Kids make messes. That’s part of life. On the flip side of that fact of life is a mom (or dad) trying desperately to clean up the messes and make things like clothing and walls look brand new again. That’s not always possible, but most of the time common stains which kids make with markers, crayons, and food can be quickly cleaned with these tips.
How to Clean Marker Stain Off the Wall
When your budding Picasso uses the wall as his or her canvas, clean those marker stains off the wall with rubbing alcohol.
Ordinary isopropyl alcohol, which is a staple in most home bathrooms, will remove marker stains and make the wall look as though nothing ever happened to it. Dampen a clean cloth with rubbing alcohol and buff away marker stains.
Remove Crayon Marks from Clothing
It doesn’t matter that drawing paper covers the entire kitchen table so kids and the table will be protected during a coloring session; kids will find a way to get crayon marks on their clothing.
Get the crayon out of clothing with WD-40 and dishwashing liquid. Lay the clothing, crayon marks upon a paper towel and spray both sides of the garment with WD-40.
Follow that up with a squirt of dishwashing liquid on the crayon mark and a good rubbing until the crayon mark disappears. Launder as usual.
Get Chocolate Out of Clothing with this
Give your child a chocolate granola bar, then go heat the iron up because that’s what you’ll need to get the chocolate out of the child’s clothing.
Let the chocolate stain dry and scrape off as much as possible with a butter knife. Set the iron on low, spread the garment flat on the ironing board, cover the chocolate with a paper towel, and run the warm iron over the stain, turning the paper towel frequently.
The paper towel will absorb the chocolate as the iron melts it. Launder as usual.
Boiling Water Erases Fruit Juice Stains
If the child’s garment can tolerate boiling water, then the fruit juice stain can be erased. The first blot as much of the fruit juice stain out of the garment as possible, then pour boiling water through the stain until it disappears. Launder as usual.
Keep Meat Tenderizer in Laundry Room
Kids get a grass stain on clothing and canvas shoes; a meat tenderiser gets the grass stains out. Nothing could be easier – just sprinkle meat tenderizer on the grass stains and wash the garment as usual.
When wash water mixes with a meat tenderiser, it lifts the green grass stains out like magic.
A little Prevention
Prevent some common kids’ stains from occurring by creating a kid apron from an old pillowcase. Recycle an old pillowcase into an apron by cutting out a scoop shape on the sewn end of the pillowcase big enough for a child’s head to slip through and cutting a hole on each of the long sides large enough for armholes.
Also, just a thought, why do kids in soaps never stain their clothes as much as normal kids?
