How To Clean Anything

General Information:

Read and follow the care instructions and any warnings on the garment label.

Treat the stain with a prewash spray or pretreat with a product containing enzymes. Rub with heavy-duty liquid detergent. Launder.

If stain remains, relaunder with bleach that is safe for the fabric. If stain still remains, treat as a “Dye Stain.”

Here is a question submitted by Kelly:

I am having trouble getting clay out of my sons white baseball uniform.

Tools & Technique:

1. Carefully remove whatever you can using a soft scraping tool(spoon).

2. Soak and agitate in water before washing to further remove clay.

3. Use a laundry pre-treat or liquid detergent and rub into stain.

4. Launder as usual.

For tough stains use digestant presoak (don’t use on wool or silk) product for about 30 minutes. Soak old stains for at least several hours.
Launder normally, rinse, and inspect. If stain remains, soak an additional 30 minutes, then rewash. If you are still having trouble try using a laundery booster available at most grocery stores. If the shirt is white you could also try bleaching the stains, by adding blech the the wash water.

Precaution:Always read and follow the care instructions and any warnings on the garment label. Don’t dry the clothes until you have inspected the stain to see if it is gone. Heat sets most stains.

General Information:
To clean comforters without the expense of dry cleaning there are a few key points you should know. Is the comforter or duvet made from synthetic fibre or goose down?

Tools & Technique
Twin comforters and some light queen size comforters can be washed in a regular washing machine, but be sure to use only ½ of the regular amount of detergent.
Treat stains before washing, as described in our quick reference stain guide, as the limited soap will not remove heavy stains.
A film of soap residue may be evident, especially on dark comforters. If this is the case, remove the comforter and put the residue side of the comforter into the washing machine first, then re-wash with NO soap.
For larger comforters, utilize a front load coin washing machine at your local Laundromat.
Drying comforters is very important, especially with down comforters, which take a very long time to dry, and if not fully dried will become moldy inside.

Tip:
Use half a dozen clean tennis balls in the dryer to keep the comforter fluffy and from wrapping up on itself.

Here is a tip submitted by Debbie:

To remove cooking oil from clothes – first sprinkle some baby powder onto the stain.

Then rub in with a little cold water. Then wash as usual and the stain should disappear.

WD-40 works well for removing crayon, as does as a product like Goo Gone. You may have some work ahead though since the heat from the dryer will have set the stain. Try using a green scotch brite scrubber pad, found on pot scrubbers in any grocer store. This pad is abrasive enough to remove the crayon without damaging the interior finish of the dryer.

Precautions:

For all dryers we would recommend that you wipe down the interior of the dryer with a damp rag to remove any residue, and if you have a gas dryer leave the door open and allow it to air out for at least 24 hours before using. (This will help prevent your dryer from blowing up.)

This Question was submitted by Annie

“I just discovered my son left a yellow crayon in his clothes, my clothes is all stained yellow, can you help?”

The dyes in crayons can cause permanent stains especially if set by heat, but here are things you can try.
The crayon is basically a wax you could refer to the site on wax removal from carpet. Basically you will want to place the stained area of clothes between an old white terry towels, using a iron (medium setting) melt the wax and the towel will act as a blotter, be sure to move the stain to a clean part of the towel frequently. Once there is no longer color transfer you have done all you can. The next thing to do is use the dry cleaning solvent as described in the tip on removing “Crayon from carpet” The technique is to blot or tamp the stain with the dry-cleaning solvent(use the same techniuw as described in the tip). The solvent can be purchased at some grocery stores or a carpet cleaning supply retailer.

Some people recommend WD-40 or a product called Goo Gone (found at most home centers) which you can try, but then you will have to remove the oil stain from the clothes, however that maybe a last resort WD-40 is effective in some cases. You can remove oil stains with a dry cleaning solvent. Recently I saw an article on these new crayola crayons that only mark a special type of paper and leaves nothing on any other surface, sound like a parents dream, but I guess that doesn’t help you now.

Precautions:For fine fabrics you should go to a good Dry Cleaner and explain the nature of the stain for best results.

Tools & Techniques:
Colored items must be pretested on a hidden area of the item.
Physically remove the stain by scraping with a rubber spatula or professional scraper.

Use a spot remover or pre-treat with laundry pre-treat. Only blot or tamp to prevent damage to the color of the fabric.
Wash normally using the permanent press cycle.
Do not dry and repeat procedure if stain remains, or take to a professional cleaner.

Tools & Techniques:
Colored items must be pretested on a hidden area of the item.
Physically remove the stain by scraping with a rubber spatula or professional scraper.

Use a spot remover or pre-treat with laundry pre-treat. Only blot or tamp to prevent damage to the color of the fabric.
Wash normally using the permanent press cycle.
Do not dry and repeat procedure if stain remains, or take to a professional cleaner.

How do I get my blouses and shirts back to the “white” they used to be? Since I take them to the dry cleaners, they seem to have become rather dingy.
Thanks!

If the articles are dry clean only, I would suggest trying a different drycleaner. It is possible they are re-using very dirty chemical or they arenot separating the colors properly.

If the articles can be cleaned at home, try a laundry booster, or a brightener like oxi-clean in addition to you regular laundry soap.

Many times, even dry clean only fabrics can be hand washed and air dried. For a home remedy soaking in lemon juice and water does help, as does air drying in the sunshine. The sun is a natural bleach, and it works very well.

Goodluck

Here is a question submitted by Lynda:

What is the easiest way to clean dried, caked-on dog poopout from between the grooves of my Nike shoes?

Here is a question near and dear to my heart 🙂 since I have a dog and a backyard I have direct experience with this problem. What I do is use a pointy tool like a nut pryer(used to get the small pieces of broken nuts out of nut shells) or a small screwdriver. It gets in the groves well and will with a little patience get most of it. I also clap the shoes together (outside) as I am working and the poop works free. For a final cleanup I get up early and walk my dog across a grassy field and the morning dew does the rest. Oh the things we do for our pets! I hope that helps and good luck.