'Tis the Season for Stains

Do you have young, sloppy children? Are you or a loved one accident-prone? Even if you're not particularly careless, between polishing off the Thanksgiving leftovers and starting on the Christmas cookies and other yummy holiday treats, odds are that one of those pieces of deliciousness are going to tumble down onto your beautiful clothing and—BAM!—Stain City.

Strawberry stain (bottom) and carrot stain (top) removed after sitting in clothing for over 24 hours.

Well, the mayor of Stain City is about to call in all resources for help because the Godzilla-like monster of stain removers is on his way to smash and demolish said city—don't feel bad for them; they're stains.

Remember when the 1989 SimCity "monster" attacked,
but we all called him Godzilla?
Come on—who were they trying to fool?

After harnessing the power of the internet and testing them out for myself, I have found two great ways to remove berry stains and grease stains with items you likely already have in your home.


Berry-Be-Banished
So far, I've found this to work very well against strawberry, raspberry and blueberry stains. It even does pretty well against carrot, but occasionally, I have to repeat the process with those more stubborn stains.

I've also noticed that the stain can have been sitting in the fabric for at least a day and will still come out like magic—awesome!

What you'll need:

1:1:2 proportions

• baking soda
• liquid dish soap (the kind for hand-washing, not for the machine)
• Hydrogen Peroxide (water works just as well in some cases)

What you'll do:

Mix ingredients together—one part baking soda, one part dish soap and two parts Hydrogen Peroxide.

Store excess solution in a dark container. Hydrogen Peroxide loses its magic when exposed to light. I used the small 8 ounce Hydrogen Peroxide bottle once I was about to run out since it is already nice and dark.

Rinse any excess berry from clothing with water. Apply mixture to stained area, and scrub in thoroughly for a few seconds. Toss into regular wash load (this worked well for me even when on the cold water setting).

IMPORTANT: If you notice the stain is still there after going through the wash, be sure to air dry it instead of throwing it in the dryer. It's not impossible to remove a stain once it has been in the dryer, but the heat helps set the stain and makes it more difficult to remove.

Repeat the mixture applying and laundering process if stain is still present.

Raspberry stains removed after sitting in clothing for more than 24 hours.

You can also try a couple of other stain removing combinations from the original source for this process here. I can't vouch for them though since this is the only one I've tried.

And while the original recommends letting the mixture set for up to 24 hours, I found that throwing it in the wash almost immediately was best since there is a chance it could otherwise bleach darker fabrics (so far, no dark fabrics that I have tried this on has bleached at all with my method).


Grease-Go-Gone
I was skeptical about using lighter fluid to remove a grease stain from my husband's jeans, especially because it went through the dryer before we noticed that it was there. But it actually worked.

The original source I found this on said you could also use WD-40, but I have only tried it myself with lighter fluid. There were other alternate methods of removing grease on there as well, but they seemed like more work, and I can say that the lighter fluid worked really well for me.

What you'll need:

Did it always say that?
I swear I've never noticed before.

• lighter fluid (some types)* or WD-40
• laundry detergent

*IMPORTANT: Since only some types of lighter fluid work, make sure yours says something on the container about being good for removing stains. And obviously, don't go putting pretty candles or other open flames near you when doing this.


What you'll do:

Put a piece of cardboard or rag under the clothing where the stain is (this is to keep the lighter fluid from seeping everywhere). Apply lighter fluid completely over stain and let sit for 20** minutes.

**On lighter (both in color and weight) fabrics than denim, I recommend reducing the lighter fluid soaking time to 10 minutes.

Rinse lighter fluid out with water.

Wash separately with laundry detergent.

Done.

Grease stain removed from jeans even after going through dryer first.

STILL IMPORTANT: If you notice the stain is still there after going through the wash, be sure to air dry it instead of throwing it in the dryer. It's not impossible to remove a stain once it has been in the dryer, but the heat helps set the stain and makes it more difficult to remove.