Ask Mrs. Clean: House Cleaning, Stain Removal and Organizing Tips

[Avril]

Myself and my mother own white cotton t shirts and blouses. We wash the items and carefully store them in drawers or wardrobes. Quite often we get an item out to wear and find that yellow patches have appeared. They are very difficult to get out and it takes many washes or treatments to remove them. It only happens on white cotton. What is happening between laundering, storing and then wearing again? They are perfect when put away for future use but not when removing for wear again. We live in different houses so it is not some creature causing them. Other people have said that they have the same problem too. Can anyone answer the puzzle?

[mrscleannw]

Hello Avril and welcome to Mrs. Clean's forum!
I have had the yellow mystery stains appear on my cotton shirts as well. Cotton is made from a living thing (plant) and it does oxidize and degrade over time. That is something you cannot control.

There are some things you can do. Some fabric softeners contain chlorine which will cause the yellow spots over time. Switch to a softener that does not contain chlorine.

Using chlorine bleach will also yellow cotton, so the more you bleach to get clothes white, the more they may yellow! Use only a non-chlorine bleach or use hydrogen peroxide in place of bleach. It is inexpensive and very effective.

Use a stain stick instead of bleach for whites.

There are products that I found when I was researching that are supposed to get yellow stains out of cotton, they are: "iron out" and "yellow out". You could try them as there are many testimonials to their success.
The last option is to do a search on the internet. I found other options but they seemed time consuming, require boiling and mixing concoctions and soaking for quite some time.
Good luck!
Mrs. Clean

[CleanMachine]

I'd definitely start with checking the laundering process. What kind of detergent / laundry soap are you using? It might also be useful to check the pH of the water used during the laundering. If your pH is off, it could affect the coloring of your clothes (along with other things like corrosion of pipes). Pick up some ph strips and check it out, its pretty easy.

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out