Like many of you, I have children that get into everything they possibly can and thoroughly enjoy making messes. My little girl can find one single M&M and somehow I find her covered head to toe in chocolate.
They come home daily from school with food stains, grass stains, who knows what stains… And all those wonderful stains make it into the laundry hamper for me to find days later.
I have tried about every product on the market for stain removal and so far I haven’t found anything that works as well as this simple homemade recipe. I get frustrated with stain removal charts as well- they can be helpful to some but how am I supposed to know if that blue-ish brown spot is mud, chocolate or blueberries?
Even if I catch the stain on the clothes as the kids get home, they can’t remember what it is they got all over themselves. So short of finding green stains on knees- I usually have no idea what the heck the stain is to identify on a chart anyway.
So I have experimented over the years with various products and various homemade recipes trying to find an all-in-one, simple stain remover that actually works and I thought I’d share my very favorite one with you! This is cheap and easy to make and I have used it on all sorts of stains and had great luck with getting things clean. I have used it on various fabrics, colors, whites…. all with great results. 
In fact, here is a little peek at my Sunday afternoon laundry session. I had 8 items that had stains on them – everything from set in paint stains to blueberry juice, to mystery yellow something or other and mud. I had lots of cotton items, denim, a sweater– and this stain remover worked on almost everything. Here is the easy recipe- simply make as much as you need! Mix equal parts:
- Blue Dawn Dish Soap
- Hydrogen Peroxide
- Baking Soda
I usually mix 1 tablespoon of each and that will be enough for several items- I had enough for all the items pictured above. I add one tablespoon of each to a bowl and then I just use a spoon to scoop a bit of stain remover onto the stain. I use the backside of the spoon to sort of rub it in and then let it sit for up to an hour. You can also get a little squeezy bottle and make a larger amount to have on hand- mine bottle is from the Dollar Store. I don’t like to let this sit for a really long time (say days on end) because there is a chance the blue in the Dawn dish soap will discolor your fabric. A few hours is just fine- even on whites. And after letting this stuff sit- most of the items were perfectly clean. Blueberry juice gone, mystery yellow stain gone, chocolate stain gone, grass stains gone, unknown dark brown spots gone…. For the items it didn’t get back to brand new condition, I just repeated the process and there was a dramatic difference. The items I haven’t found this to work as well on are set in paint stains. And remember how I mentioned my kid’s really, really love to do a number on their clothing?
Yeah… this was halfway into a hike in Maui. My little girl was absolutely covered in mud by the end of the day :). Those shorts got rinsed in the hotel sink and then stuffed in a bag for 2 days until we could get home and launder them. In the back those shorts were completely covered in a thick mud. Here they are after one round of stain remover– if you look super carefully there is a tiny bit of a stain on the seams but overall these look fantastic and they are totally wearable again.
And I have used these on shoes too– my littles have a lot of canvas shoes like these: 
I have washed them in the past and found not much of the dirt comes off. I did try the DIY stain remover just quickly rubbing it all over the shoe and letting it sit for about 40 minutes. I tossed in the wash and you can see a huge difference. Use high quality chemical cleaning supplies, and save with IGA products and prices in the catalogues. They still weren’t perfectly clean so I just repeated the process and second time and actually used an old toothbrush to scrub in the stain remover and now these little shoes look really great. So give it a shot and see how it works for you!
***As with any homemade cleaner it is best to test this first in an inconspicuous spot to be sure it is safe for your fabric.
And if you like this post, here are a few other things you might enjoy: 
How to Perfectly Clean Makeup Brushes 
How to Clean Sunglasses 
Free Printable Chore Charts for Kids
Homemade Spot Carpet Cleaner– this works beautifully on car interiors!
Thank you Charlene.
Holy Cow! This stuff is the BEST!!! I wish I had this recipe when my kids were little. As it is, you have saved me from throwing away a dozen expensive golf shirts, cause hubby likes to cook bacon Saturday morning before he hits the course, and I have tried Everything, including soaking in Dawn for days, and only your recipe gets those stubborn grease stains out. Thanks!!!!
