Why The Guardsman Is A Game-Changer

It upsets me that I love “Good Housekeeping” magazine. I want to love “Lucky” magazine and “Dwell”. But, alas, I am not that cool. Or young. In this way I am exactly like Lesley Mann, the heroine in the movie “This Is 40”. In the movie Lesley pretends to be 38 because she’s not ready to embrace her true age of 40 and the shopping experiences this age dictates, like shopping at Chico’s instead of cool, hipster stores.

So I keep reading “Lucky” magazine and “Dwell”, but the information I glean from them isn’t a real game-changer. Now the information from “Good Housekeeping”? Home run.

Unfortunately.

Like this info they recently shared about stain-removal. The 9 year old collects t-shirts from our travels. She loves them. She also loves art projects, playing in the back yard and making concoctions. None of these activities have been kind to the 9 year old’s clothing. Here’s what “Good Housekeeping” says I should do with her yellow t-shirt with the enormous, purple stain:

1.     Put it in a bowl of cold water.

2.    Spritz on cleaning fluid. GH says get the kind that is sold at hardware stores. This confused me, but a little web research turned up a product called Guardsman Dry Cleaning Fluid. You can use it at home, and you buy it at your local Ace, True Value or Lowe’s hardware store.

3.    If the stain doesn’t disappear this could be because the shirt was made with an optical brightening agent. In this case, get some rubbing alcohol. Put the purple stain facedown over a paper towel, dab at the stain from behind with an alcohol-soaked cloth.

This technique should remove 98% of the stain. The article also offered advice on pet accidents. Unfortunately, we also recently had one of those after the dog ate some of the “concoction” the 9 year old made in the back yard. Bad idea. For both the dog and the rug.

We cleaned up the, ahem, transgression just fine. But I am blessed with a supersonic sense of smell. GH says to rid the rug of any lingering odors I should grab a syringe from the pharmacy aisle of the grocery store. Fill the syringe with white vinegar and drip it into the problem area until the rug pad is soaked.

This latest issue of GH (March 2013) had all kinds of other good tips too. And not one “how to wear 1 piece of clothing 16 different ways” article. I hate the latter because you look like a fool in 15 of the recommended looks, yet they’ve been endorsed by a sexy, fashion magazine so you feel compelled to try them. Don’t try them. Spend your money instead on products like white vinegar and the Guardsman, products that may not be sexy but will, in fact, keep you and your stain-free self looking hotter than ever.