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Make housekeeping easier with tips on cleaning and organizing virtually anything in your home. Candle wax on the carpet? Soap scum in your tub? eHow’s experts are here to help, with cleaning advice alongside tips on everything from ridding your home of cockroaches to getting the kids to help with chores. Learn to care for furniture, clean appliances and remove any sort of stain. eHow can even help you organize a junk closet, clean the stove or, if all else fails, hire a housekeeper or cleaning service.
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Marker stains are tough to remove, particularly permanent-marker stains, and whether it's black, blue or red, a marker stain will stand out conspicuously on a pair of blue jeans. However, there...
Vintage linen napkins require special care if you wish to restore them to their former condition and color. Most often, napkins are suffering from age and storage stains, but once they are soaked...
Hair dye can be tough to get out. Even if you attempt to take dye stains off of your bathroom counter top directly after you've finished dying, the stains are already set in. Things such as...
Before starting a project using food coloring, don some kitchen gloves to protect the skin. Food coloring is a type of dye that can stain work surfaces, clothing and hands. Due to the nature of...
Almost anyone who has ever sat down to eat a meal can remember spilling some food on their clothing. Some fabrics are easier to remove stains from than other fabrics are. Acrylic fabric is one of...
Personal photographs are reminders of cherished memories or forms of valued artwork, so it is natural to want to preserve them. Glue stains are often challenging to remove from most surfaces, let...
Watercolor artwork is usually displayed on walls, refrigerators and other household surfaces for viewing. This usually requires the use of tape, which can stain the artwork after it has been...
Furnishing a home can be expensive, making it important to care for and maintain furniture for as long as possible. This may eliminate the need to purchase new furniture every few years, since you...
Kitchen sink is used throughout the day.Draining,rinsing and cleaning dishes all takes place in the sink.Gradually,you notice stubborn stains all around.Especially,around the tap where you cannot...
Food stains on clothing can be enough of a hassle to remove. When you're dealing with stains caused by other materials, however, things can get even more complicated. Blue marks on clothing can...
Bitumen is a black, petroleum-based, tar-like substance that's typically referred to as asphalt. Because bitumen is an oil-based material, you can't use hard-core degreasers to remove oil stains...
Ammonia is a practical choice for spot cleaning your carpet. It has good stain removal properties, low cost, and wide availability. While it is not recommended for general carpet cleaning, it...
Toilets can be the perfect place for germs to breed and grow. Toilets should be cleaned regularly to reduce the appearance of dirt and stains and also eliminate harmful germs.
Silly Putty is a childhood favorite that children love to spread around the house, on toys, on themselves and on your furniture and fabrics. It can seem like the putty will never come out of the...
Travertine is a beautiful natural stone that is often used for household decorating. Countertops, flooring, and fireplace mantels are just a few of the areas that travertine can be used in. While...
As unpleasant as it may sound, many homes have at least one urine stain hiding on a couch or carpet. They can be from a young child or a beloved pet. These stains can be embarrassing, unsightly,...
The method you use to remove stains from white paint depends on several factors, including the type of paint and type of stain. Flat-painted walls will pose the greatest challenge unless they're...
Fiberglass laundry tubs are extremely popular because they are durable and not likely to chip. But many household cleaning agents can damage a fiberglass tub---especially stain removal products....
Concrete is commonly used for constructing driveways due to its durability and strength. Concrete, however, is also very porous and can stain easily. If a car leaking oil is parked on a concrete...
As you stand back and admire your newly dusted and polished furniture, your eyes come to rest upon an area you aren't so proud of. Sometimes furniture polish finds its way to things it shouldn't...
CorningWare, dishes and bakeware that can typically withstand the heat of the oven as well as the cold of the freezer, can, over time, become stained dark brown or black by burnt on food and...
Suede boots can be a nice accessory to your other clothes, but they are known to attract a lot of stains. Stains from blue jeans are caused from the dyes leaking out of the jeans. This really...
Pet stains are unsightly and can cause odors to permeate a house long after the spots have initially been cleaned. A variety of chemicals are available for personal home use, but these can cause...
For all the different ways that rust finds its way onto concrete, there are nearly as many proven methods to remove it. These stains have a noticeable bright red color that stands out and mars the...
