Stains. Since having kids I've noticed that my house is full of them. In the carpet, on clothes, on furniture, even on my teeth (yes, I had to drink a lot of coffee to keep me awake during those night feeds). But what I hate more than stains is paying $5 for a stain remover that never seems to do what it says on the box. "Surely there are better products I can make at home, using things I already have" I thought. And boy was I right.

I spent hours trawling the various expert sites and video libraries trying to find the perfect homemade remedy for each and every stain I wanted to zapp into oblivion. My list was a long one but I knew with a little perseverence and a lot of time I could find the solutions. I did, and now I'm sharing them with you.

I can testify that these have all worked in my household (except 6, you'll see why), but your level of success will depend on your stain and the length of time you've had it. Best of all, most of the simple ingredients needed are almost certainly in your home already. So you won't need to spend an extra dime.


 

1: Mayo + Cigarette Ash = no more water stains
Amazing. This really did work so well. Now, I'm not suggesting you all become smokers, if you need the ash you can collect it from the smoker's room at work or simply buy a small pack and let a few burn down.


 

2: The Alka Seltzer Rust Remover
Ok, that's probably not a stain if you want to split hairs, but I had some items that were rusted solid. I found out that a simple plop,plop, fizz,fizz was al it took to turn rusty bolts into lightening bolts.


 

3: Using a towel as a carpet steam-cleaner
Why spend your hard-earned cash on a SpotBot or even a carpet cleaning product like Tuff Stuff? Just a towel, an iron and a few household items will do the job for you.


4: Blitzing those wine stains
I always wondered if that urban legend about white wine zapping red wine was true. Now you can see for yourself.


 

5: Baking soda & hydrogen peroxide tooth whitener
How much does it cost to whiten your teeth? Anywhere from $5 for those toothpastes that don't work, to several hundred dollars for dental work. This one costs almost nothing and works well, but please, don't leave it on for longer than 20 mins and do rinse thoroughly. Don't swallow.


 

6: Killing face stains (acne) with baking soda
Is that a stretch? Yeah, you got me, but I thought it was worth including. Especialy as professional acne products can cost hundreds of dollars. This one, I confess, was not tried by myself or my family but a friend. He was very, very happy with the results.

Now you can enjoy a stain-free house and keep your wallet nice and fat. Enjoy.