What would the holidays be without candles? They seem like a natural way to brighten your home and set that special mood during the holidays. Whether scented or fragrance-free, candles add that special touch to the table centerpiece or mantel. Amid all the hustle and bustle, it can be easy to forget about them, and once they have burned down, it’s not uncommon to discover a waxy mess left behind.
Here’s an approach to help you deal with the mess:

• The keys here are getting the mess from liquid to solid ASAP and then dealing with the waxy material.
• First, resist your impulses to wipe or blot it up right then and there. This will only drive the material further into the fiber and make removal more difficult than it will be. Harden the molten liquid by either placing the stained item in the freezer or placing an ice cube on the area.
• Once the wax hardens, crack the stain and use a dull knife to gently scrape away as much material as possible.
• If it is dry clean only, get it to the dry cleaners within 48 hours and let the pro work on it.
• Now we can start treating the residual material, which is very waxy. If you have dry cleaning solvent, try applying it from the backside and gently force the stain onto a clean cloth or paper towel.
• When ready to wash, use hot water if possible; if the item is white and the wax is colored you may want to pretreat with Clorox® Bleach Pen ™ Gel; also consider washing the item separately since the hot water is going to “melt” the wax off from the item. It is possible for that residue to redeposit on other items in the wash. For colored items consider pretreating with Clorox2® Bleach for colors.
• Finally always check for success BEFORE placing in the dryer. This is definitely a stain you do not want to set by drying.

Candles color and fragrances add a homey atmosphere to any festive gathering or dinner, and with these stain removal tips there is less reason to worry about clean-up. Red, green, blue, or white, decorate with candles to your heart’s delight!

Turn out the lights… the party’s over!
Great, now the cleanup begins!!
Tell me again why having that party was such a GREAT idea.

Now that the guests are gone and the flurry of holiday activities have officially concluded, hosts and hostesses are often left wondering what hit them. There are mounds of linens, tablecloths, sheets and towels to wash, along with cleanup of other leftovers from the good times.

Often, people run into a little trouble with the sheer volume of work to be done. In the interest of preserving your sanity and keeping as light a load as possible (pun intended!), I suggest you break up the laundry task into several days. Trust me, it doesn’t have to be all done in one night/day. Avoid the temptation to do everything in one huge load, especially when you have such a high volume of similar items. Like any other laundry day, follow a few simple rules to success:

• Sort and separate out items with obvious stains. Tackle these first. The fresher the stain, the better the chances for removal. Need help? Don’t forget to try the Holiday Stainline (1-877-STAIN 411).
• Ask "what items will I need next" and "what is just going to get folded and put away"? This helps decide the order for washing everything.
• Check the care labels for proper laundering techniques.
• Try starting some loads later in the day. They can dry overnight while you sleep.
• It’s best to not overload the washing machine—separate heavy and lightweight items. (This also helps cut down on drying time.) Also use the recommended amount of product for the load size.
• Finally, check stained items thoroughly before you put them into the dryer, because stains will “cook” into fabrics if heated/dried.

With “delicate” care items, it’s best to always do a product compatibility or bleachability test to determine whether you can use the product without harming the item. Some tablecloths and garments especially will be marked as delicate care or hand wash. Again, remember to check the care label if you have any doubt about the type of washing/drying conditions or products that are appropriate to use.

A cup of Joe, cappuccino or soy latte, coffee gets your day started. For lots of folks, it’s not the last one you may have during the day. Whether driving in your car, reading the newspaper at home, or sitting at your desk (as I am now), drinking coffee is a social ritual for many. However, this routinely relaxing activity can spoil your day with a bump in the road and a spill on your nice white shirt.
Here are some coffee stain removal tips so you can keep your calm.

• If you happen to spill coffee on your clothing at the office, rinse it right away with cold water. Resist the urge to use that bar of soap in the restroom on the stain. Using bar soap may cause the stain to set, thus making it much more difficult to remove. Wait until you are home again to treat the stain properly.
• Once safely in the laundry room, if the dried out stained item is a white, bleachable fabric, try a quick pre-soak in ¼ cup of Clorox® Regular-Bleach per gallon of cold water for 5 minutes. Wash the article immediately in the hottest water setting recommended on the label using a regular detergent and an additional ¾ cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach or our new Clorox® UltimateCare™ Premium Bleach.
• If you happened to be wearing a colored or patterned item of clothing when the spill occurred, apply Clorox 2® Bleach for Colors and rub into the stain. Wash the item in the hottest water recommended using regular detergent and more Clorox 2 for Colors to ensure the stain is fully removed.
• Be sure to inspect the item while it is still wet after washing, and if some coffee still remains, repeat these steps before drying.

