Stain Removing 101

For school this year Amelia is 'taking' Home Ec. ~ we have no formal curriculum, so she gets to do whatever her 'Home Ec' teacher deems important. (wa-ha-ha!) This week she was to study laundry and in the process came up with these tips...

Stain musts:
1. Always apply removers form the inside of fabrics.
2. Put a folded paper towel under the stain to blot it

· How to remove Butter or margarine: spray with WD-40 then work in undiluted dish soap and wash on the hottest cycle safe for the fabric.
· Did your pen leak on your clothes? Well here is several ways that claim to remove Ink. If one does not work try another.
o I found several different places warning not to use hair spray because most have oil in them and will just spread the stain.
o Rubbing alcohol, either use a sponge or soak in a glass. (for tough stains try Denatured alcohol)
o White toothpaste (not gel) rub firmly into stain then pretreat and launder as usual.
o Milk soak stain in milk and the milk should dissolve the Ink.

And do you know those stains that kind of look like grease stains, and seem to just appear from the middle of no where (A.K.A. the dryer)?
The most likely cause: your fabric softener!

o How to fix: for dryer sheets dampen the stain then rub with a pure bar soap like dove or ivory for a few minutes then re-launder.
o For liquid fabric softener, use liquid dish soap, dampen then rub in dish soap then launder


Quick tip 1#: to reduce fading on clothes wash them inside out
Quick tip #2: tired of losing socks when you wash them put the socks (inside out) in a cotton pillow case (or a machine washable bag) then close the end with a hair rubber band, and wash and dry as usual.

Most of these tips were gleaned from the following two books:

• Talking Dirty with the Queen of Clean by Linda Cobb
• Home Comforts: The Art & Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson

Next she wants to type out our homemade laundry detergent recipe for you!