In addition to a few extra kilos and a handful of unwanted gifts, Xmas usually leaves behind a few post party stains. Here at swiish we love a good cleaning tip, so we’ve scoured (haha, yes pun intended. Sorry!) the web for the best handy hints to get you through the festive mess.
Candle wax on the carpet:
Step 1: The first thing you should do is take a spoon and scrape up as much of the wax as you can. Take an ice cube and place it on the wax for 30 – 60 seconds to help it freeze so you can scrape off more.
Step 2: After you have scraped off as much as possible, there will probably be some wax left in the carpet.
Step 3: Next, cover the wax with a brown paper bag. Place an iron on the low setting on top of the paper bag. This will heat up the wax and start to liquify it. The wax will be absorbed into the brown paper bag.
Note: You should only leave the iron in one spot on the paper bag for 20 – 30 seconds at a time. You need to be careful not to leave the iron on one spot too long and scorch the carpet underneath.
The brown paper bag will appear greasy where the wax is being absorbed. Just move it to a new spot on the bag. Keep repeating this process until the wax has been removed.
Red wine on the carpet:
Step 1: Use a clean white cloth to blot up as much of the red wine stain as you can. You’ll need to alternate parts of the cloth to always blot using a fresh spot.
Step 2: Pour a small amount of water onto the red wine stain and continue blotting. The water will help to dilute the red wine letting you blot up the stain more easily. Be sure not to pour too much water at a time. Continue until no more stain can be removed.
Step 3: Make a baking soda paste using a 3-1 ratio of baking soda/water. Put the paste directly on the stain and allow it to dry before vacuuming up the paste.
Red wine on the tablecloth:
Step 1: Cover the wine stain on your tablecloth with table salt. The salt will absorb wine out of the fibers. Brush the table salt off the tablecloth when it becomes soiled and continue to add more until it no longer absorbs anymore of the wine stain.
Step 2: Place the stained portion of your tablecloth in a large bowl. Pour milk over the wine stain, using enough milk to cover it. Allow the tablecloth to soak for 20 minutes.
Even if you don’t manage to get the stains out, don’t worry – at least when you’ll see them you’ll be reminded of the great time you had.
Happy Holidays!