Whoo hoo! So thrilled to hear that Debbie 🙂
Does his work on blood stains?
Can this be used on kitchen chair covers. Ours are a light linen color and now have stains that I would love to remove.
Joyce, I am not sure on that. Can you spot test in an inconspicuous place?
Does this remove ref mud stain from clothing ?
Hi Kat- give it a shot! I have had dirt splatters on pants from rain and also knee stains on pants from the children playing and had this work perfectly.
Have you tried this recipe but substituting in another cleaner for the Dawn? My daughter needs something that is more natural due to her allergies.
Jen, I have not. I think it would work just not as well. There is a specific ingredient in blue Dawn that is magic 🙂
Why Blue dish soap? Does the clear soap not work as well?
Hi Jayme,
As mentioned in the post there is a certain ingredient in blue Dawn specifically that makes it very effective for cleaning. You see in videos from the oil disasters, they actually cleaned animals with blue Dawn that were exposed to the oil spills.
You are welcome to try any dish soap you like but I have found blue Dawn to be the most effective. If you’d like to get more specific, you can always cross reference the ingredients list with the various dish soap products to identify what exactly makes blue Dawn so effective.
HTH!
Sorry, I know I asked a different question earlier, but my husband brought up a good point, is it safe for h/e washers? We just got a new one so we are still learning about it.
Hi Jayme,
I have an HE washer as do most I think. I have never heard of a stain remover causing issues with a washing machine but you might check your manual just in case 🙂
Just tried this on hubby’s uniform dress shirt — you know, the kind that has to be washed on gentle. He had years old sweat stains on the collar “ring around the collar” and as I pulled it out of the wash, somewhat cynical that it had worked, I was so excited to see that the stains are all but noticeable. I only let it set for about 40 mins before throwing it in the wash, but WOW! What a difference. Now I’m starting to think of all those other little pesky stains I’m going to try this on. Thank you!!
Yeah thrilled to hear that April!
Ok I have been using this concoction for a little while now, but for some reason, I didn’t think I could make it ahead of time. I always make it up and put on stain. So you find that it works just as well, if already mixed ahead of time? Because I love the idea of the squeeze bottle. Thanks!!
Hi Susan, I do make it ahead of time but I don’t make a lot. I have found if it sits for months it isn’t as effective. I make about a one month batch at a time.
it will work to erase ink from doll’s face?
Josie,
I would contact the manufacturer of your doll and ask them what to do. I don’t think I would tinker with DIY recipes – especially if you have an expensive doll- better to ask them directly what they recommend. Good luck!
I purchased a cute cream-colored top at a thrift store and didn’t notice a faint brown stain straight down the center until I went to wear it yesterday. Looks like the prior owner had an incident with a cup of coffee. I was annoyed, only because the top is really nice! Lucky for me, your DIY Stain Remover recipe arrived in my inbox yesterday. Tried it out last night and now the stain is GONE!! Amazing! This is a top that has been through at least one washing machine load plus a round in the dryer, so my hopes were low to start… but it worked PERFECTLY! I didn’t use the blue Dawn dish soap, but substituted the colorless hippie-organic-“natural” dish soap in my kitchen and it appeared to work just as well. Amazing! Thanks so much!
Great so happy that worked for you Danielle.
Hi Charlene
Thanks so much for posting your article. Your stain removing formula works beautifully!
I tried it out today on some white linens that had some old (ie: YEARS) brown stains from “who knows where” and now they’ve all faded away in just the past couple hours after applying directly onto the affected areas.
I’m truly impressed with the results!! 🙂
Yeah so happy to hear that Karen! Have a wonderful weekend 🙂
I am definitely going to try this. I also have kids that have lots of stains. Do you know if it would work with crayon? Every once in a while I have a child sneak a crayon from a restaurant in their pockets and I don’t catch it in time. I wash, then dry then find the crayon stains on the clothes.
