Welcome to the sixth in our series of posts about stain removal. Before having children, things used to get stained ‘occasionally’, now, well lets say it’s a bit more frequent. It’s not deliberate on anyone’s part, more of an occupational hazard so to speak.

Parenting requires you to be an expert in so many areas: nurse; councilor; chef; teacher; dietitian; cleaner to name just a few. An expert in stain removal certainly comes as part of the role.

There are those moments, when you realise that no matter how hard you scrub that stain just isn’t coming out, but most of the time there is something you can do.

I had a mega stain situation recently when one of the toddlers managed to flick spaghetti bolognese at the wall and hit a black and white canvas print of himself as a baby. I was speechless as it was one of those fluke shots but with a tiny bit of bleach and an old toothbrush I’ve fixed it.

Today I’ll be looking at how to remove some of the tricky food stains we come across at home.

Soy sauce

This can stain quite badly if left untreated. Run cold water through the back of the fabric, then rub a liquid detergent into the stain or use a soft toothbrush. Leave for five minutes then rinse through.

Mustard

Blot the stain straight away but DO NOT rub it as you end up with a horrible yellow mark that won’t go away. Flush cold water from the tap through the back of the fabric and then treat with Ace stain remover.

Tomato Sauce

Bolognese sauce is a total bugger to get off so scrape of any excess so you don’t spread it first and then run cold water through the back of the fabric. Do this with the tap on full or almost full to give it a good blast. Apply a stain remover and leave to soak for 20 minutes before washing as normal. If it is ketchup then it should be easier to get off, so scrape off the excess and soak in stain remover before washing as normal.

What are your top stain removal tips?