Go ahead and pour yourself another cup, or head down to your local coffee shop. With these stain removal tips, you can sip without fear of permanent coffee stains ruining your favorite outfit or your morning routine.

Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, hot chocolate, chocolate cake, chocolate pudding… so many forms but so little time to eat them all. While chocolate something is always a decadent dessert choice for a holiday party or even for an evening at home, it always amazes me how often in ends as a mess on me. To save your nice linens and khaki pants this season, here are some chocolate removal tips to help solve your laundry problems and keep your sweet tooth satisfied.

The fine cocoa particles, emulsifiers and milk proteins that make chocolate so delicious add up to make chocolate stains so difficult to remove. The order of attack is important when you have a mixture of problem makers. First, we want to attack the proteins then the emulsifiers and finally the cocoa particles.

• Start by pretreating the stain with a good liquid detergent, then soaking the fabric in cold water for approximately 30 minutes to help loosen the protein and emulsifier in the stain.

• If the stain is on a white bleachable fabric, gently rub the chocolate stain with Clorox® Bleach Pen™ Gel before laundering. Immediately wash in warm water with regular detergent and ¾ cup of either Clorox® Regular-Bleach or try our new Clorox® UltimateCare™ Premium Bleach.

• If the stain is on a colored or patterned fabric, removing it requires different products. After pretreating and soaking for 30 minutes in liquid detergent, apply Liquid Clorox 2® Bleach for Colors to the stain. Rub the stain gently, wait 3-5 minutes to loosen the particles then wash immediately in warm water using regular detergent and Clorox 2® Bleach for Colors.

• As always, inspect the stained item after treatment to ensure that the stain is gone. If some chocolate still remains, repeat the above steps prior to drying for best results.

For all you choco-holics out there, have no fear this holiday season! With these stain removal techniques, you can have your chocolate and eat it too.

I received the following from my boss (thanks, Adrianne) and it really made me stop and think how far we have come. I remember my grandmother detailing her washing process and parts of the following were included.

Maybe "the good ole days" were not really "the good ole days".

Washing Clothes Recipe

(Given a Young Bride by her Grandmother)

'Washing Clothes Recipe' - imagine having a recipe for this!

Years ago, a Southern grandmother gave the new bride the following recipe: This is an exact copy as written and found in an old scrapbook - with spelling errors and all.

Washing Clothes

Build fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water. Set tubs so smoke wont blow in eyes if wind is pert. Shave one whole cake of lye soap in boilin water.

Sort things, make 3 piles

     1 pile white,
     1 pile colored,
     1 pile work britches and rags.

To make starch, stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down with boiling water.

Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, and boil, then rub colored don't boil just wrench and starch.

Take things out of kettle with broom stick handle, then wrench, and starch.

Hang old rags on fence.

Spread tea towels on grass.

Pore wrench water in flower bed. Scrub porch with hot soapy water.

Turn tubs upside down.

Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs. Brew cup of tea, sit and rock a spell and count your blessings.

(For you non-Southerners... wrench means rinse.)

Paste this over your washer and dryer. Next time when you think things are bleak, read it again, kiss that washer and dryer, and give thanks. First thing each morning you should run and hug your washer and dryer.

And finally, a cute joke to finish off the post...

One day my housework-challenged husband decided to wash his sweatshirt. Seconds after he stepped into the laundry room, he shouted to me, "What setting do I use on the washing machine?"

"It depends," I replied. What does it say on your shirt?"

He yelled back, "University of Oklahoma..."

And they say blondes are dumb!

I love a good red wine, but the spills that result from it are tough! From Two Buck Chuck Merlot to Rosenblum Zinfandel to Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon, red wines always find a prominent place in my holiday festivities. When spilled or splashed onto a fabric like tablecloth or, even worse, a shirt or pants, they can put a real damper on the party mood. While tannins help develop complexity to the flavor of the wine, they also add difficulty to stain removal.
Here are some easy tips for saving your tablecloth or T-shirt.

