10 COMMON STAINS - AND HOW TO REMOVE THEM

It’s Murphy’s law: If something can spill, drip, ooze, or run, it will do so all over your lucky shirt or favorite dress. Fortunately, once you know how to treat these troublesome stains, you can save your 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 laundry 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 launder as usual.

3 Chocolate. Pretreat or prewash the garment in warm water with a cleaning product that contains enzymes. Launder as usual.

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 (using the presoak setting) with a detergent containing enzymes. Launder as usual with chlorine bleach if it’s safe for the fabric. If the cleaning instructions advise against it, use oxygen bleach instead.

8 Ink. Place the stain over the mouth of a jar or glass. Hold the fabric taut. Drip rubbing alcohol through the stain so the ink will drop into the container as the soil is removed. Rinse thoroughly and launder as usual.

9 Juice. Soak in cold water; then apply a pretreating product on the stain. Launder as label instructions recommend. Air-dry; do not place in dryer until the stain is completely gone.

10 Mildew. Douse the garment with a diluted solution of bleach and launder as recommended for the garment. For mildewed leather, brush on an antiseptic mouthwash.