After a bucket of butter took a tumble from a large piece of flatbread I attempted to share with my family at a restaurant, I walked out wearing the aftermath. Two large butter stains showed up on a light jacket I used to keep the air conditioning from blasting me with a tempest of arctic breezes.
That was back in September. Did I treat the stains right away and wash the jacket? No. I just stopped wearing it, but recently, I’ve pulled it out of the closet and have been wearing it everywhere—butter stains and all. There are bigger problems in the world. No one cares if Bessie the cow has basically frolicked on my jacket, and I’ve kept the evidence as a live-action souvenir.
And I’d probably keep going on like this—until the jacket fell apart—but my curiosity got the best of me: Could a stain still be treated with light dish soap—even after ten months? Sure, it’s best to go after a stain right away, but what if there’s too much living to do in between? Well, I can say with some confidence, that it’s okay to go on living until you get bored and look for a toothbrush you can douse with light dish soap—and spot-clean to your heart’s desire.
That’s what I did the other day after work. I just took off my buttered jacket and was seized with an inexplicable desire to clean it. It took about four passes with detergent and water to spot clean, but each time, the stain grew lighter.
Here’s the highly scientific process I used:
–Find an old toothbrush and clean it well.
–Pour a generous amount of dish detergent onto the head of the toothbrush, which probably makes it the most confused and disgusted a toothbrush could ever be, from its perspective. Just saying.
–Scrub the stain(s) with the dish soap.
–With a damp towel, wipe off the excess dish soap.
–Dry with a hairdryer.
–Repeat.
I can hardly see the stain now, after four passes. I should probably continue, if I don’t want to see the stain at all, but I think I’m done.
Sure, I could also put the jacket into the washing machine, which would most likely wipe out that stain once and for all, but it’s a very cheap, delicate jacket that might unravel and shrink, so it’s not really worth all the fuss. I like it the way it is, crisp and a glorious soft pink with just a hint of savory darker splotches (in a certain light). Leaving the house all buttoned and buttered up simply feels delicious.
Your Turn: Do you ever clean when you get bored?
Fixin' Leaks and Leeks 
You did a very good job removing the stain.
The cleaning question is the other way around with me. I clean, and I get bored cleaning.)
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Thanks! It’s almost gone, though I still see it, even in the photo–and the photo revealed new spots I hadn’t seen before. Oh, well! I do get bored cleaning as well, so I end up checking email/social media, which means the cleaning takes longer.
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interesting that it worked!
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Thanks! If I kept after it a little longer, it might be all gone, but it has faded enough that I think it passes. Cheers!
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Nice that you have your cute jacket back. I’ve used the dish soap method before for getting oily stains out. Works well!
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It does work well. And, it’s just the right jacket for even a warm rain, so it was worth trying to keep it. Cheers!
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Good job getting the stain mostly out. I clean when I’m bored but I clean the best when I’m mad. 😂
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Ah, yes! That’s the perfect time to clean.
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Cleaning is a task best done when bored, I think 😊
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Yes–when you’ve done everything else that’s fun, it’s like well, “There’s always cleaning.” LOL.
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I’ve used this method on satin covered dance shoes. One has to be excessively tender when rendering the stain (generally where Keith has stood upon them) with the soap infested toothbrush. However, I’ve given this technique to many a dancer whose shoes have suffered likewise. The result has always been favourable.
I am known as the ‘good shoe cleaning lady’… Just sayin’
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Oh, I imagine this method would work really well on dance shoes–great tip! 🙂
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I keep old toothbrushes around for all kinds of things—very good for getting dust out of the cracks of old antiques!
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I will definitely keep that in mind for the antiques 🙂
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Well done you, getting rid of that stain. Something else that also helps is putting baking soda on top of the dish soap and that really helps get out the stains. But I still think you should have kept wearing the butter stains with panache!
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Ooh! I’ll try the baking soda next. The stains are not completely out, so the next time I want to tackle them, I’ll try the baking soda. Then, instead of wearing butter stains with panache–maybe ganache will be next (LOL).
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I totally clean when I get bored, and it feels amazing! So glad you got your jacket looking much better, as opposed to looking much butter. 😉
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Ha! Love it!! 🙂
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Yes, I clean when I get bored. And I actually got butter on my tank girl t-shirt a loooooong time ago, and it’s never come out. So, maybe when I unpack (again), I can try this solution! Excited!
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Ahh! That’s so cool. Everything’s better with butter.
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I know, I love butter. Even if it’s vegan butter. I do love kale and veggies, so I eat pretty healthy but still, give me all the drenchy glop: sour cream, butter, dressing, mayo, drippy, gooey melted cheese–hmm, what else? (Primarily the vegan/vegetarian versions of most of these.) Ha!
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I sometimes do clean when I get bored to pass time! Well shared 🙂
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It definitely helps to pass time 🙂
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Yes absolutely 😊
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I get bored cleaning 😉
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Ha! That’s when it’s time to quit 🙂
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