Guest post by Zach Painter

Have you ever been out to eat for an important date, only to spill sauce or your beverage on your shirt or pants? It’s a social blunder that’s hard to recover from, especially if the stain is noticeable. However, what’s even worse is the fact that you have to properly wash the article of clothing to make sure the stain is removed and you can wear it again!

This takes a lot of effort if you really think about it: most people will simply throw the article of clothing into their washing machine, which actually takes a lot of effort, energy, and money over time! The average American household consumes over 13,000 gallons of water a year on washing clothes alone, so you can imagine how that affects your utility bill and the environment.

Fortunately, there are simple, greener alternatives out there that make it cost effective and quick to wash your stained garments. Wine stain on your favorite button up? No worries. You can actually apply white vinegar to the affected area and let it sit for 10 minutes. Once it’s had time to soak up the alcohol, you can wash it out with water to get rid of the acrid smell!

Did your child get a nasty dirty stain on their new shirt? If you have bread around the house, you can actually use it to absorb the filth from the material. Believe it or not, the gluten in the bread will extract the dirt!

These are just a few of the hacks you can take advantage of. Look around your house and you’ve got what you need to quickly remove a number of problematic stains. To learn what these eco-friendly stain remover hacks are, check out the infographic from Tommy John below.

Zach Painter is a digital marketer who enjoys covering the intersection of apparel, tech, and eco topics for Tommy John. When he's not churning out content, you can catch him running or enjoying some live music!

graphic by tommyjohn.com