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Stain, Stain, Go Away


Holidays and parties are a natural combination, but as the number of parties you attend (or host) increases, so do your odds of spilling something and creating a mess. It’s almost a given that during the holiday season, someone will be scrubbing wine out of a carpet, scraping wax off a table runner or trying to get chocolate off a dress.

If that happens to be you, consult this guide to removing some of the holidays’ most common stains.

Red Wine

Uncle Pat and his red wine did a number on the living room carpet this year, didn’t he? Blot the wine with a clean cloth then add a little water to dilute it. Use baking soda to absorb the wine by making a paste with three parts baking soda, one part water. Allow it to dry then vacuum the carpet.

Bonus tip: Consider asking Uncle Pat to eat in the kitchen next year.

Gravy

Sometimes the gravy boat ends up floating in the gravy sea after someone spills it all over your special table cloth. No worries; simply wipe up the spill then treat the stain with stain remover. Your best bet is to let it soak for a few hours in a detergent that fights stains.

Red sauce

If the sauce is red—cocktail, tomato, barbeque—it will find something white. Like your dress shirt. Run cold water on the back of the stain to force it back through the fabric. This keeps the stain from setting deep into the fabric. Gently rub the stain with laundry detergent, apply hydrogen peroxide or lemon juice for their mild bleaching effects, then add stain remover. Let it sit for 15 minutes then wash normally with your regular detergent.

Bonus tip: Dissolve a Dropps mini pac for small doses of detergent for single garments and stains on the go. 

Candle wax

There’s a reason the light bulb was invented: Nobody wanted to clean up candle wax. But if you find yourself with this task, scrape off as much of the wax as possible. Then place a paper bag on the leftover wax and iron on the bag, using a low setting. This will heat up the wax and allow it to adhere to the bag. Wash normally with a 4-in-1 Booster Pac for an extra cleaning boost.

Chocolate

It’s a known fact that 99% of chocolate makes it into your mouth while 1% lands somewhere on your clothes. If you’re wearing your best winter white, you might want to consider wearing black next year. Allow any clumps to harden, and scrape off with a spoon or dull knife. Soak with an oxi-powered product or a stain fighting detergent, and wash in hot water.