My toddler loves pureed carrots. And she loves to feed herself. Needless to say, it's a laundry nightmare waiting to happen. 

So I was more than excited to discover a slew of natural stain-fighting recipes online and in books. That is, until I actually attempted to make them. Complicated steps and random ingredients seemed daunting. After all, having a toddler meant I didn't have time to decipher elaborate instructions or turn my laundry room into a science lab. 

There had to be an easier way. To find the simplest tricks for treating splotches, dollops, and smudges, I turned to the experts -- chemists and parents alike. The first rule, they told me, is to act with speed. The longer a stain has to set in, the harder it is to remove. 

Second, don't be afraid to scrub, scrub, scrub when necessary. "Elbow grease is a real cheap stain remover," says Thelma A. Meyer, the inspiration behind the Mrs. Meyer's Earth-friendly line of cleaners, mother of nine, and author of "Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home: No-Nonsense Advice that Will Inspire You to Clean Like the Dickens." 

Third, keep that stain away from the heat. The dryer will set a stain in. Finally, when all else fails, rinse and repeat: Sometimes it takes a few tries to remove the toughest accidents.

Rules aside, not all laundry stains are created equal. Most fall into one of four categories: oil/grease, protein, mineral, and colored (such as tannins) -- and some may overlap. Each requires its own way of handling, but apparently most need only simple soaps and detergents that you probably already have hidden in your kitchen and laundry room. Could banishing stains really be this easy? I decided to put the theory to the test.

Salad Dressing Splatter
We all know that water and oil don't mix, so rinsing oil and grease stains under the faucet won't work. What you need is a surfactant -- a substance that, when dissolved in water, lowers the surface tension of the water and increases the solubility of organic compounds. Luckily, most of the dish and laundry liquids underneath your kitchen sink contain surfactants.

I found that applying either one directly onto a splotch of salad dressing (without adding water) and letting the material soak prior to normal washing worked well at eliminating even the outer ring that tends to linger on these stains. Make sure to cover the entire blotch with soap or detergent, as it really needs to saturate.

Be mindful, too, of the fabric. Dish liquid makes a better choice for delicate materials like silk, while sturdier garments can take detergent.