We're heading into the entertaining season and spills and stains.
They're bound to happen,
but there's no need to worry because many of those
stains can be removed with just a few basic ingredients.
All right. So here were the tips on how to put together a stain.
Survival kit is the associate Director of
Special Projects at Better Home and Gardens.
Lauren Phillips.
Thank you so much for being here because it's not just a season for us. We have kids
and you say
that we don't have to about all those things if we have this survival kit.
No, you do not. And it doesn't always have to be strong removers.
You can use simple household items. So to start, we have micro fiber cloths.
These
are wonderful. Yes, we like them because they're so soft and they are L free.
So they won't leave any residue on the item you're cleaning.
We also love that theyre usable so you can use them to remove a stain,
clean them and then use them for another stain.
Now, what stain would that be good for? Really? Any
anything liquid? You can use that cloth to apply your cleaning solution?
Pick up the stain, wash it, use it again later. There is that like the blood and kind
you
don't?
And we say that all the time, never rub, never scrub. Always block. That
is you, you also have some other tools here. If it's not a job for one of these,
what do we
do? Yes. So these are soft bristle brushes. So we say never scrub. You can
so gently brush your cleaning solution into the stain. Do you just do it like this?
Like one direction,
one
direction is that I wouldn't do circles just one way
just to really kind of work in your cleaning solution,
whatever it is to get that
fit in to bite the stain and then remove the stain.
We also have dish soap.
And now is that really as good as they say,
honestly, I always say soap is soap and I love having dish soap around to
grease. That's the big,
it cuts the grease on your dishes. It cuts the grease on your stains.
I've actually seen them clean the animals off from an
oil
spill.
Yes.
Yes,
it does
so much. And you definitely already have it.
We all have dish soap, just make sure it's one with a degreasing agent.
So it'll really cut that grease. Ok. Now, hydrogen peroxide. Yes.
So that is, it's a little less strong than chlorine bleach.
You want to use it to whiten things.
You do want to use it sparingly because it can be a little harsh,
but it's much more gentle than that chlorine
and it's great for using on anything with a dye.
So you spill a punch or your cookie decorating
gets out of hand and there's food coloring everywhere.
Hydrogen peroxide can help you deal with that.
And a lot of home hacks on social media has been using vinegar lately.
I've been seeing tons of that. So, why is that so good?
We love distilled white vinegar. Always distilled white vinegar.
No, no, no.
You want that white vinegar. You can mix it with water,
make a really powerful spray to really fight those stains. Apply it to anything.
It's great for fighting odorous stains that they kind of have that smelling
like from
a
Exactly. And so first things you can apply this vinegar and water blend and really
get in there and fight those stains on them even
if it's not a washable item to your carpet,
your sofa, you can use one of these mixtures and it's fantastic.
Now, will it end up smelling like, you know Easter eggs?
You think it will and it really well, I
promise
that
I
can.
Yes, the water. Exactly.
So we also have baking soda. It's not just for your fridge.
Baking soda is wonderful to mix with water again, to make a paste,
to apply to maybe your sofa, your carpet.
Wherever you spilled the stain, you can make this baking soda and water paste
to really kind of work in there and scrub it out, not scrub it out
it and it'll absorb some of that stain. I love cleaning with me.
I've seen some people on social
and using some lemon or lime juice within that paste that you're talking about.
That could be an option. We always try to prefer the simplest option possible.
So maybe just one cleaning agent at a
time just to avoid any unexpected interactions.
But you know, do your research,
there's plenty of great mixes like that that you can try.
Now,
this is actually for the laundry.
Well, not always. So
I,
so we live in a world of laundry pods
and so few people myself included sometimes have liquid laundry
detergent at home when it's really so helpful as a
pre so as a spot treatment as all kinds of
things to really that maybe can't go in the wash,
let say you spill something on your sofa, you can't wash your sofa,
but you're going to do
it with some of this laundry detergent to help fight that stain
outside of the launch of the washing machine.
And now quickly if we can these right here, those are for those spot stains.
I got to get something on it.
So for the tough stains, these will fight most of your stains.
But for those things, you just can't get out having one of these.
A simple one is fantastic to have. All right. Thanks so much.
And that November issue of better homes and gardens is on new stands
and on BHG dot com. Definitely get that to fight those s
all right. Thanks.