As a mobile society, we do everything while on the go. Eating, drinking and applying makeup (egads!) while driving are part of a normal daily routine that lead to stains on clothing. Come laundry day, I have found it challenging to remove some of these tough stains like coffee, grease and lipstick, but these tips which I have learned over the years help me remove most any laundry stain.
Remove Coffee or Grease with Vinegar
Vinegar is an excellent laundry stain remover according to Essortment’s laundry cleaning tips and will usually remove coffee and grease stains. Mix a teaspoon of your favorite laundry detergent with one-fourth cup of water and one-fourth cup of white vinegar. Dip a paper towel into the vinegar mixture and dab (do not rub) the coffee or grease stain. Rinse with cold water. Repeat until stain is no longer visible.
Remove Gum in the Freezer
Kids and chewing gum go together, that is until the kid separates from the gum and it ends up on clothing. To remove the gum, Good Houskeeping suggests placing the garment in the freezer overnight so the gum can harden. Then scrap the frozen gum off of the clothing with a dull knife.
Let the Mud Dry
Let the mud on clothing dry, then scrape it off with a dull knife and follow up with a pretreatment, according to Good Housekeeping . For pre-treating mud stains, soak a paper towel with rubbing alcohol and dab the mud stains. Rinse and repeat if needed, then launder garment as usual.
Get the Blood Stain Out
Blood stains take a little elbow grease to completely remove, but it can be done. Fresh blood can be removed by using an eye dropper to apply hydrogen peroxide directly onto the fresh blood stain, according to Good Housekeeping . If blood is dried, mix together1 teaspoon of your favorite laundry detergent, one-half teaspoon of clear ammonia into one half cup of ice cold water. Brush off all dried blood and soak a paper towel in the ammonia mixture and soak the blood stain. Rinse with cold water. If the dried blood stain is still visible, mix one cup of table salt in two quarts of cold water. Pour salt water into a large container and place blood stained garment in container to soak overnight, then launder as usual.
Lemon Juice Removes Ink Stains
When you discover ink stains on your clothing, a little lemon juice will remove the ink for the fabric. Squeeze a little fresh lemon juice on the ink and place the garment in the sunshine until dry. Repeat if needed then launder as usual.
Petroleum Jelly Takes Lipstick Stains Out
Reader’s Digest suggests dabbing on petroleum jelly to lipstick stains on clothing. Blot with a dry paper towel then rinse stain with hydrogen peroxide and launder as usual.
Essortment
Good Housekeeping
MrsClean
Reader’s Digest