*A big thanks to Carbona for sponsoring this post and for saving many of our children’s clothes. We absolutely love their Stain Devils and think you will too!

It’s laughable really, the messes kids can make. From diaper blowouts to cupcake frosting smears to grass stains, this mom has to be on her toes! I thought it would be fun to count how many times I have to clean up some sort of kid mess within a 12-hour period. Yesterday it was 16 stains—that’s more than one per hour!

{Real Life with Kids video below…can you relate?}

Normally I’d just reach for any old multi-purpose cleaner and if it didn’t come out, shrug and call it a loss. But there’s a reason multi-purpose cleaners don’t work—because all stains are not equal. Each unique stain requires a unique treatment. Totally makes sense!

Now there’s a really awesome way to tackle every type of stain you encounter: Carbona Stain Devils. Carbona understands that each stain is different and has nine stain-removing Stain Devils each specifically formulated to treat a specific stain type. Brilliant! And they really work!

Now instead of tossing out my kids’ shirts, I use Stain Devils to tackle the stain. I’ve saved many clothes this way. So here are the top 16 stains parents deal with every day and the best ways to tackle them.

16 Stains Parents Deal with Every Day and How To Tackle Them

Play Stains

Kids play hard, as they should. Playing is a kid’s job; it’s how they learn and grow. Playing is their MO from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to bed. As a parent, I love seeing my four kids play and I don’t mind the messes that come with that. Grass stains, dirt stains, and sweat stains are all evidence that they are taking their job as professional players seriously. On any given day, my kids are wrestling in the grass, digging in the dirt, throwing rocks, or climbing in their cousins’ chicken coop.

There’s always a dirt smear on a white shirt or grass stains on the knees of their jeans. Play stains come out easily with Carbona Stain Devils 6 and 9. 

Just follow the treatment recommendation on the back of each bottle and the stain is gone!

Art Supply Stains

My kids love to get creative and that means plenty of messes from markers, crayons, pens, paint, and glue. If you’re a parent, then you deal with these types of stains every single day.

More times than I can count, I’ve had to remind my 3-year-old that “We only draw on paper.” Regardless, paint, pen, marker, crayons, and glue usually end up on his clothes, my white leather chairs, the floor, and occasionally the walls.

I’m hoping Michelangelo’s mother had the same problem?

The best way I’ve found to get rid of art supply stains is Carbona Stain Devils 1 (for glue) and 3 (for ink, marker, and crayon). This marker stain came right out of my son’s shirt in about 60 seconds.

Nail polish and Makeup

Kids just naturally have an affinity toward makeup and nail polish. Both my two boys and my two girls have been known to get into my makeup and nail polish, leaving behind some beautiful faces but pretty epic stains. 

Whenever my girls play dress up, I always have Stain Devils 6 (makeup) on hand.

Nail polish is the absolute worst to get out, but if you act quickly, Carbona Stain Devils 1 will get it out when nothing else will.

Blood

I’ll never forget the time I was in the shower and my then 5-year-old son came running in screaming, blood coursing down his nose and onto his shirt. He thought he’d take a spin on my stationary bike while I was in the shower.

When you have kids, blood is practically an every day occurrence. Whether it’s from a scraped knee from running on pavement or a bonked noggin from wrestling around, blood stains are inevitable. Carbona Stain Devils 4 is specially formulated to tackle blood on clothes.

Drinking Stains

If I cried over every spill that happened in my house, I’d be crying all day long because spills happen all the time, especially juice.

You can wipe out most drinking stains with Carbona Stain Devils 8.

Chocolate

You can’t experience childhood properly without chocolate. It’s fun to eat, but incredibly difficult to get out of clothing. Carbona Stain Devils 2 is specially designed to get out chocolate stains so you can enjoy the treat without the worry of messes.

So bring on the s’mores!

Baby Stains

In the baby phase, plan on devoting a lot of your cleaning time to pee, poop, and vomit. Next comes potty training—another messy monster to battle. Even when you think you’re out of the bodily fluids stage, someone surprises you (usually I the middle of the night). For baby-related stains, you can use Stain Devils 8 which is designed to remove baby food, fruit juice, urine, vomit, and even baby poop!

Food

And finally, to top the charts of stains that parents deal with every single day: food stains. Dang, kids are messy! It’s like they’re eating with snow mittens on. A kid can’t eat a hot dog without ketchup and mustard squirting all over his shirt. Whenever we eat pizza, it’s a given that someone is going to dump a slice in her lap. And have you noticed that tomato sauce stains are nearly impossible to get out? For all food-related stains, I grab Carbona Stain Devils 2. It’s the most effective product I’ve found to get rid of tomato sauce stains especially.

Over the years I’ve learned not to stress the mess and just let my kids be kids. There are so many bigger troubles in the world than to waste time commiserating over a few stains. It’s real life. Kids who play hard are learning the value of physical activity; they are learning to love and appreciate nature and to become explorers and creative thinkers. When I learned out to look at messes differently, I became a happier mom.

And when you have all nine Carbona Stain Devils, you always have help at hand. I keep them under my sink at all times so I’m ready to jump into action when a certain stain hits. With Carbona, you can celebrate instead of cringe when your child slides into home plate makes a diving block in the soccer goal.

Isn’t that what life is all about?

Photography by Kara Jo Eaton

*This post was sponsored by Carbona. All opinions are as always, my own.