10 Quick Tips for Removing Stains from Clothing

You're out to dinner, and you drop a sauce-covered fork on your white dress. You're playing outside and realize your knees are covered in grass stains. You give your sweetie a few extra kisses, but you get lipstick on his collar.

We spend so much time in our favorite clothes, it's impossible that we're never, ever going to mess them up. You never see stains coming, but they seem to have you targeted (like the grease that jumps right out of the pan onto your shirt!)

Whether it's your favorite top, that dress your best friend doesn't know you borrowed, or your son's brand new shorts, don't sigh in frustration just yet. Those seemingly impossible stains — red wine, blood, tea — aren't so tough when you attack them from the right angle. We've got 10 tips and tricks for knocking those unwanted spots right off your fabrics.

Red wine or tomato soup simply doesn't go with the outfit you so painstakingly put together for that special evening. If you spill something on your clothes while you're out and about, don't panic. You can create a simple but powerful stain remover by combining lemon juice with cream of tartar. Wash it like normal, and those marks you thought would be there forever will be long gone.

Nothing takes the fun out of a sport's game quite like an unsightly grass stain. If you cringe at the thought of your kids roughhousing in the yard because of the work you'll have to put into their clothes afterwards, worry no more. Grass stains aren't as invincible as they seem.

One of the coolest ways to get grass stains out involves a product we all have – toothpaste! Grass stains on clothes can be removed with an old toothbrush and plain white toothpaste; just make sure you use a paste variety and not a gel. Squeeze a small amount of the toothpaste onto the stain, then dip the toothbrush in clean water and use it to scrub away the stain. Repeat this process as needed to treat all of the stain(s). Rinse the area and launder the clothing as usual. Now you can steal home plate without a second thought. Incidentally, toothpaste can also remove ink spots with aplomb! Who knew?