LAUNDRY TIPS THAT THE “MOUSE TEAM” HAVE LEARNT OVER THE YEARS!
Granny Mouse Country House & Spa is definitely home away from home but without having to cook, clean and do the laundry. The house keeping crew at the “mouse house” knows all the tricks in getting the bedding, your clothing crisp clean and the removal of all unwanted stains caused from wine spillage or just messy eating.
There is always one of us that just don’t get it right and tend to miss their mouth when drinking or dropping food sauces etc on their favourite shirt, dress or pants. And let’s not forget those of us that put our pens in our pockets without a lid and also find you have ink lines down you shirt and for the life of you just don’t know how they got there.
If you need some tips, our team at Granny Mouse Country House & Spa know just what to do when doing your laundry and fixing those mishaps that “just happened by themselves.”
The office ink stains are a real pain. Remember to be sure to use a technique based on the fabric you are wearing as not every tip works on all clothing.
If you wearing linen, to test first, rub alcohol on the spot and then place the section where there is a stain into a glass facedown over the mouth of a jar or glass, holding the fabric taut so the ink spot won’t spread. Drip rubbing alcohol through the stain. The alcohol will pull the ink along as it drops into the jar. Rinse well and line-dry, then check that the stain has been removed before laundering per fabric-care instructions.
If you wearing cotton spritz the area with hair spray to loosen the stain, soak for 30 minutes in ½ teaspoon dishwashing liquid and 1 tablespoon white vinegar and warm water. Rinse and then dry. Also remember to check the washing instructions on different fabrics as this too is also important.
Now, if you having that fantastic meal at Eaves and enjoying that glass of red wine, we have all been there with the inevitable red wine spill, its like watching in slow motion the horror movie unfolding. First things first, don’t panic, second is don’t scrub and don’t leave it, face it head on without delay or give to our expert laundry staff. Although you can take care of a red wine stain in the morning, attending to it immediately is always the best solution.
Like any liquid, red wine will move toward anything dry that it comes into contact with. Your best move right after you get a red wine stain is to grab a dry, powdery material and apply it generously on the red wine stain. These include: Table salt, Baking soda, Sodium percarbonate, a.k.a. a granulated form of hydrogen peroxide, Dry soap powder, Talcum powder, which is used for baby powder
These dry materials will “pull” the red wine out but don’t just start rubbing them in. Remember, you never want to rub (or scrub) the stain, regardless of what you’ve applied to it. Always apply the blotting method, even when it comes to cleaning up the salt or powder.
Let the salt (your best option), or any other dry, powdery material you use, settle for a few minutes. In some cases, this may be enough to actually remove the stain completely, especially if you acted fast enough. Otherwise, you may need to apply additional methods. Another tip, do not apply white wine, it will just make it spread even further.
Then, there is the curry or saucy meal you may be relishing in and things go south. Curry is a tough stain to remove but never impossible when there are ingredients in your meal such as saffron, turmeric, masala. If you have your favourite winning white shirt or outfit on, the tip here is to have a spray bottle with one part hydrogen peroxide and nine parts water. Saturate the stain and leave to soak for up to four hours. Machine wash and air dry.
Of course, there are products that are perfect to assist in removing stains, and you can find these specialized products in the cleaning sections of your local supermarket. Lemon is also a natural cleaner and can remove curry stains from your clothes and other surfaces and works when removing stains on your chopping board. Toothpaste is another one and as it contains baking soda, it is a great stain remover. Hydrogen Peroxide is a safe product too, and helps break up the chemical bonds in a stain and removes the colour. So it technically doesn’t remove the stain — it just makes it invisible.