Laundry: It's Murphy's Law. If something can spill, drip, ooze, or run, it will do so all over your child's lucky shirt or favorite dress.
Fortunately, once you know how to treat these troublesome stains, you can save your family's beloved clothes from ending up in the rag pile.
1 Blood. Rinse or presoak the garment in cold water and wash in cold water with detergent. Do not use chlorine bleach, which can make the stain even worse.
2 Chewing gum. Rub the gummy spot with ice to harden it. Scrape away as much of the gum as possible with a dull knife. Saturate what remains with a prewash stain remover, rinse, and wash as usual.
3 Chocolate. Pretreat or prewash in warm water with a cleaning product that contains enzymes. Launder as usual. (If it's on upholstery - here's how to
remove it.)
4 Coffee. Sponge with or soak in cold water. Apply a pretreating product on the stain. Wash as usual and air-dry; repeat if stain remains.
5 Cosmetics. Pretreat the spot with prewash stain remover or a liquid laundry detergent. Wash the garment in the water temperature recommended for the fabric.
6 Crayon. Scrape off surface wax with a dull knife. Soak the fabric in a product containing enzymes or oxygen bleach in the hottest water safe for the fabric. Launder using the hottest water it can withstand.
7 Grass. Presoak or prewash the garment in warm water in a bucket or your washing machine with a detergent containing enzymes. Launder as usual with chlorine bleach if it's safe for the fabric. If not, use oxygen bleach instead.
8 Mildew. Douse the garment with a diluted solution of bleach and launder as recommended. For mildewed leather, brush on an antiseptic mouthwash.
9 Perspiration, deodorants, antiperspirants. Use a prewash stain remover; the the stains are old, apply white vinegar. Rinse, then launder using oxygen bleach in the hottest water that's safe for the fabric.
