Stain Removal 101: Grass? Coffee? Proven Ways to Fight the Stains!

Jenny GK 00:00:00
Hi. It's Tuesday. Hi, everybody.

Caitlin Kindred 00:00:06

We're so glad you're here. Oh, my you guys don't know. She surprises me with how she's going to do it every week. I never know what she's going to do. And I, for some reason, thought it's going to sound different today, and I didn't know what to expect, but I I did not expect that.

Jenny GK 00:00:24

Well, I've been playing with an abba parody. I'm trying to rewrite super trooper to be able to sing. It's Tuesday. Somewhere in the crowd.

Caitlin Kindred 00:00:40

It's Tuesday. Oh, my word.

Jenny GK 00:00:47

Oh, goodness.

Caitlin Kindred 00:00:48

Well, hey, everyone. We're so glad you're here today. We are sharing some quick tips on how you can easily get common stains out of items that you spill on, like me, because I just can't wear anything. It's not even white clothes. I can't wear anything because I just spill all over all of it.

Jenny GK 00:01:08

Oh. Most of my clothes have coffee stains on them.

Caitlin Kindred 00:01:14

Most of mine have chocolate stains on them from, like, when I have a piece of it and it flakes off that it melts onto your shirt and you don't know that it's there. Look back at it later.

Jenny GK 00:01:25

Oops.

Caitlin Kindred 00:01:26

Anyway, so with me today is Jenny, who is my sneakily, self assured mermaid. Oh, my god.

Jenny GK 00:01:37

I love it.

Caitlin Kindred 00:01:40

I'm changing it up a little bit. We've done this now. This is our 62nd episode because we did a pilot, right? I have found 63 different funny women, except for the first one, who I did, fraser Crane. But I mean, 62 funny women, right? And I feel like I need to mix it up a little bit, so I'm going to throw in some Leslie nope compliments, because I feel like those are just so perfect.

Jenny GK 00:02:11

I love it, right?

Caitlin Kindred 00:02:14

Yeah. That's Jenny, everybody.

Jenny GK 00:02:15

The pop culture opposite of Shakespearean, incident. Yes.

Caitlin Kindred 00:02:26

Love it.

Jenny GK 00:02:27

Well, my co host today is the boxer, because Caitlin's just a knockout. Oh, hey.

Caitlin Kindred 00:02:37

Especially with this. My hair is freshly washed, and today I'm wearing a towel turbine on my head to try and soak up some of that so it looks extra special. I can't even wear my normal podcast headphones because they won't fit over my towel turbine. So I definitely am a knockout today, for sure. Absolutely.

Jenny GK 00:02:56

All right.

Caitlin Kindred 00:02:57

So I have to start by giving a shout out to a couple of things, a couple of people. So, first of all, I went to Panama city beach with my husband and my son for a few days for my son's spring break, and I was there to visit a friend of mine who I hadn't seen. He's a teacher friend of mine that I hadn't seen since before he moved to Austin. So it had been nearly seven years. That's so great. Yeah. And he was so wonderful, and he let us stay at his house, and we just had such a great time, and he had all these lists of things to do. And one of the things we did was go on a dolphin boat ride, like where they take you out on the bay and you get to go see if you can find okay, so pause right there.

Jenny GK 00:03:46

They don't take you out on the bay. Yes, they take you in the open ocean.

Caitlin Kindred 00:03:51

They do take you in the open ocean.

Jenny GK 00:03:52

This is what we say at our house. We went in the open ocean. It's much more impressive.

Caitlin Kindred 00:04:02

Okay. We went out on the open ocean in this boat, and the company is called Screamer.

Jenny GK 00:04:10

Okay.

Caitlin Kindred 00:04:11

And I have to give them a shout out because there was nothing about this experience that I would change. Not one single thing. We booked it for like a 10:00 a.m. Thing. They called me a couple of days before. They're like, it's going to be cold. Like, we don't want to take you guys out at ten. Can we take you out at one? And they moved us over to the 01:00. Oh my God. And then they had like super cheap snacks and beverages, both adult and non adult. And there was another boat that left at like 115. So we were on the 01:00 and there was a 115, and they kind of pulled up together and they made the dolphins jump you cause like a big wake. But between the two boats. And when we found a big pot of dolphins, they decided to go fast. And apparently the dolphins just really love it. And they jump and play in the wakes of the boat. It's so cool. I have never seen my son light up like that before. It was really special. He's like a water rat. He loves all things ocean and pool and water and everything. So it was really special to see him out on this boat. He also got to be Captain Sam.

Jenny GK 00:05:25

For a little while.

Caitlin Kindred 00:05:27

And everyone on it was just so pleasant and kind. And the captain and first mate were just really wonderful. They put a dolphin tattoo on my son's forehead, which is still there. Thank you.

Jenny GK 00:05:39

Love that.

Caitlin Kindred 00:05:40

And it was just a really great experience. So I'm giving just a quick shout out to Sea Screamer, and I'll probably tag them in something because they're just really great.

Jenny GK 00:05:50

That is so awesome.

Caitlin Kindred 00:05:52

Yeah, it was amazing.

Jenny GK 00:05:53

We did the dolphins when we were in Hawaii. Like I said, we went out in the open ocean. It was incredible. It was such a fun experience. We really enjoyed ourselves.

