Stop Tossing Stained clothes—Here's How To Remove Stains With Stuff You Already Have

It might be tempting to get rid of old, stained clothes — especially when it means you get the chance to buy something new — but, most of the time, that shirt with pizza sauce on it is actually salvegable. So, unless your shirts, pants, hoodies, or jackets are entirely destroyed by massive, long-set stains, you should save yourself the money of replacing them. You can typically remove set-in stains with a variety of different methods, using everyday items laying around your home.

Stains set into your clothes because they're exposed to the heat of your dryer – so the first thing you should do is take some time to thoroughly check them before you next do laundry. However, for the items that have already snuck through, you can use items such as vinegar, lemon juice, baking soda, and cornstarch to get those nasty stains and odors out.

Whether it's your makeup, sweat stains, mud, a spilled drink from dinner, or a really messy mango, plenty of common laundry stains can be fixed with a little bit of vinegar. White vinegar is a relatively inexpensive product that you probably already have in your kitchen, making it particularly convenient when it comes to cleaning old clothes. Vinegar is also a natural cleaner, one that's used for far more than just laundry, as the acidic nature of the liquid is great for lifting unwanted stains and bacteria off most surfaces.

To remove a stain using vinegar, soak the clothing item in lukewarm water mixed with ½ teaspoon of dishwashing detergent and 1 tablespoon of vinegar. It's important to use white vinegar, as any other type could actually stain your clothes further. Let the item sit for 15 minutes, then remove it and rinse. If the stain is still present, you can always put it back in the mixture and let it sit for longer periods of time between rinsing, or even overnight if repeated exposure doesn't work. Ideally, though, the stain will come right out.

For those white t-shirts that are getting just a little bit too yellow in some places, or those that have developed some rust stains, you might want to rummage through your pantry — as you can actually remove stains with lemon juice. The acetic acid in the lemon naturally bleaches fabrics, making it a healthier solution for tougher stains. That being said, this hack is only useful for white clothes, as colored items will instead be discolored by the liquid. You can, however, use white vinegar to remove lemon juice from clothing, so, if you accidentally get some drops on other clothes, they can be easily cleaned, too.

For light stains, simply add 1 cup of lemon juice to the washer when running your whites. For tougher stains, you'll need to combine lemon juice, salt, and sunlight: On a bright, sunny day, sprinkle salt onto the stains and then squeeze lemon juice on top. Lightly press and work the salt and juice into the fabric, then let the clothing either hang or lay flat out in the sun. After a while, the stain should work itself out, after which you can wash the item as normal.

There are several common laundry stains and odors that can be fixed with baking soda, as the kitchen staple is both a cheap and useful cleaning product. This natural cleaner works because of its alkaline nature and light abrasiveness, which helps lift stains. When it comes to your laundry, baking soda is great for pretreating stains, whitening clothes, softening fabric, and, often most importantly, removing odors from clothing.

To remove persistent odors that linger even after regular washing, you should soak the clothing item for several hours in a mixture of baking soda and water. Once you remove the clothes, wash them like normal. You could also leave open containers of baking soda in your closet — or sprinkle it on dry clothes and then vacuum it off after a few hours.

To get rid of stains, rub a paste of equal parts baking soda and water into the stain, then soak the item of clothing in water 30 minutes. You may need to repeat this process if the stain is still there, but it should come out eventually. If, after you've fixed the stain, you want to soften your clothes, just add ½ cup of baking soda to your next load of laundry. Your clothes won't just be stain and odor free, but they'll feel smooth and comfortable, too.

If you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, you run the unfortunate risk of staining your clothes. While that sucks, you're also likely to be standing right next to the very item that can absorb all that oil and grease. By quickly applying cornstarch to the stain, you can remove much of it before it has a chance to set in. If you don't have cornstarch handy, you can also use talcum powder, baby powder, or even plain chalk to the same effect.

First, sprinkle a hefty amount of cornstarch on the stain. Make sure to let it sit for at least 10 minutes, then brush it off. The stain should be removed at this point, allowing you to wash the item as you normally would. If it persists, however, you may need to use a different method of stain removal. Cornstarch is best for absorbing fresh stains, so this may happen if you don't catch it quickly enough. Once you've made sure your clothes are stain free, you can use your leftover cornstarch to make your clothes look freshly dry-cleaned.