Based on experience, I have two strategies for you. I love white sofas, too, and got one in spite of my husband's concern about the "dirt factor." First, I assume that you have a rule in your house that there is absolutely no eating or drinking in the living room, only in the designated eating area. In spite of this rule, you will still find evidence of wrappers, crumbs, and lollypop sticks in between the seat cushions that occurred when you weren't looking. (LOL) And on rare occasion, sometimes an adult has a drink or food accident when you are entertaining. These things are to be expected.

Option 1: Get a cheap leather sofa if you don't have pets that will chew or inevitably leave claw marks. When my kids were little we couldn't afford much and we got a cheap leather sofa from Value City furniture that lasted a really long time (12 years). It was so fabulous to clean. However, we had a cat that was declawed with the front paws but not the back claws, so when she leaped off the couch, the back claws naturally dig in. So I don't recommend this option if you are in the same situation.

Option 2: We can afford a nicer quality sofa now, but we still chose to go cheap because of the fear the kids would ruin it and we'd be upset that we spent so much money. We got a white slipcovered sofa from IKEA. The individual slipcovers are only $50 in the white color, and made of cotton so you just throw them in the washer. I absolutely love it, and it has cleaned up beautifully each time. I've had it about 6 months now. I wash it about every month or month and a half, depending. You can buy two covers and just alternate (like sheets), but I haven't done this.

I have a front load washer and use my steam option. I put in OxyClean and some bleach and it comes out perfect each time. I dry it until it is damp (never dry completely or else it will shrink), then take it out and smooth it on the couch. There will still be some wrinkles, but honestly, I haven't bothered to use my hand-held steamer to smooth the remaining wrinkles out (so that it looks perfect.) I'm willing to do this every month or so because I like the white color so much, I don't think it's a big deal. But it is some work that you need to accept. My kids are 12 and 10 now and I think they are actually worse about the eating thing in the living room than when they were little! :)

Good luck!