One of life’s simplest pleasures is enjoying a delicious piece of chocolate at the end of a long day. Unfortunately, this tasty treat has a way of quickly melting and finding its way onto your clothes, carpets, and couch.
A chocolate stain can be one of the trickiest stains to remove as it’s known as a combination stain. Numerous ingredients in chocolate can be the cause of the stain, so there are many stain removal issues that you have to deal with at once.
Below you’ll find some of the best tips for removing unfortunate chocolate spills and drips from your favorite fabrics.
Before treating the stain, you need to scrape off any excess chocolate from the clothing. However, make sure that you don’t spread the stain any farther. Mix the above ingredients in a small bowl, coat the stain with the solution, and let it stand for 15 minutes. Then, wash the piece of clothing in the hottest water allowed for the fabric. Once the stain is completely gone, place in the dryer.
How to Remove Chocolate Stains That Have Set
If you happen to miss a chocolate stain on your favorite shirt and it ends up in the dryer, it will set the stain and make it more difficult to remove. Luckily there’s a way to remove set chocolate stains, so you don’t have to buy new clothes.
What You Need
• 1 cup water softener
• 1 cup cool water
Soak the chocolate stain in a solution of cool water and water softener. Apply pressure to the stain to manually loosen it and get the water softener solution into the fabric. Pre-soak the item in a tub of liquid laundry detergent and water before placing in the washing machine. Wash the clothing in cold water, and check to make sure that all the stain is gone before putting it in the dryer.
Finding small pieces of melted chocolate on your furniture can be extremely frustrating. Regardless of the kind of fabric that your furniture is made from, completely removing the stain will take some time and effort on your part.
What You Need
• Ice cubes
• ¼ teaspoon mild liquid dish detergent
• Cornmeal
• A piece of cardstock or a butter knife
• Paper
• Plastic bag
• Sponge
• White cloth
Start by scraping the chocolate stain with the edge of the card stock or butter knife. Scrape from the outside of the stain, moving inwards to avoid spreading the chocolate further. Place the edge of the piece of paper next to the stain so you can scrape the crumbs onto the paper. Continue scraping the area until you’ve removed as much chocolate as possible.
If there’s still some chocolate residue on your upholstery, place several ice cubes in a zippered plastic bag and place over the remaining chocolate for ten minutes. Remove the ice bag and repeat the process of scraping away the hardened chocolate residue. Next, place the liquid dish soap on a damp sponge and blot the chocolate stain. Rub the spot from the outside edge, inward to wipe away the chocolate. Rinse the sponge and wipe the area again to remove the soap residue. Pat dry with a clean, white cloth.
Finally, sprinkle enough cornmeal over the affected area and let it set for 30 minutes to absorb any greasy residue. Wipe it off with a dry, clean cloth.
When dealing with chocolate stains on your carpet, you can follow the same steps that you used to remove chocolate stains from your upholstery. If you’re unable to remove the stain using this method, you can use dry cleaning solvent for chocolate stain removal.
To use this method, you first need to test the solvent in an inconspicuous area to ensure that it won’t harm the carpet. Next, place a small amount of the solvent on a clean cloth and blot the stained area. After the stain has been removed, rinse the area as thoroughly as possible to remove any remaining solvent.
How to Get Chocolate Milk out the Carpet
Chocolate milk, when spilled on your carpet, can leave a sticky stain that will eventually develop an unpleasant odor if not removed quickly. The stain can easily spread because of the absorbent carpet fibers, making it essential to contain it.
What You Need
• Paper towels
• Table salt
• One tablespoon liquid dish soap
• Five cups warm water
• One tablespoon ammonia
• One cup of white vinegar
Using paper towels, wick out the chocolate milk until no more liquid is being soaked up. Cover the remaining stain with table salt and leave it there for 20 minutes, before vacuuming it up. In a bucket, combine two cups of warm water and one tablespoon of liquid dish soap. Take a clean cloth and wet it in this solution. Ring out as much water as possible and start to blot the chocolate milk stain. Start on the outside and work your way towards the middle. Rinse the soap solution with a clean, wet cloth, and pat dry.
Mix two cups of water and ammonia. Sponge the solution onto the stain with a clean cloth. Alternate sponging the area with the ammonia solution and a clean, dry cloth.
Combine the white vinegar and the remaining cup of water. Dab the solution into the carpet to neutralize the ammonia. Wick the moisture out of the rug, by pressing clean, dry towels into the carpet fiber.
Source: tipsbulletin
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