Caitlin Kindred 00:06:05

Yeah, it's one of those things where I didn't expect to get emotional about being on a boat and seeing dolphins, but when they were jumping, I definitely cried. I sent Jenny this video, like, I might be crying because of the dolphins, just so you know. Wasn't expecting to cry, but here I am. And I think my husband was like, what is wrong with you? But it was a very cool experience. Even my husband, the great Cynic, was very impressed and happy. So it was a super special thing. So shout out to the sea. Screamer.

Jenny GK 00:06:39

That's awesome. That's so cool. Way to go.

Caitlin Kindred 00:06:42

Okay, let's catch up on more stuff. So that was part of my stuff, but keep going. What do you have?

Jenny GK 00:06:46

We are in Taylor watch 2.0.

Caitlin Kindred 00:06:49

Okay.

Jenny GK 00:06:49

Anyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the last few months knows that Taylor Swift tickets are basically the new Tickle Me Elmo and.

Caitlin Kindred 00:07:00

15 times the price.

Jenny GK 00:07:04

But yes, we are coming up on the Texas dates. And so our plan when we were unable to buy tickets when they were released last fall was just wait until the Dallas and Houston tour dates and see if we can catch some tickets on the resale market.

Caitlin Kindred 00:07:24

Sure.

Jenny GK 00:07:25

And shout out to the Cure for saying that their tickets are not transferable for this new tour. Like, way to go, guys. That's amazing. I don't know if you've heard about this.

Caitlin Kindred 00:07:35

No. Yes, but also I like the cure. Yeah.

Jenny GK 00:07:38

So they're going on tour and for their US dates, their tickets are non transferable. You can resell them for face value or less on one approved website that they've named, but basically the ticket that you buy is for you.

Caitlin Kindred 00:07:55

Wow.

Jenny GK 00:07:55

A while ago when I knew that I was going to be Abby's teacher, but I had not yet told her, I asked her like, hey, do you want to be in my class? How would that feel if I was your teacher? She goes, oh, it's on my bucket list to be in your class.

Caitlin Kindred 00:08:10

Oh, how I know?

Jenny GK 00:08:11

It was really cute. And I was like, so what else is on your bucket list? And she was like, oh, seeing Taylor Swift. That's before all this nonsense. So obviously we didn't get tickets. We sat her down and said, look, do not expect Taylor Swift tickets under the Christmas tree. They are not going to be there. We are not getting you tickets. Like, just understand we cannot justify spending $1,000 to go see Taylor Swift.

Caitlin Kindred 00:08:34

No, right?

Jenny GK 00:08:36

That will be the most expensive concert I've ever been to and I've seen Paul McCartney twice and sang on stage with Shelton John, but that's just me name dropping at this point anyway.

Caitlin Kindred 00:08:46

Yeah, for sure. Come on now.

Jenny GK 00:08:51

So she's like, okay, no big deal. All along we're like, okay, maybe when we get closer, there might be some that people are trying to release because they bought them and now they can't resell them for $1,000 each. So John and I are both, like, keeping our eyes on all of the sites. And right now the plan is if we can't NAB a pair before the date, we are going to drive up to Dallas and just hope that we can pick up a pair at Via show for a reasonable amount of money.

Caitlin Kindred 00:09:24

Oh, my gosh.

Jenny GK 00:09:25

And we both have a number in our head of how much we're willing to spend. And I feel like that number is just, like, going up.

Caitlin Kindred 00:09:34

Of course.

Jenny GK 00:09:35

And it's about to go way up once we find out more and more people who are going. And Abby's like, oh, so and so. Taylor's Love. I'm like, all right.

Caitlin Kindred 00:09:48

So you're just like all you guys are doing is just keeping an eye on what's going on with tickets, which is so funny.

Jenny GK 00:09:54

Because we have not done one of these Xbox for Christmas or really expensive bikes for Christmas. Like, we've done bikes for birthday.

Caitlin Kindred 00:10:06

No, you guys are experienced, but we are experienced. Yeah, you guys are experience based for Christmas.

Jenny GK 00:10:13

It's weird for us to think, okay, we're going to spend this much money now. It's still an experience, but we haven't done a giant gift like this before.

Caitlin Kindred 00:10:22

Yeah, because she's a kid, she won't really realize how giant it is. Oh, she know what I mean.

Jenny GK 00:10:30

We have made it clear.

Caitlin Kindred 00:10:33

You've made it clear.

Jenny GK 00:10:34

Okay, good. So when we went to the World Series in 2017 yes, that's the one where the Astros cheated.

Caitlin Kindred 00:10:41

I remember this. Yes.

Jenny GK 00:10:44

We had two tickets, and there were three of us in our family at that point. Right. And so John said, look, I've been to a World Series game before. You and Abby go in, and I'll hang out front and see if I can get something off a scalper or if maybe after the first pitch, somebody's trying to release a ticket online.

Caitlin Kindred 00:11:01

Yeah.

Jenny GK 00:11:02

And so Abby and I are in line to get into the stadium, and she runs back to him and hugs him and says, I wish you could come.

Caitlin Kindred 00:11:11

Oh, how sweet of her.

Jenny GK 00:11:13

Yeah, it was really cute. But guess what? It cost us a mortgage payment, because he was like, yeah, okay. And just kind of bought the first ticket he could find. I came in.

Caitlin Kindred 00:11:23

Yeah, that's about right. My other obsession besides dolphins, and I'm not going to be one of those people who gets a dolphin tattoo, I swear. Even though please get it on your ankle. Profoundly emotional. Please get it on your ankle. It was cool.

