1.  Crayon on carpet - Spray with WD-40 and scrub.  Follow immediately with dish soap and water or steam clean carpet.  The soap removes the WD-40.

2.  Ballpoint ink -  Place a paper towel or rag under the stain and then saturate the stain with an alcohol-based hair spray or rubbing alcohol, which will help to break up the ink.  The paper towel will help to absorb the excess hairspray/alcohol or stain if it starts to run.  Then blot the stain with a rag.  Continue these steps until the stain is removed and then wash as normal.  (You may want to test the hairspray on an inconspicuous area first.)

3.  Chocolate – Mix detergent and warm water together and blot the stain.  Next, blot the area with ammonia and water.  Clean the area again with the detergent solution.  Then, clean the area again with clean water (no soap).  Repeat as necessary until stain is gone.  I found out the hard way that this does work!

4.  Chewing gum - Put ice cubes in a plastic bag and place on gum stain.  You could even try to put the whole garment into the freezer.  Crack or scrape off excess gum.  Spray the stain with a pretreatment product.  Rub with a heavy-duty liquid detergent such as Wisk, Gain, or Tide.  Rinse with hot water.  Repeat until stain is gone.  If stain will not come out, then try using liquid lighter fluid (test first).  Put lighter fluid on a clean cloth and rub over the remaining gum.  Wash as normal.

5.  Lipstick – Remove any excess, then rub in glycerine or petroleum jelly.  If stain persists use grease solvent or stain remover.  Wash as normal. 

For small and fresh stains – Spray the stain with a stain remover such as Shout! or apply liquid laundry detergent or powdered detergent mixed with water to make a paste.  Remember to blot and sponge the stain.  Sponge from the outside of the stain toward the inside to keep the stain from spreading.

Other tips: 

If you have a mystery stain, soak the fabric in cold water before washing or applying a stain remover.  Some stains will set with warm water. 

Sponge a stain, don’t rub it.  Rubbing sometimes damages the fabric.

Read clothing labels!  If it says no bleach, then don’t do it. 

Wash delicates in zippered mesh bags.  You can usually get these at the dollar store. 

Don’t heat dry or iron your clothes until you know the stain is gone.  This will cause the stains to set.

Please share your stain removing tips with us!   :)

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

1.  Hydrogen peroxide – Good for getting out blood, juice, and other red stains.  I’ve used this product many times to get blood out of clothing.  You may want to do a small test spot before using.  After you’ve opened the bottle, you may want to replace it every few months because I’ve heard it starts turning to water.  Someone also told me that they add some peroxide to their load of whites.

2.  Amodex (ink zapper) – This product was featured on Good Morning America and The Oprah Winfrey Show.  Place it on the ink stain and work it in or follow the directions on the bottle.  You can get it at stationery stores or the Amodex website.

3.  OxiClean (sodium percarbonate) – Good for stains of all colors.  Follow manufacturer’s instructions and soak stains for several hours before washing.

4.  Fels-naptha (grease buster) – Good for getting out oily stains such as salad dressing, gravy, grease, and pasta sauce.  I checked out their site and this product has many uses.  Some wrote in to say that they make their own laundry detergent using Fels-naptha.   I definitely need some of this soap since grease is so hard to get out of clothes.

Do you have a product that works great on stains?  Please tell us about it.  We’d love to know.

Picture from thefabricofourlives.com.

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

I walked into the living room and found chocolate all over the carpet.  Apparently he had been trying to get the chocolate off his hands and couldn’t.  He didn’t stop there either.  He wiped chocolate all over my off-white couch.  It’s a wonder I didn’t lose it.

I sprayed the couch with Woolite Upholstery Cleaner and began wiping and things weren’t looking so good.  I let it set for a few minutes and began wiping again.  Not such good results.  I sprayed the Woolite again and also used my Tide Spin Brush on it too.  That was yielding better results, but the stains were still there.  I then began to search online for tips.  You can be assured if you’re looking for information about something, you can find it on the internet. 

I came across Pioneer Thinking, which has tips for stain removal.  I found out that I was doing most things right, but needed to keep blotting and I also needed to use ammonia.  I’m guessing the ammonia was to help release the grease.

I am happy to tell you that the chocolate stains are gone from my couch.  I’m happy of that because it really looked like someone had rubbed poo all over my couch.  Nasty!  Anyway, here’s the recipe for chocolate removal.  I hope you’ll stop by Pioneer Thinking for more stain removal tips.

Chocolate- Stain Removal on Carpet and Upholstery

1. Mix one teaspoon of a neutral detergent (a mild detergent containing no alkalies or bleaches) with a cup of luke-warm water. Blot.

2. Mix one tablespoon of household ammonia with a half-cup of water. Blot.

3. Repeat step one.

4. Sponge with clean water. Blot.

Post from: Thrifty Mommy