22 tips for 2022: How to get rid of that wine stain
By Elissa Nadworny
Becky Harlan/NPR
Still trying to get that spill from last night out of your rug? Get rid of a stubborn wine or berry stain by pouring boiling water through the stained material.
You'll be praised for having the best party trick and for saving the day. Just be sure to act fast so the stain doesn't set in.
Here's a visual of how it works:
Boiling water won't necessarily work for other stains — it all has to do with the stain's chemical content.
"The way you digest bread is different than you would digest bacon grease," says Sunny Escobar, who is a senior scientist for Procter & Gamble, the company behind laundry detergents like Tide and Downy. According to Escobar, you can apply the same logic to breaking down stains that you would to breaking down food.
It can be hard to remember what method works for each stain, so here's a bonus tip: Keep a "stain kit" with a cheat sheet and some basic household items like baking soda and bleach handy to tackle your most common blemishes.
Check out this complete guide to removing stains.
22 tips for 2022 is edited and curated by Dalia Mortada, Arielle Retting, Janet W. Lee, Beck Harlan, Beth Donovan and Meghan Keane. This tip comes from an episode of Life Kit hosted by Elissa Nadworny and produced by Sylvie Douglis.
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Elissa Nadworny
Elissa Nadworny reports on all things college for NPR, following big stories like unprecedented enrollment declines, college affordability, the student debt crisis and workforce training. During the 2020-2021 academic year, she traveled to dozens of campuses to document what it was like to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic. Her work has won several awards including a 2020 Gracie Award for a story about student parents in college, a 2018 James Beard Award for a story about the Chinese-American population in the Mississippi Delta and a 2017 Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence in innovation.
See stories by Elissa Nadworny