Stain Removal

http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/01/removing-ink-stains-surprising-solution.html
Removing Ink Stains: A Surprising Solution!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012 · 14 comments

I’ve had several people ask me about how to deal with INK STAINS lately. Trust me, I don’t go LOOKING for new cleaning ideas to post…but for some reason they keep finding me! And of course my obsessive curious nature compels me to search for answers and then try them out for myself. I gotta tell ya…it’s pretty thrilling when something actually works that you really didn’t think would!

INK STAINS are the perfect example!

After several people inquired about how to get ink stains out of fabric. I did some research and was surprised to find the two most common “remedies” used are hand sanitizer and hair spray! (Others I found…Cutter’s Insect Repellent and cold milk! True story.)

While I didn’t have any current ink stains to test these out on…I decided to “sacrifice” one of these expensive flour sack towels I recently purchased at Walmart. :-)

Here are my unscientific (but quite convincing!) results:
Top Photo: After writing on this end of the towel…I sprayed liberally with Suave Professional
hairspray (the only hairspray we had in the house)!
Bottom Photo: On this end of the towel I covered the ink with Purell with Aloe hand sanitizer
(which I bought at Walgreens and had been sitting in a cupboard in my laundry room for well over a year!)

I made a half-hearted attempt at rubbing the spray and the gel into the ink stains…but really didn’t try all that hard. Then I waited maybe 10 minutes (I was impatient) and threw them both into the washing machine. I washed in HOT water using my regular (homemade) detergent and my regular (homemade) Shout. Since I was pretty sure this wasn’t going to work on the first try and I would end up doing this whole routine at least a 2nd time…I just let it run through one regular washing cycle. No extra agitating…no extra soaking time.

When the load had finished…I went to see if I’d at least made a DENT in the ink stains and quite honestly was shocked to find that the towel was COMPLETELY STAIN FREE. I actually double-checked inside the washer to make sure there this wasn’t actually a different towel that had accidentally made it in with this load. Nope. Only other thing in the washer were a few dish rags I’d thrown in at the last minute.
FRONT and BACK: After ONE washing! Can YOU find any ink???

I took the towel out and laid it on the kitchen counter where I had done the ink staining in the first place…and believe it or not…I couldn’t even tell where I had written on it. I tried. I really did. Since I wasn’t even sure where the ink had been in the first place…I took pictures of the entire towel, both sides…to cover my bases. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

This was definitely one of those experiences where I thought I had it “all figured out” and was completely wrong. I mean come on! Hair spray? Hand sanitizer? I realize they both have alcohol in them which is most likely what made them effective….but I was so certain that while they would both make somewhat of a difference…there was no way they could COMPLETELY eliminate the stain.

Normally I really don’t like being proven wrong….but in this case I’ll be more than happy to make an exception. :-)

http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2011/12/homemade-shout-stain-remover.html

Homemade Stain Remover (Shout)

2/3 cups Dawn Dishwashing Liquid
2/3 cups ammonia
6 Tblsp baking soda
2 cups warm water

Mix everything together and pour into a spray bottle. I got this one at Wal-Mart for about a buck. (I actually got SEVERAL of them for the array of natural/homemade cleaners I have started using. My inventory continues to expand!)

Before you go to use it…if it’s been sitting for awhile…give it a good shake. As you can see in this picture…it does tend to separate a bit. But after a quick shake it’s good to go. To use: spray on stains as you normally would. I usually let mine “soak in” for a few minutes at least. Then launder as usual.

In this case, since the chocolate stain posed a bit more of a challenge…I took a few extra seconds (literally, that’s all it took) and rubbed the fabric together where I’d sprayed and when I was finished was somewhat shocked to see the stain was practically already GONE! It’s still there….but barely visible. My old bottle of “real” Shout never did that!

So I tossed it in the washer with the usual suspects….homemade laundry soap, a little of my
faux “OxiClean“ and about a teaspoon of my favorite new laundry ally…Fresh Scent Downy Unstopables. I just love how it makes my clothes smell! I know it’s a bit of an indulgence (it’s fairly pricey at about $8 at bottle) but with all the money I save making my own detergent…I’m OK with it.

Miracle Stain Remover
Make It: Fill your basin with warm water then add one scoop each of Oxi-Clean, Clorox 2 and powdered dishwashing detergent. Give it a swirl and mix until the powders dissolve and bubbles form. Place the stained garment into the mixture, being sure the stain is submerged. Let soak for about 2 hours.

For tougher stains, let it soak overnight. Remove the clothing to behold the miracle! Normally I will throw the garment into the wash, but you could simply rinse and dry it. This formula is also safe for colors as well.

http://www.elementaryorganization.blogspot.com/2012/03/stupid-chapstick.html
Here's what I did. I laid out the shirt on my kitchen counter (you will want to be near a sink or even outside) and sprinkled a small pile of baking soda on each spot.

Using a toothbrush (or a larger cleaning brush for bigger spots), I rubbed in the baking soda to each spot. The baking soda absorbs the grease from the chapstick. As it absorbs the grease, it will start to ball-up.

Once most of the baking soda has combined together into small balls, sweep the baking soda off of the garment into the sink.

For a second time, pour another small pile of baking soda onto each spot...

...and repeat the process of rubbing in the soda and dusting off the shirt. You want to repeat this process until the baking soda no longer balls-up. This means that the soda has absorbed all of the grease from the garment.

Next, use your normal laundry stain remover to treat the spots.

Allow the stain remover to soak for about 15 minutes and then run the garment through the laundry again.

After treating the entire load of marred laundry, the kitchen was a bit of a war zone.

After washing and drying the clothes, they came out looking pretty good!

While the spots are still there, they faded SIGNIFICANTLY. They are really only noticeable in certain lights. I am sure that if I did another round of treatment, they would be gone, but I just didn't have it in me. I'll see how I feel wearing them and then go from there.

I was able to use supplies I already had around the house to treat the stains.
I now have a solution to a problem that I'm sure will pop up again.
With a little bit of elbow grease and patience, the spots really do look much better!

Have y'all ever had this problem? How did you treat the stains? Did you find something that works really well?

Video=http://www.ehow.com/video_4791154_do-chapstick-out-clothing_.html