Have you tried it on carpets or furniture? I have blood, red wine and coffee to get out
I have to say-this works!!
The first day I was wearing my new black and white floral dress, I splashed balsamic vinegar all over it while making a salad. I waited far too long to do anything about the stain and I even tried washing and drying it twice.
I became really worried after I had dried it twice and realized the heat had set the stain. I began researching non-toxic ways to remove stains. I tried baking soda and vinegar. Didn’t work. I tried soaking in vinegar. Didn’t work. I tried some toxic oxi-clean type of stain stick. Didn’t work!
The baking soda/hydrogen peroxide/blue Dawn dish soap worked the first time! I rubbed it into the dress a little bit and let it sit for about an hour. Rinsed it with very hot water then laundered as usual. Yay!
Just be careful what your clothes are sitting on while you let them sit awhile-we have a large piece if wood sitting across the top of our washer/dryer for folding. They were sitting on that and appear to have left some strange marks on the wood. But I’ll take that over getting my brand new dress back!
So glad to hear that Mary! Thank you for taking the time to comment on your experience.
It really truly does not have to be Dawn brand! They get a lot of free publicity but any decent dish soap works just fine. And if you use a clear one, no blue staining.
Hi GJ- I am not paid to endorse Dawn at all and haven’t had the issue with staining. I have found other brands just don’t work as well. I don’t actually buy blue Dawn for dish soap so I have tried many times to use whatever brand I have on hand and for some reason it just doesn’t seem as effective. That is just my experience.
I am glad you had good results though!
Is realy good.
Happy to hear that Lore!
How do i get Dawn stains out of a sheet that i let sit a day to get a blood stain out.
Oh gosh so you used Dawn to remove a stain and now the Dawn stained your garment? Gosh I am not sure. I haven’t had that experience. Have you tried just soaking the sheets in hot water with vinegar? You can fill a sink to fit it in or you can just put the stained spot in a large bowl.
So far I have just washed in cold loads, so I read somewhere to put it in a hot wash load. It’s still there. I got tired of messing with it for now, and threw it in the dryer. I may soak it in vinegar in the future. But after washing it four times I was a little over it. Thanks for the tip. I’ll try it.
Just thought to let you know that I use dawn for most stains. Especially old grease stains I find on my cotton shirts. (I forget my apron!) I usually don’t notice them until I hang up the dried laundry.. I will treat the stain with dawn roll it up throw it in the hamper and leave it until I wash clothes again. Maybe a week later. It takes out that old dry dried in stain and does not leave a hint of blue. I just wash as usual and have my cotton shirts stain free once more. Any stain of any kind comes out this way.
Sorry this is most prob a very dumb question
If youse one tablespoon of each ingredient
If you have a squeeze bottle what liquid do you include
Thank you
I have been just using blued dawn on stains and of course I was so amazed
It
Works girls
I had a bad stain on adhirt I wS in process of donating it when I wS told about blue sawn I put it o not the stain and washed it it in washing machine
When I took it out of the washer I could not believe my eyes months old stain was gone!!
I became an instant believer now I use it on all my stains
Better than any store bought product
Thanks
Jackie- no liquid. 🙂 Just the mixture indicated and it squeezes right out of the bottle.
This ingredient combo works to remove food gunk from cookware. I keep all three in my kitchen at all times. Just make a thick paste on the cookware surface and walk away for 10-15 minutes then scour. It’s especially effective for scorched milk. I make yogurt in my Instant Pot and that pesky film it leaves behind was a challenge.
Whoa! That is so smart! Thank you for sharing Mandy. 🙂
Can that far if I have lipstick or Chapstick in my pocket?
This has saved me a lot of money with buying stain removers. Funny I had tried each product individually and it worked on some stains, but combining all three has gotten out a lot of stains. From underarms, neck, some ink, grease and one I didn’t know what the stain was. It took several washes,but it eventually clear. Thanks shoo much for posting!