by Bruce W. Coffman

Created on: July 30, 2008

As the owner of a consignment shop, I have experimented with many different ways to remove stains from clothing. Some have proven successful while others have had not so great results.

One of the keys to removing stains from garments is to treat them as soon as they happen. This keeps them from setting in to the fabric, making them even harder or impossible to remove. Since the clothing coming into the consignment shop has set-in stains, we've had to find ways to deal with tougher problems than a fresh spill.

There are a variety of products on the market now that are specifically made to remove stains, such as the to-go detergent pens. We have found that these are much more effective for fresh stains than for older ones. Laundry spot and stain remover sprays are great if you are going to have an opportunity to wash the item, but they don't always work as well as you'd hope.

The secret we use in our consignment shop to remove stains from clothing is one that we actually stumbled upon out of frustration when trying to remove a small stain from a particularly beautiful prom gown someone had brought in. The consignee had tried everything they could think of to remove the stain, including dry cleaning which probably only set the stain in even more. They were so disgusted that they said we could have the dress to sell for the store and they wouldn't even collect their share if we could save it.

Loving a challenge, my colleague and I set about finding a way to save that dress. Since it was a delicate fabric, we were afraid to use any strong chemicals or do any rough scrubbing. After many failed attempts at removing the stain, I finally picked up a bottle of window cleaner-the traditional blue kind-and sprayed it on the stain. I dabbed it lightly with a soft, white cloth and, to my amazement, the stain disappeared completely.

We have since tried the window cleaner approach with many other stained items and have found that it works about 90% of the time. It hasn't discolored or damaged any of the different types of fabrics we've tried it on and doesn't leave behind any residue.

Some stains, such as ink that has been on a fabric for a long time, don't disappear completely with the window cleaner trick. However, some stains won't respond to anything, so we're very pleased with our 90% success rate in saving stained clothing that would otherwise have to be thrown out.

By the way, we sold that prom dress and made some money for the consignment shop. With part of that money we picked up a couple bottles of window cleaner.

Learn more about this author, Bruce W. Coffman.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.