The Stain Remover I Will Never Live Without

Oxiclean is billed as a versatile stain remover, and I've never met a stain it couldn't handle. Like the aforementioned mustard and tomato stains, I've also had success with every other stain I've encountered. When I got bright green salad dressing on my favorite (and, I'll argue, irreplaceable) white jeans, I simply soaked them in Oxiclean for about an hour, and the stain was gone.

Of course, some stains are more difficult than others. When my husband got a large splash of curry sauce on his jeans a few weeks ago, it took a bit more elbow grease and two separate soakings in Oxiclean, but the stain did eventually go away. (And anyone who's ever cooked with turmeric will know just what a pain it is to get it out of anything.)

But Oxiclean hasn't just saved my clothes from ending up in the garbage. I love white and off-white bed sheets, but they're not super practical. And there's nothing worse than watching your crisp white sheets and pillow cases turn yellow after a few months of use. A quick soak in some Oxiclean has made many sheet sets of mine look almost brand new again, and I'm no longer afraid of buying white sheets only to watch them inevitably become stained over time. Now I just incorporate Oxiclean into my regular bedding washing routine.

Oxiclean can also be added to your laundry load, or I've used as a spot treatment when I've discovered some discoloration on an item of clothing I was planning on wearing the next day, but didn't have time to launder.

I do find it's best to wash your items normally after using Oxiclean on them, as it can leave behind a residue that makes them stiff. But it's a small price to pay for saving literally hundreds of dollars by not having to replace my best jeans and favorite sheets.