Counter Intuitive Stain Remover

Berry Stain

Last week I mentioned that I would share a super simple, yet counter intuitive way to remove stains from berries, cherries and wine. Unfortunately I do not think this works on cranberries. I have yet to find a stain remover for cranberries - though I ought to try this if we have the opportunity, I may not have actually tried this thinking that it wouldn't work. Hence the counter intuitive aspect of this stain removing procedure.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings and on to the details. My aunt shared this with me when I was in college. I had dropped a cherry pit on my new white shirt and was rather upset at myself for ruining my shirt when I hadn't even gotten much use out of it. Are you ready for it? She told me to pour BOILING water through the stain. I couldn't believe it. Boiling water, won't that set the stain? Amazingly, no! The cherry stain immediately disappeared as I poured the boiling water through it.

Pouring Boiling Water

Years later I spilled some red wine on a very light colored shirt, once again I had not gotten much use out of the shirt and I rather liked it. I did some research and found a suggestion for yet again BOILING water. This time, however, they recommended rubbing salt onto the stain before pouring the water through. Not sure if it is necessary, but I did it and the stain came out. I have since shared this tip with others and they were in awe when they tried it themselves. Truly amazing - and yet how simple!

I tried to get a picture of me pouring the boiling water through the elderberry syrup stain on my son's sweater, but the steam greatly affected the quality of the photo - not to mention the fact that I was using my cell phone camera.

No more stain

If you ever find yourself with berry juice of any variety, try this method and you should be pleasantly surprised. A word of caution, the sooner the action of pouring the boiling water on the stain, the more reliable. Oh and it is best to do this over a sink, wash basin, bathtub or outside as you need to pour the boiling water through the cloth with the stain. I find it helpful to drape the garment over a large bowl.

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursdays. Check out these other sites for more simple living tips/recipes/ideas.
Gnowfglins
Culinary Bliss
A Little Bit of Spain In Iowa


Come back tomorrow for Craft Fair Friday - once a month I will share a crafty project that I've been working on and hope that you will too. I love to see what ideas others come up with, to get more inspiration for another project. Next week I will share another amazing discovery of how to remove blood stains without using bleach. You may already know this trick, but it was new to me a few years ago. OOPS didn't get to this idea yet, but hopefully I will one of these days.