Photo by bertholf
Every household is better off with some good stain removal techniques. Whether you have children, pets, enjoy being outdoors, or are a little clumsy during meals, you are going to fight with stains from time to time.
The stores are full of different stain removal products to treat stains, and while most of them work well, they are also known to contain ingredients that are not good for our health. Among these effects are endocrine, developmental, and reproductive problems.
In addition, many of the commercial products are also full of artificial fragrances which can cause skin irritations, respiratory effects, or nervous system effects. If you are like us, you prefer to use more natural stain removers. In this article, we will give you simple techniques for some tricky stains that you may encounter.
1. Barbecue sauce stains
Sometimes, sweet-and-spicy barbecue sauce ends up on our shirts instead of on our plates. The sauce is dark-colored and contains oil, and for this reason, these stains can be especially tough. We recommend a combo treatment of vinegar and dish detergent to cut the color and grease.
2. Sweat stains
Everyone sweats. However, there is no need to broadcast it to the people around the world via gross yellow underarm stains on our white t-shirts. In order to solve this problem, we recommend a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and dishwashing liquid with a lot of elbow grease and a little baking soda to get these stains out.
3. Grass stains
First, treat the stain with hot water. Later, a mixture of 2 parts of hydrogen peroxide and 1 part of dish soap and some scrubbing should do the trick for grass stains. We have tried out a few natural methods, and this one came out the winner. If this is not enough, there are some recipes for meat-tenderizer and rubbing alcohol methods, too.
4. Coffee stains
If you are clumsy and have a cold pressor iced tea in your hand any time it is above 70 degrees, you will appreciate how easy it is to knock it over. Unfortunately, this sometimes happens when you’re wearing white. However, there is a great stain-removing solution to that problem, and it includes using a paste of washing soda and hydrogen peroxide to remove coffee stains.
5. Mud and dirt stains
If a pet or child has left a trail of mud on the carpet, we recommend vacuuming any dry dirt to remove as much as possible, before dipping a white cloth into a natural detergent solution and dabbing repeatedly, pressing the cloth on the spot for a couple of seconds. Soak up the excess liquid using a dry white cloth, after 15 minutes. In the next step, dip another dry white cloth in warm water and dab repeatedly. Now, all you have to do is press it on the spot for a couple of seconds.
6. Fruit stains
When it comes to fruit stains, we recommend placing clothing over a bowl of boiling water to steam out beet, berry, and other hard-to-remove veggie and fruit stains. It is important to make sure that you do it right away.
7. Ketchup, mayo and mustard stains
Have you ever been carried away with the condiments at your party? Do not worry. For clothing, all you have to do is immediately get water and soap on the stain in order to minimize the damage. Running water is especially good from the back of the fabric. However, if you have spilled on a place where running water is not a practical option, such as a rug or furniture, try talc to soak up the oil and grease, and a soapy sponge and lemon juice, which is excellent for breaking down tomato-based stains.