• First and foremost, quickly blot the spot as soon as possible after the stain occurs with a paper towel or cloth to absorb excess red wine. I like using club soda to bubble up the stain and help prevent it from setting. Treating the fabric immediately greatly increases your odds that the stain will be successfully removed.
• Bonus tip: Do NOT rub bar soap on a red wine stain. It may set the stain.
• If the stained item is a white, bleachable fabric, grab a Clorox® Bleach Pen ™Gel and rub the stain gently before laundering. Do not apply to the item while wearing. Wash immediately in hot/warm water with regular detergent and ¾ cup of either Clorox® Regular-Bleach or try our new Clorox® UltimateCare™ Premium Bleach.
• If the stained item has a color or pattern, the stain removal process is a little different. After blotting the excess wine, apply a small amount of Liquid Clorox 2 for Colors to the stain, gently rub and wait 3-5 minutes for it to start working. Then, wash the fabric immediately in the hottest water recommended for that fabric (check the care label) using regular detergent and Clorox 2 for Colors.
• Most importantly, before you toss the item into the dryer, check to ensure that the stain has been fully removed. If the stain remains, repeat the appropriate process above until the stain is gone. If you dry a stained item, the stain may be set into the fiber making subsequent removal much more difficult.

As we’re in full swing of holiday season, it is tough to find the time to clean house! You should be all caught up from the Thanksgiving laundry. Luckily, doing a top-to-bottom home cleaning may not be needed but you should always concentrate on a handful of spots that contain the most germs. Over the years, my company has done a lot of research that showed the following five areas are the germiest places in the home. Using our Basic Bleach Solution* is a great way to tackle these problem areas. Specific approaches for each area:

Plastic Cutting Boards – The place where raw meat, chicken and fish often touch. If not cleaned properly, cutting boards can serve as breeding grounds for salmonella, E. coli, and other nasty germs. Soaking in the sink with the basic Clorox® Regular-Bleach solution* for 5 minutes, then rinse and dry will do the trick to get rid of the bad stuff.

Kitchen Sponges – Scary fact: the average kitchen sponge carries 7.2 billion bacteria! Sanitizing kitchen sponges can fight harmful food-borne bacteria. Soak kitchen sponges in the basic Clorox® Regular-Bleach solution* for 5 minutes daily, wring them out and they’re ready for action again.

Kitchen Sink Drain – Between all the food preparation and cleanup that pass through here, it is no wonder the kitchen sink drain makes this list. It’s the perfect breeding grounds for common household bacteria that can thrive for days in your drain. After you have cleaned out the sink with the basic Clorox® Regular-Bleach solution*, pour 1 cup of Clorox® Regular-Bleach down the drain to kill germs and control odors.

Kitchen Faucet Handles – It would make sense that faucet handles would make this list as they one of the most frequently touched areas—and most overlooked for cleaning—in the kitchen. It should be cleaned at least three times per week. Simply wipe the handles using the basic Clorox® Regular-Bleach solution* to help finish the kitchen cleaning.

Bathroom sink drains – Like the kitchen sink drain, the bathroom sink drain needs to be cleaned at least weekly. Use the same procedure; After you have cleaned out the sink with the basic Clorox® Regular-Bleach solution*, pour 1 cup of Clorox® Regular-Bleach down the drain to kill germs and control odors.

Keeping in front of those pesky germs is important to help break the cycle of germ transmission. Following these tips will certainly help you do that successfully.

*The Clorox® Regular-Bleach solution is 3/4 cup of Clorox® Regular-Bleach diluted in one gallon of water.

As the holiday season kicks off, so do the big family dinners and the arrival of important house guests. If you're like me, you love the festivities, but dread the aftermath - stained linens, cranberry and gravy-spotted shirts. Well, once again my holiday hotline is up and running for those of you who could use a little help tackling the post-party messes. You can get quick tips on removing the seasonal stains, from red wine splashes, to pumpkin smears on my toll-free

Holiday Stain Hotline: 1-877-Stain-411
(1 877 782 4641)

Here’s a couple of quick tips to get you rolling....

• Deal with the stain as soon as you can; the sooner you get to it, the greater the chance the stain will come out.


• Blot up as much of the stain as possible; try not to rub and force more stain into the fabric. Removing a little is much easier than trying to remove a lot.


• Pre-soaking or pre-treating the stain for 10-30 minutes before washing will jumpstart stain removal. Make sure you’re using the right product for the type of stain. Check my removal procedures on the hotline.

A couple of our products that should come in handy over the holiday…

• You can also use Clorox® UltimateCare™ Premium Bleach – a unique bleach that can be poured directly on to bleachable fabrics; as a bonus, this powerful stain and soil remover has a terrific fresh Soft Cotton scent.


• I love the Clorox® Bleach Pen Gel. It has 2 tips to help control the bleach and get it exactly where you want it.

Remember every stain is treated differently, so feel free to write in and ask me about your specific questions.

I hope you all enjoy a healthy, happy, stain-free Holiday season!

