Dear Home-Ec101, My husband dripped peanut butter on our nubby weave couch and rubbed it in when he tried to clean it off. Can you tell me and your readers how to get messes like this out without further ruining the upholstery? Signed, Excuse the Mess, We Just Live Here I dream of the day when …
Hello, I’m so lost. I’m trying to get some sweat stains out of my cream-coloured sheets, as well as my white mattress pad, and the closest I have to remove these stains is powdered Borax and/or pre-treat Resolve Spray ‘n Wash. I was really curious if it is safe to use both Borax and Resolve …
Dear Home-Ec 101, Why do my black shirts come out of the laundry with red/reddish patches? Signed, Spotty in Spartanburg Heather says: Laundry mysteries are always fun. Not too long ago we had an issue where one of my children’s s t-shirts were always ripping under one of the arms. We checked the inside of …
Dear Home-Ec 101, I have been puzzled by this mysterious pink / red stains on my khaki shorts for years. Whenever I get new khaki shorts, it will get these red / pink stains on them whenever I wash them. I don’t use bleach or fabric softener. I only use powdered detergent, cold/warm water and …
Dear Home-Ec 101, I’m a brand new mom and I need to know if it is okay to wash clothes that have suffered through a diaper leak with the rest of the baby clothes. How do I make sure that poop (sorry!) doesn’t get all over the washer and the rest of our stuff without …
Dear Home-Ec101, This evening right before bed, while he was outside letting the dogs out, my husband saw a roach on our back porch. He was barefoot, so he grabbed the nearest object to him so he could try to kill it. Usually a brilliant man, he had a momentary lapse of stupid, and he …
Dear Home-Ec 101, I have a grey t-shirt that has significant memories and it has a grease blotch or something in it. Not sure, honestly. I’ve tried everything to remove it and give up. The stain is above the belly button location. So an odd place. However, I wondered how I might make a bleach …
Dear Home Ec 101, I burned a microfiber rag on my flat top range as I thought it was cool and was wiping it off. The regular ceramic stove top cleaners are not taking it off. How can I remove the melted microfiber from my stove? Signed,Stuck in Sturbridge Cleaning melted anything off of a …
Dear Home Ec 101, Love your site! It struck me that with your knowledge of chemistry, young kids, and housekeeping, you were my best shot at figuring out how to remove lovely nail polish from nearly every key of our piano. Any ideas? The keys are not ivory (that I can tell, I don’t know …
Dear Home Ec 101, I’ve got a problem that I haven’t seen addressed on the blog, or anywhere else for that matter. We have an older twin-size, leather sofa-bed; which lived happily in our library in our home for several years, did an eight-year stint as extra seating at my office, and now has been …