Sometimes a whole army of store-bought stain removers aren’t enough to save your favorite shirt.
Fortunately for favorite garments soiled before their time everywhere, a combination of household staples found somewhere or other in most homes might be able to do the trick instead. This technique works on one of the toughest of clothing-ruiners, the oil stain.
To try this trick on a stained article of clothing, you’ll need dish soap, baking soda, and WD-40, as well as a piece of cardboard or other similar protective surface you can spare, a toothbrush ditto, and a handful of Q-tips.
If the garment you’re trying to save has the offending stain somewhere where two pieces of cloth are layered over each other, like the sleeve or the center of a shirt, put the cardboard in between the two layers so your work on the stain doesn’t bleed through to the other layer of the fabric.
Next, spray the stain with the WD-40 and work it in with a Q-tip.
The next step is to apply baking soda to the same area. Really go crazy: the baking soda is what soaks up the oil after the WD-40 loosens things up in the fibers. Scrub the baking soda into the stained area with the toothbrush until it’s all clumpy.
Then, add a little dish soap and scrub in again. The dish soap, now assisted, separates and breaks down the oil. Scrub like a mad thing, and when you’re satisfied, take out the cardboard and throw the item in the wash.
It won’t harm other clothes, and the stain should be taken care of.
