simple stain solution

and now for something completely different...

I'm always researching natural stain removers and other green ways of homekeeping and to this end regularly employ plain white vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, lemon juice, borax, rubbing alcohol, and dish washing liquid. Sometimes, though, the simplest solution is quickest, gentlest, safest to users and bystanders (especially pint-sized ones), *and* most effective.  Soap and water work wonders on a multitude of messes and stains, happily and especially on those that, um, emanate from humans in a variety of formulations.

Realize that I am fairly well desensitized to the icky-ness factor of such messes, dealing as I do with them day in and day out.   I do not wish to offend any delicate sensibilities.

We use fragrance-free bar soap (not anti-bacterial) and castile soap, a soap derived from olive oil which we buy in liquid form and dilute with water in a foaming pump dispenser for hand washing (and other uses). Both kinds of soap have proven to be up to the challenge time and again.

My mother (who is one smart cookie) taught me long ago to try soap and water first when cleaning up certain stains specific to females, and it's a lesson that has stuck with me, resurfaced, and been applied many a time as I've gone about cleaning up the many messes of daily life...

(thanks, Mama!)