Prudent and Practical

Background

I have a terrible time leaving things in my pant pockets when they go down the laundry shoot. Money, candy, pens, pencils. Just about anything I can stuff in my pockets at work have been discovered in my pockets in the final inspection before the washing machine. Fortunately, my wife remembers to always check my clothes before she washes them. I am not usually very good at checking – I am more of a scoop and dump person when it comes to laundry; scoop up the clothes and dump them in the washing machine.

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So last week, when my wife called me into the laundry room and pointed to the open dryer hatch with a scowl on her face, I knew something was wrong. I peered inside and this is what I saw.

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I had left an ink pen in my pant pocket and it exploded all over the drying machine. Neither clothes nor machine were spared. After getting over my initial frustrations, I thought it would be a good opportunity to evaluate different stain cleaners and see how each one performed. I ventured onto the internet and looked at different recommendations for removing ink stains and picked 5 different methods to try.

The Test

The following products were tested following the manufactures directions or directions found on other websites:

• Goo-Gone (1 pint)
• Hair Spray (AquaNet and Suave)
• Ink Stain Remover  (8 fl oz)
• Baking Soda
• Bleach (96 fl oz)

See the next page for the specific results, or click here for the winner.