Sharing is Caring, Especially When It Comes to Cleaning

Valentines Day Stain Removal Tips

Valentines Chocolates | Flat Rate Carpet BlogAre you planning the perfect Valentines Day for your special someone? A special dinner can quickly turn into a disaster with spills and stains. Know how to treat the most common Valentines Day stains, and make sure your night stays magical.

Chocolate: To remove chocolate from fabric, simply run under cold water and pretreat. Removing chocolate from furniture or carpeting requires nothing more than an ice cube. Hold the ice over the chocolate until it’s solid, and gently scrape with the edge of a spoon. When nearly all the chocolate is gone blot gently with cold water.

Candle Wax: Wax spills are much easier to clean up than most people think. When the wax is solid, simply pick off the large clumps and scrape away what you can with a plastic knife. Next you’ll need an iron and a clean, white cloth. Place the cloth over the wax and iron. Continue moving the cloth around, careful to only iron clean cloth and avoid spreading the wax. Soon the wax will be as good as gone.

Red Wine: Wine stains are pretty scary, but don’t fear. Sprinkle salt on the spill to soak up excess wine, and then rinse well with white wine or club soda, then cold water. If you have a stain treater handy go ahead and pretreat the stain as well.

No matter what kind of spills happen during your romantic evening, the best way to treat any disaster is to stay calm. A ruined dress doesn’t have to mean a ruined night.

Happy Valentines Day.

How to Remove Champagne Stains

Champagne | Flat Rate Carpet BlogMost people who host a New Year’s party spend the night worrying about red wine spills and ground up appetizers ruining their rug, but few think about spraying champagne all over the house at midnight. Although champagne is colorless and bubbly, it can still leave behind marks on furniture and other fabrics. Here are some simple tips in removing champagne stains.

Add a small drop of dish soap to warm water and mix. Dip a clean, white cloth into the solution and gently dab the stain. Repeat the process until you’ve covered the whole area.

Next use a different clean, white cloth and redab the area with warm water to rinse.

This method will get champagne stains out of upholstery, carpets and clothing without any added hassle.

If only everything in 2013 will be this easy!

How to Remove Coffee Stains

Coffee Stain | Flat Rate Carpet BlogIt doesn’t matter how careful you are, at one point in time we all wind up with a big coffee stain. Whether you’ve spilled coffee all over a new shirt on the way to work, or on a nice new table cloth, we have the tricks you need to remove coffee stains.

As quickly as you can, try to blot up any coffee with a clean paper towel. Gently blot the area with a clean piece of towel each time until no more coffee is coming up. Remember never to rub the area or you’ll wind up helping the stain to spread further.

Next, make your own stain remover by mixing distilled white vinegar, cold water and a bit of powdered laundry detergent. Mix all three until it makes a little paste, the same consistency as toothpaste. Gently spread the paste on both sides of the fabric and let it sit for about five minutes.

Using a toothbrush or other gentle brush, scrub both sides of the fabric with simple, circular motions, and then rinse with cold water.

Pretreat the area with a dab of liquid laundry detergent before laundering regularly.

As with any stain treatment, make sure that you test the stain remover on a small, inconspicuous, area of the fabric to make sure that it doesn’t discolor the fabric.

Remember to treat stains as quickly as possible to ensure that the stain comes out completely.

Don’t let a little coffee spill ruin your fabrics ever again with this easy coffee stain remover.

Removing Crayon Stains

Crayons | Flat Rate Carpet BlogYou’re so excited to see your little ones go off to school in the morning, but what about when they get off the bus with their clothing covered in crayon? Did the teacher even bother handing out paper or did they just instruct the kids to draw on their clothes? Well never fear, crayon stains are easy to remove from clothing.

At first you might be tempted to scrape the crayon off the fabric, whatever you do, don’t do that! Scraping crayon is the equivalent of rubbing, it will spread the stain and help to work the crayon deeper into the fabric.

Soak the are of the crayon stain in liquid laundry detergent. Saturate the area well, and then allow it to sit overnight. Launder the clothing normally, checking the pockets for any extra crayons that might get ruined in the wash.

Next time you catch your kids with crayon stains on their clothes, don’t stress. Removing crayon stains is so simple you won’t need to give it a second thought.

How to Clean an Iron

Iron | Flat Rate Carpet BlogSo you’ve finally finished the laundry, the sorting, the folding, the putting clothes away, and now all you have left to do is iron a few shirts and you’re done. You run the iron over a nice shirt and you see a dirty smudge appear! Of all the things we clean in our house, the iron is often overlooked until it’s already causing trouble. Take a moment and protect your laundry with these simple tips on how to clean an iron.

Before cleaning your iron make sure that it is off, and cool to the touch. Next wipe down the iron with a clean cloth and either glass cleaner or white vinegar. Then take a cotton swab dipped in glass cleaner or white vinegar, and gently clean each of the little holes. When you’re done wipe down the whole iron with a clean cloth and water.

To clean the inside of the iron, fill the water reservoir with a mixture of half water and half white vinegar. Now turn on the iron, and once it’s hot allow it to steam for a few moments. Spray the mixture through the iron a few times, and then turn off the iron and allow it to cool. Once the iron has cooled repeat the process using only water.

This easy way to clean your iron takes almost no time to do and will keep your iron, and your clothes, sparkling clean!