Jenny GK 00:11:37

Or get, like, a ribbon with a dolphin in the middle right on your there you go.

Caitlin Kindred 00:11:43

You know, the first mate did ask Bryce if he wanted to have a dolphin tattoo placed on the small of.

Jenny GK 00:11:48

His back, and Bryce said, yes, I want two of them facing each other.

Caitlin Kindred 00:11:53

Bryce goes, I already have his tattoo there, which is not true, but it was very funny. It was really funny. So the other thing I'm obsessed with right now is my friend Matt, who we stayed with. My friend Matt has the most precious dog. His name is Eddie. Eddie is a German short hair pointer, if I have that correct. This is the nicest dog. And he's big. Like, he's a big boy, but he's so gentle and he's so sweet, and he just makes little love noises, and now I'm obsessed with getting my own Eddie. Like, I really want to have a pointer. They're so sweet. And that's just like, the breed. It's how they are. So I was just like so now I'm perusing randomly German, like, rescue like, German pointer rescue places, which, of course, is like, you're not going to find that.

Jenny GK 00:12:59

You are talking to the girl who sent her husband on a plane to go get a dog to go pick up. You don't need to tell me that you are having a hard time finding your dream dog.

Caitlin Kindred 00:13:13

We also the other day saw a puppy that needed a home, and it was right after we had just discussed, like, oh, we really are thinking about getting a dog.

Jenny GK 00:13:24

Well, I'm telling you, now's the time that you and Bryce are both working from home. Now's the time to get a dog. I know, because those first two years are so hard and the two of you can tag in and out. Yeah.

Caitlin Kindred 00:13:35

Have you seen the video of the guy who talks about how taking care of puppy is harder than taking care of baby?

Jenny GK 00:13:41

Oh, my mom always says a puppy is two babies.

Caitlin Kindred 00:13:44

It's so fun. He's like, because taking care of baby, you expect it to pee. You expect it to wake up, you expect it to need to pee all night long. You expect all these things with a puppy. You can't put a diaper on it in the middle of the night. You have to. All these little things that you have to so, yeah, I was like, am I ready for that?

Jenny GK 00:14:02

On the floor, on the tile with a lot of puppies?

Caitlin Kindred 00:14:04

Yeah. I was like, am I really ready to do that right now? And the puppy that we were looking at or that we got asked about was like, we need to rehome her. Like, right now. It wasn't something that we could take.

Jenny GK 00:14:17

No, you need time to think about it. Right?

Caitlin Kindred 00:14:18

But we need time to think about it.

Jenny GK 00:14:20

But I will tell you, there's never a perfect time.

Caitlin Kindred 00:14:23

No, of course not.

Jenny GK 00:14:24

Of course there is never a good time to get a puppy.

Caitlin Kindred 00:14:27

No. That said, I am also very open to adopting older dogs.

Jenny GK 00:14:35

Oh, yes.

Caitlin Kindred 00:14:35

I'm open to adopting, like, one or two year old dogs. I'm also open to adopting older dogs who just need a place to oh.

Jenny GK 00:14:42

Senior dogs are amazing, right? They're the best.

Caitlin Kindred 00:14:45

Oh, yeah. There was a dog that I still regret not getting in Denver who was, like, nine years old, and he was the most handsome little snaggle tooth boy on the planet. And I just was like, I should have gotten him because there's something about him that spoke to me, so I'm not opposed to it. And Eddie is an older dog. He's nine. So I was really into this sweet, gentle disposition. Boy, he was just the best. So that's my other obsession besides dolphin boat rides is this sweet dog and.

Jenny GK 00:15:16

Considering so basically you're obsessed with dolphins and puppies, are you Lisa Frank right now? Yes.

Caitlin Kindred 00:15:27

That's great. And rainbows and multicolored leopards and cheetahs.

Jenny GK 00:15:33

So funny.

Caitlin Kindred 00:15:34

Probably a penguin and a polar bear, too. What's going on? Anything hilarious happened to you this week?

Jenny GK 00:15:42

John's headquarters is in Portland, Oregon, and so he has to report once a quarter. I flew up with him just for a long weekend because it's like you said, spring break, and I'm off. Anyhow, so we had a little weekend away for the first time in a long time. A long time. It was so great. I love it. So shout out to our parents for watching our kids tag teaming through Kit and Abby. It was awesome. Anyway, we travel very busily, right? John and I believe that when you're in another place, you want to soak in as much of it as you can. You can sleep when you die. So we are up before the sun. We go and do all day long, and we come back way late in the evening. And like clockwork, we always forget to get snacks for our hotel. So we come back at midnight and we're starving. And so we wake up the next morning and be like, okay, we have to eat now. But one of the things that we did in Portland, which you do in the Northwest, was go to coffee shops, and I had forgotten how nice it is to sit down at the coffee place and drink your coffee there.

Caitlin Kindred 00:17:03

Yes. Right? Yes.

Jenny GK 00:17:05

Does this sound dumb? Like, I'm almost 40 and I'm like, oh, going to a coffee shop is really great. I didn't discover this, but when's the last time you actually sat down and enjoyed the coffee instead of got it in a Togo cup so that you can Togo the rest of your day?

Caitlin Kindred 00:17:19

It's been a long time since I've done that because I work from home now. I've done a couple of days where I go to a coffee shop and work. Given what I'm doing now, it's harder for me because I need two monitors, because I'm just that person who has to have everything spread out. Right.

