Make It. Getting ink out of clothes [A clean house on the cheap.]

In one of my past lives, I worked at a dry cleaners. I remember the awful smell of chemicals being used to rid clothes of their stains, but there are plenty of easy do-it-yourself tricks to get stains out of clothes without having to add another item to your dry cleaning bill.

One trick for getting ink out of clothes is to spray hairspray on a stained garment. Spray a bit of any kind of hairspray (aerosol or regular spray), and blot with a clean, white cloth (the cloth needs to be white or the dye from the rag may soak into the sprayed area). Then, after it looks like most of the ink has been absorbed wash and the stain should all but disappear.

Also, never soak a blood-stained garment in hot water. Hot water just "sets" the stain, making it more permanent. Always rinse these clothes with cold water and rub with a little bit of powdered detergent.

Another tip for saving your clothes: Use clear nail polish on stockings that have a run in them. The nail polish will slow the tearing of the cloth and hopefully save you from another trip to Target.

-- Lauren Williams

Photo credit: Courtesy of eHow.