A few weeks ago we had a laundry disaster from which I thought we would never recover.
After a week of consistent rain I was desperate to catch up and get ahead on my washing and ironing. One particularly sunny day I washed all day and in order to expedite the drying and ironing part, I threw a load of my husband’s work uniforms and our son’s white school shirts into the clothes dryer.
Unbeknownst to me my husband, who is usually exemplary at clearing out his pockets, had left a biro in the breast pocket of a work shirt. The dryer ran as normal and when the cycle was done I opened the dryer to find baked on ink stains on every item of clothing and in the clothes dryer itself. I have to admit that I was on the verge of tears, and I can’t blame it entirely on pregnancy hormones.
When I calmed down, I consulted trusty Mr Google to find some solution to this problem. And the DIY solutions suggested were simply: hairspray and nail polish remover.
Now, I did find the hairspray effective, to a certain extent, but because the ink stains were not fresh and had, in effect, been heat set, it was not as successful as I’d hoped. But it was a start.
On my next grocery shop I loaded up on the home brand nail polish remover (containing acetone) and trudged home with my goodies.
A cloth, wet only with nail polish remover, was enough to wipe clean the barrel of the clothes dryer, without any elbow grease I might add.
Emboldened I tipped the nail polish remover onto the ink stained clothing and rubbed the stains gently with a toothbrush. Depending on the size and depth of the stain I may have repeated this process a few times, rinsing in cold water in between to judge the success.
Then I threw the lot back into the washing machine and washed as normal, but on a cold cycle so that the hot water didn’t set the stains again.
Yes, I managed to save my husband’s work uniforms but I was much more relieved to have saved my son’s white school shirts!
Needless to say I now keep a bottle of nail polish remover in with my laundry pre soakers and stain removers and I have no doubt that I’ll have recourse to use it again. Apparently it’s also fantastic at removing paint and glue stains and with small children, those stain are bound to present themselves again, and again, in the future.
So next time you’ve got a stain you can’t budge, why not see if nail polish remover can save the day!
Originally posted 2015-12-28 01:34:22.