Jenny GK 00:17:35

And you can't broadcast your webinar from Starfinder, right?

Caitlin Kindred 00:17:38

No, I definitely can't broadcast my webinar. How funny. Oh, my gosh. I would get some oh, my gosh.

Jenny GK 00:17:44

It would be so funny because talking isn't against the rules there, so yes. No, the problem would be with your company, not with the people at Starbucks.

Caitlin Kindred 00:17:56

But that's funny, right? It would be okay, in a way, because I am mostly muted. But what about bandwidth? What about you know what I mean? But I have done the thing where I sit at the coffee shop and work, and I have my coffee while I'm working. And even that is a whole vibe. Right. I get why there's those people who sit there all day long, every single day.

Jenny GK 00:18:26

Yes.

Caitlin Kindred 00:18:26

What I would really like to do is just sit in a coffee shop without work in front of me.

Jenny GK 00:18:32

That's what we did.

Caitlin Kindred 00:18:33

And enjoy it, which is what you were doing. That sounds amazing.

Jenny GK 00:18:36

On the Monday of the trip, John had to work, and I was just kind of off on my own, and one of the things I did was sit next to a fireplace, drink my coffee, and read a book for, like, an hour and a half. It was amazing.

Caitlin Kindred 00:18:52

Oh, that sounds amazing. Yeah, that sounds so great.

Jenny GK 00:18:56

I love it. Right now, I can't say it's my obsession, but my gem is, like, taking the time. And I know last week you talked about someone stopping to smell the roses at just the right time that you needed it.

Caitlin Kindred 00:19:12

For me, it was perfect.

Jenny GK 00:19:16

I am going to spend more time drinking my coffee and less time just grabbing some coffee.

Caitlin Kindred 00:19:23

If that's something that recharges you, you need to find a way to make that a habit. Right. Like, if you need to say to your family, hey, it's Saturday morning, and I'm going to go sit at the coffee shop for 1 hour, and you cannot text me or bother me at all during that time, that's a really normal and healthy thing to do. Yeah.

Jenny GK 00:19:38

And I don't know if I'm going to get 90 minutes blocks or hour blocks, but when we came back, I took him. Yeah, no, and when we came back, I took Kit to go get coffee, and he got his little coffee. It's chocolate milk. And I got my coffee, and I looked up one of those list questions to ask your kid, and we sat.

Caitlin Kindred 00:19:59

There, and those are fun.

Jenny GK 00:20:00

Yeah. And we did our little quizzy quiz. And it's like, oh, what animal do you think could drive the best? His answer was monkey.

Caitlin Kindred 00:20:09

It's like a BuzzFeed quiz. Oh, that's a smart answer.

Jenny GK 00:20:11

That's what I thought.

Caitlin Kindred 00:20:13

All right, so here's mine. In Panama City Beach, there's a restaurant that we went to right away that has kind of a dinery sort of feel. Anyway, one of the things that they're known for is their milkshakes. And I don't want to overstate the amazingness of this. These milkshakes were incredible, right? They have adult milkshakes with adult beverages in them, which I was like, I'm on vacation.

Jenny GK 00:20:41

Oh, I love a good boozy milkshake. I really do.

Caitlin Kindred 00:20:45

Oh, yeah, it was a mudslide. It was a mudslide one. Yeah, right? They had, like, dreamsicle mudslide, some sort of, like, Oreo something. Anyway, they had, like, normal plain milkshakes.

Jenny GK 00:20:55

It's a full day's worth of calories, but hey, it's fine.

Caitlin Kindred 00:21:02

And then they had these other ones that were completely out of control. We ordered one for our child, and when I tell you that it had every dessert on it that you can possibly imagine, I'm not kidding. It was a very tall, like 16 ounce milkshake packed with, of course, all the stuff inside of it, right. But then there's a giant pile of whipped cream, two lollipops that are like normal dumb dumb size, plus one of those giant rainbow ones, like, coming out.

Jenny GK 00:21:39

Of the milkshake that has the coming.

Caitlin Kindred 00:21:41

Out of the milkshake and cherries on top, plus a mini cupcake.

Jenny GK 00:21:47

Oh, my gosh.

Caitlin Kindred 00:21:48

On a skewer.

Jenny GK 00:21:50

This sounds like something Willy Wonka would have made.

Caitlin Kindred 00:21:52

Yes. And here's my favorite part about this, right. We're sitting there looking at this, and my friend Matt had gone, these milkshakes come out with a robot. And we were like, what? And Sam's looking around, and he's like, there's no robots here. I don't think Mr. Matt was right. I don't think that's correct. I don't see any robots, so that's not true. Being contrarian. Well, all of a sudden, over in the background, we start hearing the song Candy Shop by Fifty Cents, and I'm cracking up. Like, what is happening? Yeah, it's one of those robots. It's a robot that's, like, coming out. It kind of looks like the robots in Wally, where it's just like one of those big white things. And it just came out to our table playing Candy Shop with the milkshake. Oh, my God. It was hysterical. And we were just and Sam's like, oh, there is our robot, and it's playing Candy Shop.

Jenny GK 00:22:56

Of course it is. That's amazing.

Caitlin Kindred 00:23:00

Oh, my gosh. I was just like, this is hilarious and incredible. And of course, we had to go there again because we both needed another milkshake and we needed to have the robot deliver it again one more time. Oh, it was a very fun experience, but it made me laugh out loud when I hear Candy Shop in this kind of diner. Yes.

