major issue.
whenever these things happen, we should thanks HaShem that He is testing us and/or removing our aveiros through our possessions rather than other more painful ways. if we accept these thing with love, the gemara says, that HaShem forgives all our aveiros.
My go to for pretty much anything is Mr Clean Magic Erasers. For the clothing, I would call a dry cleaner or a laundry service.
What a great excuse to go SHOPPING!