- [Narrator] Stains are a scourge that strikes
without warning, whether in your garage,
on your pots and pans, or even where you sleep.
But there's no need to panic.
Today on Household Hacker, we're gonna show you
how to get stains out of virtually anything.
(electronic chimes)
If you do a lot of cooking, then you know what a pain
it can be to keep your pans nice and shiny.
If you find yourself with a pan
that looks beyond redemption, give this a shot.
Get yourself a can of oven cleaner that you prefer,
and go to a well-ventilated area.
Apply a thick layer to the inside of the pan,
and make sure you cover it entirely.
If your pan is only lightly stained,
then you might get away with
letting it soak for about 30 minutes.
But in our case, we gave it a full two hours
to really let it do its job.
After you've let it sit awhile,
slap on some cleaning gloves and get yourself
some steel wool or copper scouring pads, either will work.
Get in there and put some elbow grease
on those unsightly stains.
You can also add a bit of water and dish soap
to keep things running smoothly.
When you're done, you'll be left with
a beautiful, shiny pan that looks almost as good as new.
This can really come in handy if you have
expensive stainless steel cookware,
or perhaps if mom's coming over for dinner.
One look at these pillows and most people would say
get your ugly, yellow, no good keister off my property.
But there's actually a simple way to save your pillows
and make 'em as good as new.
Start off by pouring 1/3 cup of vinegar
into a measuring container.
Now add two tablespoons of powdered laundry detergent
or Borax in there with it.
The next part is optional, but it's helpful to also add
two tablespoons of powdered dish washing detergent as well.
Then finish it all off with 1/3 cup
of liquid laundry detergent.
Now give the mixture a nice brisk whisk
and you'll have it all done before you can
count to one, two, 10.
Next up, load your washing machine with one or two pillows.
Don't do more than that at the same time.
If you have a front-loading machine,
just dump your mixture into the detergent tray.
With a top loader, just pour it right into the tub.
Fire up your washing machine and set it to
normal water level with extra hot water,
extra spin cycle, and extra rinse.
If you don't have all these features,
just set it as high as your machine allows.
After you've finished the initial wash,
look at the pillows and make sure they're sparkling clean.
If everything looks good, toss 'em right in the dryer
on medium heat for 45 minutes.
When everything's done,
your pillows will look as good as new.
At Household Hacker, we love saving you money.
So you can keep the change, you filthy animal.
Alright, let's travel back to Ancient Greece.
And, no, I don't mean Socrates or Aristotle.
I'm talkin' that ancient grease that's
oozed its way right into your garage floor.
I hope you saved a little oven cleaner
after cleaning those pots and pans,
because that's our main ingredient for this little trick.
Make sure you really cover it good,
and form a nice coat of foam all around it.
When that's done, go throw your discus around for 20 minutes
and then head back to your stain with
a bucket of soapy water and a bristle brush.
Do some light scrubbing until the foam begins to dissipate
and you can see the bare floor again.
Your stain should be completely gone.
Just mop up the remaining foam with some paper towels.
Finally, rinse the area with
a little soapy water and a sponge.
The garage floor should be shinier than your
mint condition 1978 Chrysler Cordoba.
Now what about the most common household nightmares
that we've all dealt with?
That's right, carpet spills.
If you've got a most heinous stain on your carpet,
then here's a simple DIY stain remover
you can make in a minute.
First, add one cup of warm water to a measuring container.
When that's done, it's time for 1/2 cup
of 3% hydrogen peroxide,
just the stuff you can find at the grocery store.
Finally, two tablespoons of dish soap.
Mix it all together well,
and your stain removing potion is ready for prime time.
Start by pouring a small amount directly onto the stain
to saturate the area.
Once the miracle solution has soaked in,
grab a rough sponge and get to scrubbing.
Work the area into a nice lather.
Then when the stain begins to dissipate,
it's time to soak it all up with your mom's favorite towel.
Now it is important to note that during testing,
we at Household Hacker noticed that the stain
came right up as long as you're wearing a fresh pair
of Yeezys like these.
Just stomp until it's all soaked up,
leaving you with a nice clean carpet.
Wow!
Maybe you've found some mystery stains
on your cutting board that you don't even remember making.
No worries, get yourself some coarse salt and a lemon.
Start by sprinkling your salt all over the affected area.
Don't be modest, you really wanna get some grit here.
Now slice the golden nugget in two,
and squeeze the juice from one half directly over the salt.
Next, grab the other half of the lemon
and scour the stained area.
Make sure you keep salt under the lemon to get all
the nooks and crannies, but don't be afraid
to reapply a little more salt if it's needed.
Once your stain appears to be gone,
rinse the board under warm water,
and blot it dry with a few paper towels.
Voila!
Look at that, good as new.
Trying to really set the mood at home,
but got a little clumsy in the process?
While candle wax on carpet is one of the more
difficult things to clean up, you can rest assured
that it can be done with a little patience.
Start by plucking out the largest pieces
you can from the carpet.
Might even help to use a butter knife
and carefully scrape away chunks bit by bit.
When that's done, vacuum 'em up and grab a handful
of paper bags or newspaper.
Place your paper directly over the candle wax,
and with an iron set to high heat,
begin to move it over the paper
while applying a little bit of pressure.
Once the wax begins to heat up,
it'll be absorbed directly into the paper bag.
As you can see, the bag holds quite a bit of wax
but you'll need to swap for a new one occasionally
and also make sure that you're
moving down the entire wax stain.
You can soak up all the wax with just paper,
but we also decided to try
an old junk towel that was laying around.
Using the exact same method as with the bag,
we found that the towel was able to get
a bit deeper down in the same amount of time.
So either will work, just use what you have on hand.
Now that all the wax is gone,
what about that pesky soot that crept out?
Well, our magic carpet potion from earlier
was used here as well and it worked perfectly.
As usual, we hope you learned a few helpful tips
to wash away all the dreadful stains
that may cross your path.
Wanna give your roommate the hint that it's time for them
to start cleaning up after themselves?
Just share this video with them.
Thanks for watching, and we'll see you soon.