Stain Tips!

Here are Josie's basic rules for dealing with all stains:         

1. Keep a supply of WHITE absorbent cotton cloths (old-fashioned diapers are great!) handy... these are perfect for blotting stains. You don't want to use colored cloths because your cleaning solution might lift dye and transfer to the very item you want to clean!

2. Never, EVER dry an item that still has a stain! The heat will most assuredly set the stain... leaving permanent evidence!

3. Blot up as much of the offending stain as you can with your white absorbent cloth.

4. Rinse out as much of the stain as you can by pouring water through the BACK of where the stain occurred. The idea is to push out the staining agent from the cloth.

5. THEN, treat the stain by applying treatment listed below, rinsing, repeating as necessary. Usually, you'll want to apply the stain treatment, wait 5-10 minutes or so, and then rinse/rub/repeat as necessary. While the stain treatment is doing the work, you can go have a coffee break. Then wash as usual, and check before drying. (Read tip 2 above and memorize it!)

6. Remember... what works on one type of cloth won't work on another!

7. The temperature of the water you're cleaning with matters, too. Hot water will cook protein stains (milk, blood, etc.) right into the cloth... so don't assume hotter water is better. Start with cool water when cleaning; you can always turn up the heat.

8. Basic stain cleaning items to keep on hand: white vinegar, enzymatic pre-treatment spray, spray bottle, Dawn dishing washing detergent, Borax, hydrogen peroxide.

9. And test your treatment on an out of sight area (for example, hem). Josie and her creator cannot be held liable for folks who start squirting stain treatments all over the place, willy nilly. That being said...

Some stain tips

Blood: hydrogen peroxide is great for removing blood. Interesting chemical reaction, too. (!) 

Candle Wax. My friends Mary Tom and Crystal told me about this "warm" step for this one. First, get the candle wax cold: either put your item in the freezer, or put ice cubes in baggies and rub the cold baggy over the wax. This will make the wax brittle. With a table or butter (not sharp!) knife, lift up as much of the wax as you can. Now for the warm step: put white paper towels over wax stain. Turn the item over on your ironing board, so the towels are on the ironing board. Heat up your iron to a medium heat. Gently iron over the back of the stain, thus melting the candle wax and letting it soak into the paper towels. If there is still any residue left, treat with rubbing alcohol before laundering. 

Chocolate: Chocolate is one of those tricky "combo" stains--that is, it is a protein, tannin and dye stain all at once.  

1. First, soak or rinse in COLD water. This helps rinse out the protein portion of the stain from the milk in the chocolate. 

2. Next, pre-treat with detergent or enzymatic pre-treatment spray. (Do NOT use soap. This will set the tannin part of the stain. Tannin is also found in coffee or milk.)

3. Then wash in warmest water possible.

4. If stain is left, soak in mix of hot water, and about a half cup of all-fabric bleach (such as Clorox 2) and dishwasher detergent (such as Cascade). 

Cola, tea, and coffee: these are tannin stains, so don't pre-treat them directly with soap; that may just set the stains permanently! Instead, pre-treat with white vinegar spray (1/3 white vinegar to 2/3 water) and was as soon as possible in warm water. If a stain remains, re-wash in warm water with all-fabric bleach.

Cranberry Sauce or Cider (and other fruit-based stains): Blot as much of the spill as possible with white, absorbent cloth. Mix 2/3 water to 1/3 vinegar. Put in spray bottle and spray on stain. Wait 10 minutes and spray on enzymatic pre-treatment. Wash as usual. Remember, though, white vinegar is actually acetic acid, so if you want to use this on fine or fragile fabrics, test a hidden spot first, then apply the solution to the stain with an eyedropper.   

Ink: Spritz hairspray on the stain before washing. Or try treating with rubbing alcohol before washing. Please note this is for ball point ink... sad to say, Josie still hasn't figured out how to obliterate nastier ink stains... like toner!

Dirt: This is one stain issue you DO want to wash in the hottest water your fabric can stand. But add a liberal dash of Borax directly to the wash. Borax is sometimes hard to find... but it's a great laundry booster. (You can combine it with the cheapest laundry detergent and end up with a great wash!)

Lipstick: Dawn dish washing detergent! I found this out the hard way. At a book signing for Death by Deep Dish Pie, I decided to apply lipstick while still in my car... and dropped the burgundy lipstick right on my cream-colored skirt. I made a joke about it at the signing... and then went home and tried to research lipstick removal techniques. Finally, in desperation, I grabbed the Dawn, applied it directly to the lipstick stain... and the Dawn broke up the greasy lipstick. Hah!

Mustard: Glycerin. It's in the pharmacy section. I'm not sure what else it is used for, but combined with an enzymatic spray, it gets out mustard better than anything I've ever seen. This tip once saved my older daughter's favorite pair of jeans, and it also saved a little kid's Sunday-go-to-meetin' shirt in Death of a Domestic Diva.

Ring Around the Collar: Cheap shampoo! Just pre-treat collar with a direct application of the shampoo and wash as usual.

Silly Putty: Rubbing alcohol. After several applications, the putty just... crumbles up. I even used this technique to get silly putty out of my young daughter's hair. She'd fallen asleep, playing with silly putty, and... well. It saved her hair. (But of course, we were very careful not to let any rubbing alcohol get in her eyes, ears, nose or mouth!) I ended up using the idea of silly putty in hair in a very different way in Death in the Cards...

Sweat stains: Mix equal parts water, dishwashing detergent and ammonia and apply to sweat stains. 

Urine: If you have pets or little kids, you need this tip to save clothes/rugs after accidents. The tip: White vinegar! Just pour it in with the wash to eliminate the odor. But it must be plain white vinegar. (Wine or other fancy vinegars just create a whole new set of stains.)

Wine (even red): Mix 1/2 Dawn (the blue kind) and 1/2 hydrogen peroxide. Apply to stain; let soak for about 20 minutes. Then wash in cold water.