Wednesday, September 5, 2012

simple solutions: getting gum out of clothing



the other day as i was doing one of my usual several loads of laundry, i pulled clothing out of the washing machine to discover that one of my children had put a piece of gum in their pocket and then had thrown it into the wash. fabulous, right? it was totally not how i wanted to spend my morning. the gum was spread all over the front of a shirt and thanks to the running of washer, it had the "just been chewed" consistency.

i tried to think through any past knowledge i might have concerning getting gum out of things. things like peanut butter and ice cubes came to mind but nothing sounded particularly promising.

then i got smart and i called my dad. let me just tell you, when it comes to stains, my dad is the stain master. he will from here on out be called master yoda of the laundry room. the man can get a stain out of anything and he knows every trick in the book.

Yoda

here is master yoda's trick for getting gum out of clothing. 

that's right. most people have a bottle of wd40 in their garage somewhere. dig that bottle out and spray it all over the fabric and gum combo. i used a sponge and scrubbed the gum off. it took about two seconds. the wd40 dissolves the gum and it can literally be wiped off. so easy it is stupid.


after the gum is removed, rinse the clothing out in a sink well to get the wd40 out of the cloth. you'll want to spot treat where you sprayed you clothing as the wd40 has an oily consistency. rewash the garment in the washing machine like normal. the trick works every time. 


one less bit of drama to my day...thank you, master yoda of the laundry room.

3 comments:

  1. Hmmm.... I need my own yoda stainmaster. My problem is that I usually can't identify the substance that cause the stain.

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    Replies
    1. i completely understand that! if there is a stain, he will find the answer...

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  2. How about dry erase marker after they have been in the childs shirt all day? I have tried everything I can think of. Any help would be greatfully appreciated

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