Exposed to the elements constantly, your concrete slab comes into contact with a number of different substances that can sully its appearance. While some things can easily be washed away when it...
Lipstick stains on clothes are a common stain. They can be difficult to remove especially with the newer indelible or long lasting lipsticks. These stains can be difficult to remove, but not...
While any stains that find their way to your clothing are irritating, iron stains seem twice as bad. The bright red color clashes with most apparel making it more than noticeable. Though rust...
Clothing stains are so easy to make, and yet can be so hard to remove. No one wants to run to a professional dry cleaner every time a clothing stain occurs, but sometimes that seems like the only...
Getting even a small stain on an article of clothing will completely ruin it. Having stains on appliances and countertops or in sinks, toilets and tubs will make the house look dirty and sloppy....
Water stains can completely ruin the look of wood veneer. This material can be very expensive, and it is also expensive to have a professional come and fix it for you. Instead of hiding the...
There are several common food stains you and your household may come on contact with daily. Luckily even some of the hardest stains can be zapped when treated properly. The mail thing to remember...
It can be distasteful to open your patio umbrella and discover mildew forming within the folds of the fabric. Mildew forms in damp places where oxygen does not circulate effectively. When you keep...
Windows protect an establishment from the outside world and are held in place by a frame that prevents the window pane from collapsing. Window frames are often made of durable wood, metal, vinyl...
Salt deposits, otherwise know as efflorescence, can create unsightly white stains. Caused by a build-up of soluble salts due to moisture, these deposits can occur on both outdoor and indoor...
Rust in your kitchen sink is not only unsightly, it is unsanitary too. However, removing rust stains can be detrimental to the sink as well since many people use agents like abrasive cleansers and...
Rust stains in your fiberglass laundry tub can create serious problems with your laundry in the form of brown, permanent streaks that may be impossible to get out. Prevent this type of laundry...
When someone smokes in your home, the tobacco and nicotine stains seem to saturate every surface. This includes wooden walls and wooden furniture. Unfortunately, many strong cleaners traditionally...
Nicotine stains can be some of the hardest to clean from any surface. If you or a loved one smokes in your home, you will find yellowing stains all over your walls and ceiling. If you're not...
Stainless steel appliances can add a professional and modern look to your kitchen. However, they are known for showing smudges, fingerprints and water stains. Since they usually represent a...
Many pavers end up with rust stains, thanks to improperly sealed wrought iron patio furniture. If you have rust stains on your pavers, the stain removal process is not nearly as complicated as you...
Pewter items such as serving utensils and jewelry must be rust-free in order to be both attractive and useful. If you have old pewter that has not been stored in a dry environment, your pewter...
Fiberglass curtains have a beautiful shimmer like silk curtains, but they're more durable. However, they can be tricky to wash. Because they're made of fiberglass, you can't just throw them in...
Traditionally, when you think of food coloring for the home cook, you probably think of little plastic bottles of red, green, yellow and blue that you purchase in the baking aisle at your local...
You can make an inexpensive pet stain and odor remover at home using simple ingredients. Pet odors and stains should be removed as quickly as possible. If you can find the stain before it dries,...
Glass ceramic is a strong material often used in stovetops that can sustain repeated high temperature changes. Ceramic is relatively easy to clean due to its flat surface, but it scratches upon...
Cleaning the oven can be a tiresome chore, but even worse is the aftermath of the oven cleaner. Spilling oven cleaner on the vinyl floor beneath the oven door makes for a terrible staining that is...
According to information from the North Carolina Water Quality and Waste Management website (see reference1), hard water may contain "calcium and magnesium which leave hard deposits--called lime...
Green stains on a deck are likely caused from mildew, mold or algae. These green stains are a common result of the deck's constant exposure to weather elements. It is important to clean deck...
Accidental food spills are common when cooking on a stove top. Many stoves today have ceramic burners, making it easy to clean up spills, but many older stoves have cast-iron burner grates. When...
Carpets are harder to clean than your simple wooden or tiled floors. For one thing, anything liquid seeps through the carpet quickly, making it difficult to get the stains out. Dirt from shoes...