> >10 Laundry Disasters and How To Help Clothes Recover >Solutions for the Worst Laundry Mistakes > >By >Sarah Aguirre, >About.com >Housekeeping Guide > >1. Shrunken Sweaters. > >It may seem hopeless, but there is a tiny glimmer of a chance that you can >still wear that sweater. It's worth a try to attempt to reshape a wet >sweater >to its original size. Add 2-3 tablespoonfuls of hair conditioner to a bucket >of room temperature water. Put the sweater in the bucket to soak for about >5 minutes. Lay the sweater on a clean dry towel and slowly and gently try to >stretch the fibers and reshape the garment before allowing it to dry on the >towel. > >2. Dried Stains. > >Once a stain has been dried, it's very hard to remove, but it is possible. >Try repeating the steps for the individual stain. More than likely you'll >need >to soak the stain, or use a more aggressive stain remover. On white clothes, >try using lemon juice and placing the garment in the sun. Both the lemon >juice >and the sun will work as bleaching agents. Be sure to rinse the clothing >thoroughly before rewashing. > >3. Dingy Whites. > >White fabrics can become yellowed or grayed and dingy. For gray and dingy >whites try the triple soak. Soak the whites first in a solution of a >bucketful >of water and 2 tablespoons of liquid dish soap. Next rinse out the whites >and soak in a solution of 2 tablespoons of ammonia and a bucketful of water. >Next, rinse out the whites, and soak in a bucket of warm water and 2 >tablespoons of vinegar. Rinse thoroughly and dry. This soaking method will >leave your >whites bright and clean. > >4. Wrinkled Clothes. > >If clothes have been neglected in the dryer for too long they are probably >wrinkled. To smooth out the wrinkles, put the load back in the dryer with a >damp >towel (for a medium sized load) or a damp sock (for a small load). > >5. Pink Whites. > >A red sock in the washer with your whites can leave you seeing rose-colored >laundry. To try to fix this problem you'll need Rit Color Remover. This >product >works wonders on white laundry that had dye transfer on it. The Rit Color >Remover can also be effective at removing dye on some colored or patterned >backgrounds, >although you run the risk of having the original color or pattern of the >garment damaged. > >6. Crayons in the Dryer. > >I've got quite a bit of experience with this one. I'll never forget the >first time I looked in the dryer to see streaks of red crayon melted around >the >drum. To get rid of it, start with scraping off as much of the wax as you >can. I like using a credit card because it doesn't scratch the drum, but >does >a good job of removing dried on wax. Depending on how tough the wax is to >remove, you might need to use a blow dryer to remove the wax. Hold the dryer >6 inches away from the drum. It will heat up the wax, allowing you to wipe >it away. Next, you'll need some WD-40. Spray it on a cloth and wipe at the >waxed >areas until the wax is gone. For your final step, use a mild detergent like >dish soap or an all-purpose cleaner and warm water to do a final wipe down >of the drum. > >7. Stickers Washed and Dried. > >Sometimes a "Good Job" sticker gets left on clothes as they go through the >laundry cycle. A sticker that has been washed and dried, congeals and >becomes >very difficult to remove. Use an ice cube to freeze the stained area, and >try to scrape away as much of the sticker as possible with a spoon. Apply >baby >or cooking oil to the sticker area and try to scrape away more of the stain >as it loosens. Rinse the area thoroughly with a little dish soap and warm >water >before applying a stain remover gel and rewashing. > >8. Mildew Smells or Stains. > >Did you forget about the clothes in the washer and now they have a sour >smell? If the clothes smell, but aren't stained by pinpoint sized dots of >mildew, >you may simply be able to rewash them with a helping of bleach for whites, >or color-safe bleach for colors. If you indeed have mildew stains, washing >with >chlorine bleach will remove the stains from white clothing. For colored >clothing use a mixture of color-safe oxygen bleach (1 teaspoon) , and >hydrogen >peroxide (1 cup) to sponge the stained areas before rinsing thoroughly and >rewashing. Clothes may also benefit from soaking in a borax solution. > >9. A Pen Explodes. > >If a pen found its way into your laundry, it can wreak a lot of havoc before >it's found. Whether you realize there are ink stains after clothes are >washed, >or after they are dried, the steps are the same. > >The first solution to try is rubbing alcohol. Place the clothing on top of a >clean white towel. Be sure to test in a hidden spot before applying rubbing >alcohol to the permanent ink stain. Blot rubbing alcohol onto the stain. The >towel underneath will become wet and discolored from the ink. Be sure to >move >the garment to a clean dry section of the towel as this happens. Continue >until no more ink stain can be removed. Make sure you rinse the stained area >completely free of the rubbing alcohol. Next try fingernail polish remover. >Blot in the same way as you did with the rubbing alcohol, moving the stained >area to a clean dry section of a towel as the ink stain is removed. Rinse >thoroughly. > >Honestly, this will work much more effectively if the clothes haven't been >dried, but it can still work on set in stains, it will just take a lot of >hoping >and patience. > >10. Washed Tissues. > >If a tissue has been inadvertently washed, leaving shreds of tissue all over >your clothing, the easiest solution is to pick out the biggest clumps you >can >see before putting the clothing in the dryer. The smaller clumps will get >caught in the lint filter where you can remove them after the drying cycle. >The >more clumps you can remove before the clothing goes into the dryer, the >better. Once the clothing is dry, shake out the garments to remove any loose >pieces. > > Betty and Tisha, the "Southern" snorter
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