Saturday, February 21, 2009

Cleaning Tip

Things have finally slowed down enough for me to start blogging again. I wanted to share a helpful little cleaning tip I was "forced" to learn last weekend.

Last Saturday, Valentine's Day, started out like most Saturdays, except this Saturday I got up later than usual. I went to the gym for Camp 24, but did not do any cardio or stretching before the class. During the class, my back started spasming and I was in a ton of pain. After the class, I left in a hurry and decided to stop and get some gas on my way home. I started filling up my tank with gas and got back in the car to wait. I got a phone call about the same time I heard the pump click off. I jumped out of the car and pulled out the nozzle and ... gas went EVERYWHERE!!!! It hadn't clicked off! I must have heard the pump beside mine. As quickly as I could, I shoved it back into my gas tank, but not before I had sprayed it all over my car, my pants and my brand-new Asics!

As soon as my tank really was full, I drove home ... in pain and smelling like gasoline. I walked into the door and saw Travis and staring sobbing. I was so upset that I ruined my brand-new tennis shoes and my back was still throbbing with pain. Poor guy! Not exactly how he expected to spend Valentine's Day morning.

After much consoling from Travis and Jack, I went upstairs to shower and wash my clothes and shoes. I figured I had nothing to lose: if I could get the gas smell out of my shoes, great. If the washer ruined them, that was OK too since they reeked of gas. Well, the first time through the washer didn't work. They now smelled like gas and Tide.

So I did an Internet search and found a ton of ways to get the smell out. The most sensible and least expensive way was to use vinegar. So, I doused my shoes in vinegar and put about four more cups in the washer with the clothes and shoes. I then added some more laundry detergent. This time it worked!

I then stuff fabric softener sheets in the shoes and laid more sheets on top of them and let them dry and air out for a week. I'm happy to report that as of today they are virtually gas free! (One of them still has a slight smell of gas, but I think it will go away with more wear.)

So, my tip for the day is to use Vinegar in your laundry to take out bad odors! And it can be used to help whiten your white clothes!

3 comments:

Mary Jo Pierce said...

This cleaning tip would mean nothing without the lead in story ... oh, you know how to weave a tale...

Dana said...

Stacy, believe it or not I also have taken my nozzle out and sprayed my car and myself before, wish I would have known about the vinegar trick, I ended up throwing everything away....

Unknown said...

Do be very careful what you add vinegar to. Vinegar can also set some stains in permanently. If you want set the color of your clothes, when you bring them home from the store, add 1 cup of vinegar to the load. It helps to keep clothes from fading by making the color more permanent. You can also use a mixture of Clorox 2 and baking soda. Clorox 2 is basically Hydrogen Peroxide. It has a similar reaction as mixing vinegar and baking soda together without the intensity. The bubbling up is actually the production of oxygen, which is one of the best stain removers. Both this mixture and vinegar are excellent for cleaning stains and deodorizing pretty much your whole house.