Jenny GK 00:23:20

And it's bringing you a milkshake, a.

Caitlin Kindred 00:23:22

Giant one with a lollipop in it that's the size of my face. Unbelievable. Oh, my gosh. Well oh, did I mention it also had rainbow sprinkles around the edge of.

Jenny GK 00:23:30

The of course it did. No, like a sprinkle rib.

Caitlin Kindred 00:23:33

Exactly. Wow. Like an inch down, like, all the way down on the yeah, it was crazy.

Jenny GK 00:23:40

That is nuts.

Caitlin Kindred 00:23:41

I'll have to show you a picture.

Jenny GK 00:23:42

I bet he filled some of it. I was trying to transition into our stain unit. Oh, so smooth. Way to go.

Caitlin Kindred 00:24:01

Yeah, I'm really good at it.

Jenny GK 00:24:02

I'm kicking you under the table right now. Like, hey, look what I'm doing.

Caitlin Kindred 00:24:08

We're going to talk about stains now.

Jenny GK 00:24:10

Yeah.

Caitlin Kindred 00:24:14

Stain removal 101. All right, well, we're doing it.

Jenny GK 00:24:19

I am always interested in the science behind things, and so I have a couple of stains that we can talk about and how to lift them based on a little bit of chemistry. And the first thing I want to talk about is enzymes. These are words that you hear a lot on laundry commercials, and it includes enzymes. So enzymes are special protein molecules that are like a lock and key. They can only break down one specific thing. They have a special shape that matches another molecule. The most famous enzyme, the one that everybody talks about not having enough of, is the one that breaks down lactose, called lactase. And so you take lactate because your body doesn't make enough lactase. So you can't break down lactose, and you can't use another enzyme to break down lactose. You have to use lactase.

Caitlin Kindred 00:25:22

This is why I failed chemistry in high school, because all of these words sound so similar that I would be like, which one is which?

Jenny GK 00:25:30

Oh, yeah.

Caitlin Kindred 00:25:31

But I'm appreciating this lesson. Okay, that's helpful.

Jenny GK 00:25:33

Right? If it ends in ace, it's probably an enzyme. My favorite enzyme is called DNA, unwind ace. Guess what it does.

Caitlin Kindred 00:25:45

I guess it unwinds DNA.

Jenny GK 00:25:48

Whoever named that one is my hero. Right, okay, so anyhow so if something contains enzymes, you want to make sure that it's the enzyme that fits the lock you're trying to open.

Caitlin Kindred 00:26:04

Sure.

Jenny GK 00:26:04

Right. So you can't just throw enzymes at things and say, okay, that's going to work. That's going to break that down, or that's going to build that up, or whatever you need to do, because you need the specific enzyme that's made for that specific task. This is why your body has tens of thousands of different enzymes. We are going to cover lots of different stains today. The most famous of all of the stains is grass, right? Yeah. Okay. Grass stains are made of chlorophyll, which my husband somewhere is saying more like borofil.

Caitlin Kindred 00:26:36

Oh, my God, I almost did it. I'm so glad that you said it. Thank you. I was like, so close.

Jenny GK 00:26:42

Yeah. But chlorophyll is a fat molecule. It's what makes plants green. And the type of molecule that it is is a lipid, a fat. So you need something that helps break down fats, which is why dish soap works on chlorophyll. On grass stains.

Caitlin Kindred 00:27:01

I did not know chlorophyll. Oh, my gosh, that's amazing.

Jenny GK 00:27:05

See, there's something there.

Caitlin Kindred 00:27:06

I did not know that. Oh, yeah, for sure. I love that.

Jenny GK 00:27:09

While I was in the airport, traveling back from Portland on my own, there was a little girl who looked to be about eight, and her grandmother was traveling with her. And the grandmother needed to go to the bathroom. And I'm sitting there reading a children's book, so she knew that I was either safe or creepy and asked me if I would just keep an eye on her while she ran to the bathroom. I said, oh, yeah, no problem. So we're chitchatting. I mentioned that I'm a teacher. And she says, oh, what do you teach? I said, I teach math and science. And she says, oh, well, we don't really do science at my school. And I'm telling you what, I about lost my mind. And I looked at her and I said, yes, you do. Yes, you do you do science every single day? Science is happening all around you. Even when you read that book and then watch the movie and compare them, that's science. That's making observations. And I was like, don't say you don't do science. Don't say it. Don't say it.

Caitlin Kindred 00:28:00

I know. Oh my gosh.

Jenny GK 00:28:03

So anyhow, science is all around us. And so this is the science of laundry and how to remove some stains.

Caitlin Kindred 00:28:11

I'm just thinking about what I often stain my own clothes with, and I'm just going to start with chocolate because that's usually where I go. So chocolate is not terribly difficult to get out, but you do need to be mindful of scraping off as much of it as you can before you get started. So it helps to make sure it's kind of hard. So if you need to if it's still kind of warm from your shirt or whatever, put some ice on it and then scrape it off as much as you possibly can. And then you're going to use just any kind of stain remover because chocolate does have fat in it. Sometimes you can use dish soap and just kind of use a toothbrush and rub it around on the stain. But then you can add a little stain remover, like oxygen.

Jenny GK 00:28:55

Hey, guys, did you hear that? Did you hear that? She said because chocolate does have fat in it, you can use dish soap. Sorry. Keep going.

