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Pickle stains

How to Remove Pickle Stains from Clothes

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Pickle stains

Pickles make the perfect side dish for a number of main courses. Sometimes there is nothing more enjoyable than these crunchy little delights. Pickles are great as you can eat them whole or cut them up and put them on a burger or sandwich. But these tasty treats can leave a nasty stain when pickle juice is dropped unknowingly onto your clothes. Doing so can leave you with a green mess that just doesn’t want to come out. But fear not, there is a solution.

Pickle stains can be a pain in the neck, but by following these tips you will be able to get your cloths as clean as new:

•    Rinse the stain: The first thing you want to do is to rinse the stain thoroughly with cold water. Run it under the water for a good five minutes or so and then let it sit for about twenty minutes.
•    Soak the stain: Next mix a bucket of warm water with some regular clothes detergent and after agitating up the water soak the garment in it for a few hours. If you want to you can leave it in overnight as the longer it soaks the easier it should be to remove the stain.
•    Pre-treat: When you are done soaking the garment take it out of the soaped up solution and wring it out. Then go to the stained area and sprinkle on some powdered laundry detergent. Get a brush and gently scrub the stain in a circular motion for about five minutes. You can also go with a number of expensive stain pre-treaters that they sell at the department stores but these days it is wise to save money wherever you can.
•    Soak again: Mix the same warm water and detergent solution that you did before and again let the garment soak for a while. This time it is not necessary to leave it in over night, but you should let it soak for at least a few hours.
•    Wash the stain: Take the garment out of the soak mix and wring it out again. Now you need only put the garment in your washing machine as you normally would and put it through a normal wash cycle. You should try to use the hottest water allowable by the garment.
•    Dry the garment: Once the garment is washed remove it from the rest of the load and do not dry it in the clothes dryer. Instead let it hang up to air dry so that you can be sure that the pickle stain is completely gone.
•    Repeat if you have to: If the stain remains you will have to repeat the process another time or two. While pickle stains are more common than you may think, they aren’t the hardest stains to get rid of and are usually removed within the first couple of applications.

As you can see removing pickle stains really isn’t that tough, so feel free to enjoy as many pickles as you like and don’t fear the occasional stain.

Gas stains

How to Clean Gas Out of Cloths

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Gas stains

You are in a rush and late for an appointment. You swing into the gas station and begin to fuel your vehicle up. When you are done you whip out the nozzle only to find that the gasoline was not finished going into the tank. The result is you and your clothing being soaked in gasoline. While all you have to do is take a shower to get rid of the gasoline smell, how do you get it out of your clothing?

There is perhaps no harder smell to get out of cloths and for this reason many individuals simply throw out their gas soaked garments. Before you give up though, here are some steps to take to help you rid your cloths of gasoline:

•    Pre-soak: First take the cloths off and completely soak them in warm water and then ring them dry as best you can.

•    Sunshine: Lay the cloths that are soaked with gasoline out to dry in the sun. This will completely dry the cloths and the sun and fresh air will help to start the smell of the gasoline to dissipate.

•    Soak clothing: Next mix warm water with some vinegar and swash the clothing around in it. Make sure you agitate the material of the clothing well so that the vinegar can penetrate the gasoline and do its job. Let the cloths sit in the solution for about 20 minutes. Take them out of the solution and put them back in the sun to dry.

•    Soak again: Mix another solution of warm water and this time use Dawn liquid detergent. In addition to putting the Dawn in the water, put it directly on the spots where the gasoline soaked the garment and rub it in. Then swash the cloths in the solution and let it sit for an additional 20 minutes. Take the clothing out of the solution and once again put them in the sun to dry.

•    Use baby oil: Since gasoline is an oil based product, it will need the help of an oil based product to get it out of your cloths. Put your gasoline stained cloths in the washer and use regular detergent and top it off with a small amount of baby oil. Be sure you are only washing the gas laden cloths and nothing else.

•    Sunshine again: You guessed it, more sunshine. Because the baby oil will be in the clothing now, you will want to set the cloths back out into the sun and let them dry. If you put an oil based product in the dryer you could be risking a fire. You will have to wash the cloths several more times before the baby oil is completely gone.

•    Repeat: For tougher gasoline stains, you may have to repeat this process a couple of times.

While it is a lengthy process it does in fact work. At the very least it is worth a shot before you just throw away cloths that are perfectly fine and can be saved.

Hot sauce stains

How to Remove Hot Sauce Stains from Clothing

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Hot sauce stains

Nothing ruins the flavor of a great basket of hot wings quite like a giant splatter of hot sauce dripping down your white t-shirt. When this happens, it’s helpful to know a little about the ingredients in hot sauce and how to remove hot sauce stains.

There are countless recipes for hot sauce, with different variations found around the globe. Mexico, the United States, the West Indies, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan all feature unique versions of this distinctive sauce, among others. The primary ingredient in hot sauce is chili peppers. The peppers can be soaked in anything from vinegar, oil and alcohol to fruits and vegetable pulps. Other ingredients are often included to add flavor and/or heat, such as garlic or mustards.

Hot sauces vary in heat according to the types of peppers used in them. Jalapeño sauces are usually the mildest available, followed by sauces made from cayenne and red chilies. Sauces made with Tabasco peppers (such as the famous Tabasco® sauce) are hotter than jalapeño and cayenne sauces. Unlike some other hot sauces, Tabasco brand sauce is aged in casks before bottling, similar to wine. Habanero sauces rank among the fieriest, and are to be used with caution unless you’re a hot sauce veteran.

The staining ability of hot sauce is greatly affected by the recipe, particularly when ingredients such as tomatoes or carrots are added. Most Mexican-style hot sauces focus on the flavor of the pepper, so there is very little vinegar or other ingredients. In the United States, the primary ingredients of hot sauce are chili peppers, vinegar and salt. Some milder sauces also include tomato sauce to dilute the heat of the peppers. Asian chili sauces are more of a thick paste, or they are made by infusing the peppers in oil or brine.

Because peppers are organic and water-based, hot sauce stains should be removed the same way you would handle any tomato or red sauce stain. First, remove the shirt and run it under very hot water for several minutes. This will flush away most, if not all, of the stain. If a stain is still visible after several minutes of flushing, try rubbing it with a bit of dish soap or liquid laundry detergent, then let the stain soak for a half-hour. Follow with hot water flush. Repeat until the stain is gone, then run the shirt through your usual laundry cycle.

If the hot sauce ingredients include oil, it is also a good idea to soak the stain in a laundry treatment such as Shout or Oxyclean prior to washing to dissolve the oil. Never run stained clothing through the dryer as this will cook the stain into the fabric, making it nearly impossible to remove.