Cleaning Children's White Socks

I remember when I was little and I would frequently go around the house and outside with just my socks on. As with almost all little children, their socks get dirty and grungy and grubby. It's just a part of being six, but that doesn't necessarily make the mom's laundry job any easier. Especially with white socks, it's hard to get them as clean as you'd like or need and your kids will just muddy them up again anyway. So how do you get them back to white? Is it even possible? The answer to the latter is yes! It is possible to return your children's socks back to white and it's not too hard.

You know that hydrogen peroxide you keep on hand for cleaning out scrapes and cuts from the playground? You can use that same hydrogen peroxide to whiten and bleach your children's white socks. Before washing them, combine one cup of hydrogen peroxide with about a gallon of water and soak the socks in it before washing. You can then go ahead and wash the socks as normal. Hydrogen peroxide, properly diluted, is a very gentle bleach and will not harm the fabric of the socks.

Another tip to keep in mind as you wash those white children's socks is to wash them when they're dirty, and I mean to wash them as soon as you can. If you allow those dirt stains to set in then you'll have a much harder time getting the grungy look out, but if you make sure your children actually put their dirty white socks in the hamper, then you can wash them soon and do more to actively prevent the dinginess of white socks. Wash those white socks in hot water and use a bleach detergent. The more you can safely bleach your kids' white socks the better.

Another thing to keep in mind is that yes, white socks do become dingy and you can't necessarily prevent that look from ever coming on. All of these tips are for prolonging the life of white socks, but with socks in general (and especially white socks), they wear out and lose their original color and quality just because of sheer use and washings. So don't be discouraged when the day comes when you'll have to throw some of those socks out. It's okay!

Preventing the dingy look on your socks is possible and easy. With just a little extra step, you can succeed in preserving the whiteness and quality of those socks just a little longer. Just because your children run outside and inside and dirty up those white socks, doesn't mean those socks can't be cleaned!