Caitlin Kindred 00:29:04

And then wash it, but don't put it in the dryer. And then check the stain again.

Jenny GK 00:29:10

So that is like the biggest tip I have. Don't put it in the dryer.

Caitlin Kindred 00:29:14

Put it in the dryer.

Jenny GK 00:29:15

Wait for the clothes to air dry and see if the stain came out. Because if you put in the dryer.

Caitlin Kindred 00:29:19

You'Re like baking it, you set the stain, you're done, it's finished. What else? That's like my most common one that I'm moving. What do you have besides grass?

Jenny GK 00:29:34

Also a sports related stain. Blood. Right? Like, you got grass stains. You probably got blood too.

Caitlin Kindred 00:29:42

Yes.

Jenny GK 00:29:43

So the first thing is as soon as you notice cold water, this is like sheets, clothes, whatever. Soak it in cold water immediately. I know that you think warm water sounds better, but that's really helping bake that blood in. You really want cold water. Also, if you don't already have a toothbrush that you use for stains, get a toothbrush that you use for stains. I just keep mine in the laundry room so it doesn't get confused.

Caitlin Kindred 00:30:14

But toothbrush, I put it with the.

Jenny GK 00:30:16

Toothbrush works really well. So you want to use something that's alkaline, right? And alkaline is another word for base. It's the opposite of acid. So ammonia works really well on bloodstains, but ammonia is a very astringent cleanser. So a little bit goes a long way. And in my mind, if a little bit is good, then a lot must be great. And that's just not how this. Works. You need to dilute it. No, you need to do about a spoonful and half a cup of water. And then again with the toothbrush, scrub, scrub, scrub, scrub, scrub. And then you can wash it in warm water. But again, don't dry because you want to check and make sure that you pulled it all out. The other thing about a blood stain is if the fabric is white, you can use peroxide, but do not use hydrogen peroxide on clothing that has been dyed. And that includes if it's been dyed like a neutral color, because it is going to bleach your clothes.

Caitlin Kindred 00:31:26

Yes, it is.

Jenny GK 00:31:26

But my babysitter has white carpet, and I have always wondered, why do you take care of babies and have white carpet? And she goes, oh, it's because the white carpet. And she says, no, it's because I can bleach it and put peroxide on it. Right? She's like, I've cleaned up every color that babies can make, and peroxide gets it all out.

Caitlin Kindred 00:31:50

That's why recommendations for towels are always, always get white. Always get white because you can at least bleach it. The other thing that works on bloodstains, if you're someone who doesn't have ammonia just in the house, but you have oxiclean.

Jenny GK 00:32:06

Yes.

Caitlin Kindred 00:32:07

You can buy the oxiclean spray and just let it sit on there for a little while. But then you're going to want to, again, use cold water, try and get up as much of it as you can, things like that. But that does help quite a bit to draw the stain out.

Jenny GK 00:32:19

My go to for just about any stain is a paste made of oxiclean and water and the toothbrush. If all of these that's a super helpful. If I cannot match the stain to the product that's going to break it down. Sometimes I just say, okay, I'm going to get it a little bit wet, put the oxiclean powder right on there, and make a little paste.

Caitlin Kindred 00:32:41

All right, make a paste.

Jenny GK 00:32:42

Who's next?

Caitlin Kindred 00:32:44

Okay, sweatstains. Sweatstains. Again, you need an asset to get these out, right?

Jenny GK 00:32:54

Right.

Caitlin Kindred 00:32:54

So lemon juice really helps.

Jenny GK 00:32:57

That's interesting.

Caitlin Kindred 00:32:59

Yeah, lemon juice. You can do lemon juice and water you don't want again, because lemon juice can bleach because of the acid in there. It can also break down some of the fibers. Do you have to be careful, but dilute it? Like, do about half and half, and then you can add, like, a little bit of salt and just kind of scrub. Right. And it will help get it out. Other recommendations for sweatstains. Put the item out in the sun. Once you've washed it, put it out in the sun. It does help to bleach sweatstains out.

Jenny GK 00:33:29

That is interesting. Yes. That is what made the sweat stain in that one. In the first case, if I sat.

Caitlin Kindred 00:33:37

Out in the slot but you were in it.

Jenny GK 00:33:40

Right?

Caitlin Kindred 00:33:42

That's the difference. That's the difference.

Jenny GK 00:33:45

Okay, what else? Makeup. Okay. Both lipstick and foundation also have fats in them. So dish soap works wonders. That's what you need there. All right.

Caitlin Kindred 00:34:00

Yeah. One of my husband's favorite foods is sushi, which means we have a lot of soy sauce in this house. So I got to talk about soy sauce. Rinse it out with cold water to start out with. And again, ammonia is going to be helpful here. And then you can also, after you've done that, after you've tried to soak some of it out, any stain remover, you can just pretreat it and then put it in the wash. Right. It's not the end all, be all with soy sauce. It does come out pretty easily. Just make sure you rinse it first.

Jenny GK 00:34:31

Rinse it first. Beer and wine.

Caitlin Kindred 00:34:35

Yes.

Jenny GK 00:34:37

Because you are anything like me, you are pouring yourself a glass, taking it to bed, and falling asleep in the bed and spilling it all over yourself as you fall asleep.

Caitlin Kindred 00:34:49

Stop. Oh, my gosh. That's hilarious.

