by Carmel Brulez

Created on: October 26, 2009

We all love a cup of delicious coffee and someone who does not drink it every day is well....unusual. Accidents happen. Deary me, you fell asleep whilst you were holding a cup of coffee and it dribbled down your blouse, or some silly oaf or your cat knocked it all over your trousers! If you are wearing a lovely new outfit or a white outfit you will be furious. Instead of strangling the offending creature you need to tackle this straight away. Get the stain out then strangle them after....

If you can get to the stain straight away by removing this item of clothing and getting to a bathroom or kitchen your priority must be to make sure you put the item into a bucket or container full of hot water. You may need a very big container if the item of clothing is big, such as a pair of jeans. Though you only need to put the soiled area into the water, the rest can hang out. When a stain has not yet dried in this normally works. The water around the area should just absorb the stain, mingle in and effectively remove it altogether.

However, if this does not work or if the stain has been able to dry first, you need to do more... you can try a stain removing stick but you should not need to, the things you need should be in your home and readily available at no cost...

Some regular dishwashing solution mixed into hot water is the first thing to try. Everyone has washing up liquid in their home. Mix it into the hot water as you would to do a sinkful of dishes, just enough to cause a lather. Then put the soiled area of the garment into the water and work at it for a while. This usually works a treat. Try not to get the rest of the garment all wet too, no need for this. If this has worked all you need to do now is to dry the article and you will find that it is as good as new.

If not try half a cupful of vinegar mixed into a cupful of hot water and put the stained area into this, or dab it on generously, then leave to rest in this solution for about half an hour to an hour, so that it can really get working into the fabric. This should work.

But you can try colour safe bleach on the item. Colour safe bleach removes stains without removing the original colouring. It might be good but only as a last resort, it usually is not necessary.

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