We Love Cooking! + lifestyle

:: Winner of Lily's Eco Clean Products!

Big congratulations to the Jelly Monster, you have won the super cleaning pack from the lovely people at Lilly's!

Not only that but for all you lovely people who entered with your worst stains, the folks at Lilly's have decided to suggest the best ways to get rid of them! Check out the answers below!

Ian Healy said...
Curry on white clothes is a fecker :( Oh, Jagermeister on a white shirt! That's messy. Spaghetti bolognese on white. Actually, I should stop wearing white...

Lilly's Eco Clean - Curry is a dye stain and quite tough. Main thing is to act quickly and flush away as much as possible with cold water to avoid the dye to set. Then presoak in detergent (Lilly's Eco Clean Laundry Liquid) and wash in the hottest possible water that the label of the cloth allows. Good natural method for Curry is mixing 1/4 cup of borax with 1/2 cup of water. Add this solution to bucket of water and then wash normally in as hot wash as possible. Spaghetti bolognese another complicated stain as it includes dye and oil. Scrape away as much as possible of oily protein stain, you might have to use methylated spirit (plant based) to get it off. Once you get rid off that soak the cloth in cool water with detergent (Lilly's Eco Clean Laundry Liquid for example) and finish with washing in hottest allowed wash.

The Secret Gardener said..
Red wine on a cream plush carpet in a rented house that I attempted to remove with washing up liquid so adding a nice green tinge. Added some salt and a bit of water and hey presto an almighty bloody mess and my deposit gone in an instant.


Lilly's Eco Clean - Gosh, Wine is a tannin stain and one rule is not to use soap on tannins (washing up liquid is soap also) as this makes them more difficult to remove. As general rule if red wine spills on carpet which you cant put in the washing machine, One way is to add load of salt on it right away, just table salt. This will soak a lot of wine to start with. Then remove the salt, hoover the rest and use cold water or soda water only to flush as much of the stain as possible. Other first aid is to pore white wine over the red wine and mop it off, then cleaning with soda water again.

Dazzledust25 said...
My husband always gives out to me about being so clumsy. One afternoon there we were having a coffee and I rested mine on the arm of the sofa. He warned me to be careful and then in an instant knocked his own cup flying and destroyed out new cream fabric couch! Nothing got rid of the massive stain. Now when it gets warm our couch has a lovely coffee aroma haha so wrong!


Lilly's Eco Clean - Yes, we all love our cream sofas and a lot depends of the actual fabric that it is as there are so many types upholstery fabrics that react differently. Many times if it is soft cotton or canvas type, the material absorbs quite quickly anything that spills on it when for example natural Wool - even if cream - has natural stain resistant abilities already so lets say, you will have more time to act quickly when accident happens. How ever we love cream colour and we also love our coffees and teas and wines. So to start with, Coffee like wine are tannin stains so if possible get rid off the stain quickly with some cold water. If you cover is removable soak it then in detergent (for example Lilly's Eco Clean Laundry Liquid) and wash it in the hottest water possible. Other solution is to make a paste with Borax and water and rub it in the the stain and then wash with cold water and clean towels.
Kristin said...
When my husband and I were on our honeymoon, we let his parents, who had come over from the US for our wedding, stay in our apartment while we were gone. His mom left an uncapped ballpoint pen on the couch that somehow bled all over it. It wasn't the best way to start a relationship with my new in-laws!


Lilly's Eco Clean - Speed helps again with ballpoint pen. Dab with and absorbent white cloth and methylated spirit (plant based). Other option, using cloth in mixture of equal amounts of milk and white vinegar, keep dabbing until the ink disappears.

The Jelly Monster said...
Oh there's been sooo many ha ha ha I'd have to say black mascara on new lilac sheets, I scrubbed and scrubbed!

Or shoe polish on himself's new fancy white shirt.... I got in sooooooooo much trouble ha ha ha

Oh I so hope I win I love cleaning products and have been wanting to try more eco friendly stuff!


Lilly's Eco Clean - Shoe Polish on white shirt - well dab first with a little bit of eucalyptus oil on clean cloth (its included already in our All Purpose Spray Cleaner but for this purpose it is required neat) and then wash, again good natural detergent (Lilly's Eco Clean Laundry Liquid) the hottest advised wash. Black Mascara - normally it should come off easily as it is meant to come off from much more sensitive area - our own eye lashes - easily enough. If the Mascara is water resistant normally you would need a special make-up remover to take it off. Dab that remover gently on the stain and work it off, The rest should come off in normal wash with detergent, and just in case, maybe work the detergent in the the stain prior washing it normally. If still having difficulties, try Eucalyptus oil.

Cora said...
Sudocream and toothpaste, the blue sticky kind, mixed together and ground into cream wool carpet in our bedroom by my 18month old daugher clodagh, my own fault, left the bathroom door open. have tried vanish, stain devils, bicarbonate of soda, salt etc, but still have a lovely minty, sudocreamy smelling white stain just in front of the bathoom door. To top it off, she points to it every time she sees it as if to say, aren't i the clever girl mammy!


Lilly's Eco Clean - Pass --- hehe. Oil based stains should do it with water and detergent. But it might be too late now. The thing is to dilute the staining matter and with oil based use some detergent also. Sometimes when adding all sort of stuff on the stain we might do more harm than benefit especially when not sure what works best for each stain.

Monica said...
Suodcrem all over the telly, floor, couch, rug, tv everwhere you could look. Never leave a toddler alone with this deadly stuff!


Lilly's Eco Clean - I have hears so many Sudocream stories combined with toddlers it is unbelievable. See above.

Gillian P. said..
Enjoying a good night in with friends, and in the same night, I managed to get steak sauce on my shirt, red wine on my carpet, nail polish on my shoes, and tea stains on my couch. Not my most shiny clean moment...Even now, My shirt still has a nice brown mark, my shoes a nice pink spot, my carpet a nice red splash but i managed to get my couch clean!!! ....well until next dinner party....


Lilly's Eco Clean - With all these speed is key. You must have tried everything by now but these might work still:
Steak Sauce - You could still try either working detergent directly on the stain and then wash in hottest wash the garment label advices. Or other option, mix some water in bicarbonate of soda to create a paste and rub it in the stain and leave for about half an hour, then wash with normal detergent.
Nail Polish - nail polish remover - try to find natural/ organic version.
Tea Stains - try some vinegar solution 1 part vinegar 2 parts water. Then remove with solution of cold water and detergent. Lilly's Eco Clean Degreaser is vinegar based also but mainly meant for hard surfaces so always patch try before using on garments.

Edwina said...
The worst stain I dealt ended up being so bad the clothing was dumped as no way stain would come out.

My daughter was playing on the green with friends. She got grass stain on her pants. Then she was on her bike and fell from her bike and cut one knee. Blood and grass stain mix does not remove!!! I tried everything!!!


Lilly's Eco Clean - First thing to do is to soak in cold water after blotting or scraping away the excess. Use cold or lukewarm water only on protein stains like blood and grass as hot water might actually fix the stain in more. Soaking in heavily salted cold water is good for blood and washing after might help. Grass might need extra help as it is dye, applying paste of borax and water will assist.

Thanks to all at Lilly's for answering the comments and I'm sure if you have any more stain related troubles they would be happy to help!

competition, and more:

:: Winner of Lily's Eco Clean Products! + lifestyle