The How to Get Rid of Things Blog

“Wow,” you’re saying to yourself, “another article already?!” Yes. We’re going on vacation (to Bemidji and then the North Shore) for a little bit, so I thought I’d leave you all with something to keep you busy: bleach stain removal. I know it’s not the most exciting topic, and when you first read the title you might even think it’s an oxymoronic statement–because you can’t really get rid of bleach stains. Well, that’s not entirely true, you see. You can get rid of bleach stains, but it takes a little more lateral thinking than your average stain requires. Think color restoration. Think color remover. Think blending. Then read the article and tell me what you think.

Our article about getting rid of blood stains is the second article (well, technically the fourth) in our series of articles regarding stain removal. Blood stains present a particular problem because of their organic nature (ie. they’re protein-based). Protein-based stains tend to bind to materials, fabrics, and surfaces quite easily, especially if they’re exposed to heat. Blood, in particular, can be almost impossible to clean if it’s been exposed to heat from, say, a dryer or even something as innocuous as hot water. The basic set of steps in regarding blood stain removal are as follows:

1. Blot away as much blood as possible from the fabric.
2. Flush or dab water over the stain.
3. Soak the stained clothing or fabric with a pretreatment solution like hydrogen peroxide or enzyme detergent.
4. Launder the fabric (if possible) in cold water.
5. Air dry the fabric in a dark, cool area.

Those are the five main techniques described, as well as some blood stain dos and don’ts. All in all, I’m fairly certain that if you have a blood stain problem, this article should help you address that problem with a better understanding of how blood stains happen and how you might get rid of those blood stains. God, what a morbid topic. I can’t wait to do vomit or urine.

Armpit stain removal is a biggie. We all get sweat stains and we all need to get rid of sweat stains. So, what I’ve done is something novel; I did some research and listed some of the most effective ways of getting rid of sweat stains. Wow, amazing! The topic of stains and stain removal seems like it would be boring, but it’s quite the contrary, and there’s a great deal of science (chemical engineering, to be specific) behind the cause of stains, staining, and stain removal. Armpit stains/sweat stains, or whatever you want to call them is just the beginning here. We’re going to roll with this subject for a while, and at the same time make some marked improvements in overall layout and interactivity on the site as well. So, expect to see more on the subject of stain removal. It’s been an issue we’ve neglected for too long.

I’ve recently discovered the joys of the Yahoo! Answers program, and I think there’s some potential here to keep How to Get Rid of Things advice in the public eye. I signed up a couple of weeks ago, and not too long ago I was picked as a best answer for the service they offer in the U.K. Here is the question and my answer. Apparently spiders are a problem in the United Kingdom as well. I offered her a link to a book I’d bought about spiders in Minnesota (the north woods), not thinking that she would actually appreciate a book detailing spiders only found in the most northern parts of North America. I also linked here to the wikipedia article about spiders, and back to How to Get Rid of Things–which brings me to my point.

If you happen to be all about answering questions and getting pseudo-rewards for them, I strongly recommend that you  check out the Yahoo! Answers program. It’s easy to sign up for, and it’s actually a bit of fun. Not only that, but you can brush up on your rhetoric skills by seeing just how many times you can lull a couple of readers into thinking you really do have the best answer to their problem.

Oh, and if you find the occasion to link back to getridofthings.com at the bottom of your Yahoo Answer page, please do.

I know what you’re thinking right now; you’re thinking “how do I get rid of rust stains?” Well, the answer is simple, and it’s right here. Stains aren’t usually very easy to get rid of, but rust stains don’t seem to be a very big problem, and information about them on the intertron isn’t sparse. Apparently all you need is a little lemon juice and some salt. Crazy huh? Yeah, apparently rust stains are most susceptible to acids. So, pretty much anything with acid will do the trick; as long as you’re not throwing sulfuric acid on silk you should be fine. Oh, and an absorbent is a good thing to have as well, to leech the acid solution out of the fabric while it dissolves the rust.