Jenny GK 00:34:54

I do fall asleep holding it, and that has happened many, many times. The other thing is, I will pour myself a glass of wine and put at my bedside table, and then in the night, I will knock it over.

Caitlin Kindred 00:35:07

Yes, that's the one I have done. I've done it with water. I've done it with sparkling water. I've done it with other adult beverages. I have done that because I have big king size pillows.

Jenny GK 00:35:19

And if they slip, did they slide right?

Caitlin Kindred 00:35:22

Yeah. Okay, tell me about this one.

Jenny GK 00:35:26

Okay, so beer is pretty easy to break down. So cold water to get it started, and then your commercial stain remover normally breaks down. Beer. If it is a dark beer, Allah stout or porter, you're going to treat it a little bit differently. You can actually kind of follow the soy sauce route on that one and do diluted. Ammonia and diluted. Diluted. Okay. I know. And I sound like a broken record, but it's because I am the person who's like, oh, a little bit is good, more is better. And it's not.

Caitlin Kindred 00:36:10

Also, I have to say this about ammonia, please remember that if you dab something with ammonia, don't use bleach on it right off.

Jenny GK 00:36:16

Right.

Caitlin Kindred 00:36:17

Wash it first, because mustard gas is real. Don't do that.

Jenny GK 00:36:22

Yeah, don't do it. It's bad. Okay, so switching to wine.

Caitlin Kindred 00:36:28

Hold on. So for dark beer, you said go the soy saucer out, right? Just want to make sure I have that, right?

Jenny GK 00:36:34

Yes.

Caitlin Kindred 00:36:34

Okay, go ahead.

Jenny GK 00:36:35

So white wine is spilled all the time, and it doesn't matter because it's like water. So just wash it out. But red wine, the classic. A little bit of club soda. It's like a real thing, guys. It actually does work. And it sounds so weird that you're like, okay, yes, June Cleaver. A little bit of club soda will get that out. But it actually does it comes down to the carbonation, much like oxiclean, the bubbles lift it out.

Caitlin Kindred 00:37:09

Yeah. Unbelievable.

Jenny GK 00:37:11

So get that club soda on there and then put a little salt on it and let that sit.

Caitlin Kindred 00:37:21

Yeah, that makes sense.

Jenny GK 00:37:25

All right.

Caitlin Kindred 00:37:25

Other condiments that are often a mess. And if you have children, you're going to be like, oh, thank you for talking about this. Ketchup and mustard, folks. The amount of times I have had to deal with ketchup mustard stains is infinite. And so I'm going to start with ketchup.

Jenny GK 00:37:44

Well, I'm going to tell you, at our house, it's salsa. Is that the same as ketchup?

Caitlin Kindred 00:37:50

Yeah.

Jenny GK 00:37:51

Right?

Caitlin Kindred 00:37:51

Well, it's not the same, but, like, yeah.

Jenny GK 00:37:54

My husband cannot eat chips and salsa without spilling on himself. All right, continue on.

Caitlin Kindred 00:37:59

Frustrating. So with ketchup, you're going to rinse it with cold water on the back side. Like, don't pour cold water directly onto the front of it. Turn whatever the item is inside out, and then find the stain and rinse it out from the back. And then you need white vinegar, and you're going to use white vinegar. You're going to get a sponge or dab it on there, and then you can wash it and it will come. I have had less success with commercial stain removers with ketchup. Not saying that they don't work. Just saying I have less success. Mustard. It's like turmeric, right? Where it just stains. Even if it touches something, it just immediately stains. Oh, gosh. So again, you need to scrape off any excess color that you can. Okay. I have seen wash on hot for mustard. I have not seen any product that I can think of that actually will pull it out. It's not like a vinegar thing. You could, of course, try club soda. Club soda is not going to stain anything. It's not going to set the stain. You can at least try it. I would suggest, again, scraping off as much as you can, maybe rinsing it off from the backside again, but then just trying to wash it and just don't put it in the dryer and you'll have to do it again. It's just one of those things that mustard sucks. Right. So give that a shot. I love mustard.

Jenny GK 00:39:19

I do, too.

Caitlin Kindred 00:39:20

It sucks when it's on your clothes.

Jenny GK 00:39:21

Of the things that we hold back from Oregon, two bottles of mustard from Beaverton. It's my favorite.

Caitlin Kindred 00:39:28

Yeah.

Jenny GK 00:39:29

And I used to eat it when I was a kid, and they don't have it here in Austin, so I had to bring it back. Yeah. So last but not least from me, coffee and tea. Right? If I'm going to be living this new coffee drinking life where having coffee is an event and not just fueling my body, which I'm not kidding, I don't actually think coffee is fuel. I know it's terrible for me, but it keeps me awake. Anyhow, we need to use an acid. Vinegar is great. So little bit of white vinegar. They make the extra strength vinegar. Like, you don't need that because you're going to end up diluting it anyhow. So just buy regular white vinegar. And vinegar also is a great way to clean your microwave. You pour it in a bowl with some water and microwave it for five minutes. The steam from the vinegar will actually break down all the stains in your microwave, and then you just wipe it clean.

Caitlin Kindred 00:40:31

I have just done pure vinegar in a bowl.

Jenny GK 00:40:33

Oh, see, there you go.

Caitlin Kindred 00:40:34

And that works. It smells horrific, right? But I think the diluted is a good idea. And again, vinegar is super inexpensive. You can get a giant bottle. It for, like, $2. Yeah, it's a giant bottle.