It’s about that time again, and I can almost smell the turkey cooking! Thanksgiving is a holiday full of family, friends, fun and plenty of yummy foods and drinks. However, before the festivities comes all the holiday preparations, and that can lead to feelings of chaos. It can be so stressful preparing everything for guests around the home. The holiday rush always seems to lead to sloppy spills and stains, and while I’m happy to offer clean-up solutions for these messes, it’s also a good idea to slow down and possibly prevent careless spills before they happen.

Remember, the holidays are just days, not weeks or months. If you’re feeling the holiday stress, make sure you take some time out for yourself so you don’t feel overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle and end up with a greasy gravy stain on your favorite khaki pants or cranberry sauce on your nice white couch. Don’t be afraid to share the preparation responsibilities with your kids and family and enlist the help of your guests. I personally love to volunteer for kitchen and set-up duty because I find it a great way to get caught up with people we don’t see very often.

As for those unavoidable messes and spills, here are my recommendations for products you can use to make sure your Thanksgiving celebration happens without a hitch.

• Clorox has a great lineup of products to get your home clean and sparkling for your guests. From general cleaning with Formula 409® and Pine-Sol® to tough messes with Clorox® Clean-Up™ spray cleaner, you will be getting the job done quick and complete.


• For accidents in the kitchen, keep a supply of Clorox® Disinfecting Wipes on hand to clean up after food spills and prevent the spread of bacteria on your countertops.


• Got a stain on your stripe shirt or blouse? Grab a Clorox® Bleach Pen™ and bleach the spot and into the wash it goes!


• To remove a red wine stain from clothing or table cloths, rinse the stain immediately in cold water and pre-treat with Clorox 2® Bleach for Colors, or our newest product, Clorox® UltimateCare™ Premium Bleach and then into the washer they go. Remember, fresh stains are much easier to remove than old ones!


• If children will be present at your party, use Clorox® Anywhere Hard Surface™ which is gentle enough to use around kids and food, but powerful enough to kill 99.9 % of bacteria on those hard surfaces.


• For a spill on your hardwood floor, grab a Clorox® ReadyMop® to quickly clean your floors so you can get back to enjoying your party.

Stay tuned for more Turkey Day stain removal secrets that will make you thankful for Clorox!

With the cold and flu season starting up, everyone starts asking germ questions. A familiar one is about germs in the laundry; what’s killed and what’s left. So I pulled out some published research that I thought would be helpful.

The best was a study conducted by Dr Chuck Gerba at the University of Arizona and presented at an American Society of Microbiologists meeting. He asks: What happens to the bacteria in laundry when it’s washed? To answer it, he swabbed the insides of 100 washers in Arizona and Florida to identify if they contained residual “bugs”. Are you ready? He found more than 60 percent of the machines tested positive for coliform bacteria, an indicator of fecal contamination. Another 20 percent contained staph. Dr. Gerba also confirmed the laundry bacteria is primarily from underwear, but also included bacteria often found in dishcloths and sponges.
Next he looked at what happens to bacteria during washing and drying. He used three different illness-causing bacteria for his tests: E. coli, Salmonella, and another common bacteria that causes skin infections (Mycobacterium fortuitium).

Simulating typical home-laundry practices using warm water washes, the researchers observed that after washing, bacterial contamination was found throughout the clothing and on the machine tub itself. The bacteria left behind even showed up in subsequent washloads. Oh my!!

Even more surprising, the heat from the dryer did not kill all the bacteria. The E. coli was eliminated, but the other two bacteria, although reduced, were still present. Drying times included 23-minute permanent press cycles and 43-minute cotton settings.

Equally concerning, your hands and the top of the washer and dryer come in contact with those germs as wet clothes are transferred from washer to dryer.

So a quick summary:

• Over ¾ of the washers had bacteria happily living in them and waiting for the next washload


• Most of the bacteria was from underwear


• Washing in warm water spread the bacteria to the rest of that load AND then left some behind for the next load


• You help spread the bacteria by touching/handling the wet laundry


• Dryer heat wasn’t enough to kill everything.

CONTROL GERMS BY:

• Using the hottest water for the items


• Using Clorox ® Regular-Bleach where possible on your underwear loads; it kills 99.99% of those bacteria and viruses


• Always do the bleach load first


• If you don’t use liquid bleach, then first run an empty wash cycle with liquid bleach and cold water to sanitize the machine


• Always wash your hands after sorting laundry for washer or transferring wet laundry to dryer.


• Wipe off surface of washer and dryer with a disinfectant wipe

Please follow these easy tips to help control the spread of bacteria, cold and flu viruses.