Helpful Home Tips &
Mortgage Advice from Experts

If you’ve ever had to toss out your favorite shirt or cover up a spot on the carpet with an area rug, chances are, you’ve become a victim of a pesky stain. After all, there’s nothing worse to a homeowner than having a big stain in a highly visible part of their home. Remove stains around your house with ease using these ten useful tips.

1.Carpets

One of most important things to remember when you are cleaning a spot on the carpet is not to scrub the stain. Rubbing a stain will only further disperse it and ruin your carpet fibers, which can leave a permanent stain and be a real hindrance to homeowners.

Remove carpet stains around your home with a water and vinegar solution composed of ¼ cup white vinegar and a quart of water. This cheap and simple-to-make combination can remove a wide variety of stains including alcohol, soda, and ink. The odor of vinegar will dissipate after the carpet dries, so there’s no worry of a lingering smell. More viscous substances such as oil or wax can be removed by ironing a paper towel over the spot. The substance will transfer to the paper towel. Clean up any leftover spots using the vinegar spray.

2. Walls

From crayon marks to fingerprints, your walls collect all types of difficult-to-remove marks. General dirt buildup can be easily removed with a dry sponge; no need to get it wet or apply cleaners.

Remove challenging stains like crayon and scuff marks with a water and baking soda paste. Leave the paste on the spot for several minutes and then wipe it clean using a damp cloth. Don’t rub it too hard or you could leave tiny scratches in the paint. Avoid cleansers that alcohol, as this will break down the paint on your walls. A great all purpose wall cleaner is a mixture of one part vinegar and two parts water.

3. Outdoors

Homeowners can really brighten up their home’s curb appeal by cleaning up the exterior of the home. A 50/50 mixture of vinegar and water make a great all purpose cleaner. This is best to remove light stains due to mild mold or mildew. For tougher stains, mix up a heavy duty mixture consisting of ⅓ cup powdered detergent, ⅔ general household cleaner, one quart bleach, and one gallon water. This mixture can be sprayed with a power sprayer.

On the driveway, use oven cleaner to remove oil stains and stains left by other automobile fluids. You’d be surprised how much difference a clean driveway can make.

4. Countertops

Countertops collect stains from different foods and drinks after daily use, but you can easily remove stains in a jiffy. If you have granite countertops, this isn’t an issue. However, for those homeowners with light colored laminate countertops in their kitchens, stains are most unavoidable. One method to removing a stain on a countertop is to first coat the stain in a baking soda and water paste. Place a wet paper towel over the paste and let it sit for several hours before wiping away. For white countertop cleaner, use a bleach-based spray on color dense stains, such as those left behind from fruit drinks or food coloring. Let it sit for a few seconds and then wipe it away. The stain will disappear before your eyes.

5. Appliances

Kitchen appliances are used to prepare food and beverages, which can leave behind a plethora of nasty stains and residues. Remove them with ease by using a combination of a lemon and baking soda. Just cut a whole lemon in half and sprinkle baking soda on the cut section of the lemon. Use the lemon itself to scrub your refrigerator, stove, microwave, and other appliances. Then simply wipe away the excess cleaner with a warm cloth and enjoy the fresh lemon scent! This method works great for cleaning up cooked-on stains from glass stove tops.

6. Dishes

Have you ever tossed out a coffee mug or a plastic food container just because a stain just would not go away? Plastic is infamous for being stained by tomato products, while coffee often stains glass. Don’t throw away stained dishware again. For glass dishes such as a coffee mugs, scrub any stubborn stains away with a paste made from lemon juice and baking soda. Soak plastic food containers in a solution of 2 parts household bleach and three parts warm water for 30 minutes. Rinse well and look on in amazement as the stains disappear.

7. Bathroom

It’s the place you come to get clean, but how clean is it? You brush your teeth in the sink and bathe in bathtub, so it’s no surprise that your bathroom collects tons of pesky stains. If your bathtub is porcelain, an abrasive powder such as Comet mixed with a little water is the best stain remover. However, you do not want to use an abrasive powder on an acrylic bathtub, so instead use a natural bathtub cleaner made of a mixture of a dish washing detergent and hot water.

8. Clothes

It can be very frustrating when you look down and see that drop of tomato sauce or wine on your favorite shirt. After all, panic sets in right away when you realize you might never be able to wear your beloved piece of clothing again. Don’t fret!

If you are out at a restaurant, try cleaning the spot with a soft cloth or napkin and club soda. If you’re at home, lemon juice mixed with cream of tartar is even more effective at removing clothing stains naturally. When your child comes in from playing outside with grass stains on their jeans, scrub away those annoying green hindrances with toothpaste and a toothbrush. Rub them gently in a circular motion and the stains will fade away. Hydrogen peroxide is an easily accessible clothing stain remover that is very effective against blood, so if a scraped knee produces unsightly clothing stain, simply apply some peroxide right from the bottle and scrape away the remnants with a dull blade, such as a butter knife.

9. Shoes

Shoes come into contact with dirt and grime on a daily basis, so it’s no surprise that stains are prominent on footwear. The winter months are especially hard on shoes. Between the slush, mud, and salt, it seems your shoes are under attack by the elements. Banish weathered stains easily!

For basic canvas shoes, mix a few squirts of dish detergent with very a cup of warm water and scrub your shoes with a toothbrush. For a very challenging stain, let a baking soda and water paste sit on shoes for several minutes, then rinse. If your shoes are made out of suede or leather, use a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water and pat them gently.

10. Child’s Bedroom or Play Room

A child’s room is filled with toys and laughter—and of course, stains! A mixture consisting of 2 cups of water, a few drops of natural liquid soap, 15 drops of tree oil (available at any drug store), and a few drops of lavender oil is a great cleanser that is kid safe. You can use this cleaner to lift unruly stains anywhere in your kid’s room, from the changing table to hard toys and furniture.

Faster is Better

The sooner you remove stains, the better your chances are of completely removing it—so don’t wait too long to clean any stain, or else you might have a more difficult time removing it.