Jenny GK 00:40:47

Super helpful. Also can be used to clean your coffee pot. So anyhow, it literally is dissolving coffee and tea. So if you've got dishware that's stained from coffee and tea, just fill it up with a cup of vinegar and let it go. The other thing is coffee and tea stains often what's staining you is not necessarily the coffee or the tea, but whatever you've put in it. Interesting, right? So, yes, you're getting the color from the coffee, but if you're putting creamer that's a fat, you need a dish soap, something with enzymes in it that will help break down lipids.

Caitlin Kindred 00:41:29

That's a good point. I hadn't thought about that.

Jenny GK 00:41:33

You're right.

Caitlin Kindred 00:41:34

So the last one that I have, and this is relevant to you because you guys eat salad at your house. I can't believe your kids eat salad. But they do.

Jenny GK 00:41:42

It's true. That's my go to. They do. I can't get my kids to eat anything. Okay, well, how about a salad with chicken? Yeah, sure, we'll eat that.

Caitlin Kindred 00:41:48

Yeah. It's amazing. It's amazing. So my child will not he won't even think about it. So salad dressing is a big one.

Jenny GK 00:41:55

Yes.

Caitlin Kindred 00:41:56

I have had a lot of success with dish soap. If it's an oil based one, I used to make my salad dressings, and I would use oil in that as a base, like olive oil. Then you need to start with some dish soap and get that out. Because you know how, like, you can get an oil stain on something and then you'll put it through the wash and then you don't see it when it's wet, so you put it through the dryer and then you'll see a big oil stain on your shirt. Later, if you scrub that out with dish soap, that won't happen anymore. So just keep that in mind as you're going through this. Just don't put anything in the dryer.

Jenny GK 00:42:29

Yeah. So here's the arsenal that you want to keep in your laundry space. And I love that you say laundry space because it might be a bag that you take with you to the laundromat. And it might be a whole beautiful room with those fancy washing machines on those lifts on the drawers.

Caitlin Kindred 00:42:47

We don't have that. No, me neither.

Jenny GK 00:42:52

So anyhow, you want to make sure that you have some vinegar. You want to make sure that you have some dish soap. And do not use the dish soap that you would use in your kitchen. Right. Where it's like scented and beautiful and maybe it's like, got a moisturizer in it. No, you want, like, dial blue dawn.

Caitlin Kindred 00:43:11

Yeah.

Jenny GK 00:43:11

Blue dawn. There you go.

Caitlin Kindred 00:43:14

To wash penguins and duckling. Duckling, right.

Jenny GK 00:43:19

That's why they use it for the oil. That's what you want.

Caitlin Kindred 00:43:25

Ammonia, blue dawn, club soda.

Jenny GK 00:43:30

Club soda, vinegar. And I'm a big proponent of oxiclean powder because you can mix it with water to make a spray. Yes, but I don't use that in place of a spray. Stain remover, stain remover.

Caitlin Kindred 00:43:47

I have both also.

Jenny GK 00:43:49

I love the oxiclean powder, but I also still have a spray.

Caitlin Kindred 00:43:54

Yeah, I have the oxiclean spray, and then I put the oxiclean powder in the wash when I wash clothes because there's always going to be a stain that I miss, and I just try to head it off at the well.

Jenny GK 00:44:06

And I feel like my clothes, especially if they're going to be sweaty clothes, I feel like they just feel cleaner when I've put oxiclean in with them.

Caitlin Kindred 00:44:14

This is a tiny bit off topic, but it's relevant to laundry. Do you use the Lysol Disinfectant laundry additive?

Jenny GK 00:44:24

No, I've never even heard of this.

Caitlin Kindred 00:44:26

Oh, it disinfects your clothes. I started buying it during right before COVID I started buying it. But it's like a little extra something. It's almost like it pulls a little bit more of that, like, sweaty smell. Yeah, things like if you, like, run towels and they they have, like, a damp smell when you put them in, it kind of pulls that out.

Jenny GK 00:44:45

That's awesome.

Caitlin Kindred 00:44:45

It's a good smell, too. And you just put it in. It's like you put it in where your fabric softener goes.

Jenny GK 00:44:51

Okay.

Caitlin Kindred 00:44:51

And then you run the cycle with fabric softener. That's a different thing. But let's talk laundry. I mean, how can you tell? This is a podcast for people who have who have families with laundry where it's never ending.

Jenny GK 00:45:08

Next up on being a grown up, organizing the pantry, finding lids for all your tupperware.

Caitlin Kindred 00:45:18

One day you're listening to songs on the radio and thinking, these are my jam. And then the next day you're jamming in the middle of the grocery store because it's the same that you listened to 20 years ago. Anyway. One, please rate review and subscribe. Two, tell us your favorite stain removal tricks. Like, just send us a message, DM, comment, whatever. We would love to know what your favorite tricks are, because let's be real clear, there are other ways to skin a cat, and there's definitely other cool tricks that we don't have and we didn't cover. So tell us all the things that you use to get out the stains.

Jenny GK 00:45:59

And when you're looking at the stain and you're trying to match the removal technique. Make the choices.

Caitlin Kindred 00:46:07

Don't put it in the dryer. Oh, this is my trick. Get an excellent marker. Write down what should not in the dryer on the top of your washing machine. So smart you can wash it off. Bye.