How can I get stains (old and new) out of polyester tablecloths? I can't bleach them because they're colored, and I've tried Shout gel as well as making a paste of detergent - the stains remain.
posted by suchatreat
on Apr 8, 2011 -
7 answers
I'm interested in dishwashing practices in the developing world. If you were one of roughly the half of the people in the world
without running water in your home, how might you wash your dishes? What kind of set up would you have? Are sinks common even if you collect water from a public well or
water truck? Or would you have a washbasin/plastic tub? On a countertop, table, or floor? Cloth or tarp outside? Would you use non-potable water to do the washing up? Save the graywater for next time or for other cleaning tasks?
[more inside]
posted by hydrophonic
on Dec 8, 2010 -
31 answers
How should I clean a grimy scruffy pair of rope-soled canvas slip-ons without ruining it? (
These TOMS are the shoes in question)
posted by hellopanda
on Jun 12, 2010 -
7 answers
I bought a second-hand swimsuit. I know, ew, but I'm on a budget and this suit fits much, much better than anything I could afford to buy new. It looks and smells clean and seems very lightly worn. What's the best way to to wash/sterilise it so as to a) not catch anything gross and b) not feel so squicky about putting it on?
[more inside]
posted by embrangled
on Dec 29, 2009 -
19 answers
Smelly Shoes: I wore my favorite pair of shoes to one of the hottest, most humid 7 weeks of Vermont summer in recorded history this year, and my shoes stink. I've tried spraying them full of Odor-Eaters spray powder (With Zorbitex™!) and leaving them alone for a while, and while they smell fine when left alone, they reek after an hour or so of use. Can I exorcise these shoes, or do I need to dump them? How do you tell if a pair of shoes is OK to wash in a washing machine?
[more inside]
posted by sirion
on Aug 25, 2005 -
19 answers
I've got several pairs of lightweight wool dress pants from Ann Taylor. They are marked dry clean only. Suppose I hand-wash these pants in cold water and lay them flat on a towel to air-dry. Will the laundry gods punish my impudence?
posted by naomi
on Feb 14, 2005 -
12 answers
Clothing stain filter: In addition to t-shirts, I have a number of shirts with a regular collar (non-button down). After I wear them for a while, EVERY ONE of them gets this little kind of brownish stain at in the front where the collar comes to a point. It looks kind of like rust. These stains are *really* hard to remove, and resistant to most stain removers. There are no similar stains anywhere on the shirt.
But my question is - what the heck is that stain? Where does it come from? Is it just me? Or is this a problem that all people who wear shirts with collars deal with but never talk about? Is this a message from the gods that I should only wear t shirts or only dark colored collared shirts?
BTW most of my shirts are wrinkle free cotton/poly blends, and they usually have one of those clear plastic collar stay things inside the material to keep the collar straight and pointy.
posted by jasper411
on Aug 20, 2004 -
21 answers
