The marketers got me.

I was getting ready for bed the other night when I noticed blue dye all over my white, 1000-thread count pillow case.  I don't know where the heck it came from, but I wanted it gone!  So, I washed it.  Seems like a simple solution/task, but it was quite the opposite.  Let me walk you through my process.  I washed an entire load of whites, by the way.

First, I pre-treated the pillow case stains with Shout stain remover and let that sit for five minutes.  While the pillow case was was being treated, I started the washing machine.  To it, I added Tide detergent and Clorox bleach.  But then I thought, "what if that ink comes off and gets on the rest of my whites?"  So I added a Shout Color Catcher sheet.  I then added the clothes to the machine, but before I closed the lid I thought, "what if the pre-treatment wasn't enough??"  So I tossed in a packet of Tide Stain Release for good measure.  I opened the dryer to make sure it was empty (it really peeves me when I go to put wet clothes in the dryer and it's full!) and remembered I had a Tide Dryer Bar that I've been wanting to try.  So I cleaned and dried an area in the dryer and stuck on a dryer bar.

I was really proud of myself after I was done.  As I exited the laundry area, I began to feel like a fool.  Did I really need all of those products??  Probably not.  I'm sad to say that the marketers got me.