Lil’ Duck and his friends have found the Sharpie permanent markers on occasion and boy can those make a mess! Thankfully, it can be removed, although I still need to work on the carpet. With this list, be careful as to the surface, as some of these things will ruin certain surfaces. I’d suggest spot-testing and using common sense (i.e. not putting bleach on carpet, not using chemicals on skin, etc. 
). Now if only I could get red koolaid out of carpet…
- Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
(also works for crayons, but don’t use it on skin, of course)
- WD-40
- Anti-bacterial hand gel
- Hairspray
- Cooking spray
- Nail polish remover
- Bleach (depending on the surface)
- Goof Off
*Updated to add other suggestions….
Eagles Wings suggested acetone for taking sharpies right off of plastic or hard surfaces (keep away from children, of course).
Renee said that rubbing alcohol will also remove permanent markers from smooth surfaces.
Mz Jay had an incident where:
My daughter got her hands on a thick black permanent marker(sharpie) she drew on paper but quite alot of it got on the kitchen table that has a wood finish on top. I used toothpaste and a toothbrush and it removed all the marker on the table! I let the toothpaste sit on all the marks for about 5 minutes and got an old toothbrush and scrubbed away! My table does not have any marker left on it, and the best part is that the toothpaste did not ruin my wood table or the finish thats on it. I would suggest using the white toothpaste rather than the gel types that are on the market.
Spot Shot Carpet Cleaner is amazing … we use it daily around here it seems and has yet to disappoint us. We use it on everything, maybe it would work on red kool-aid. Worth a shot!
Thanks for visiting today!
Sharpies are the devil’s invention. We have likely dozens of these in the house because Mr. Right signs many, many autographs due to his profession. Once a few years ago, Halfpint took a black one to my 3-day-old satin & velvet comforter set. This was when money was verrrry tight. I’d saved for more than a year to buy this set. I cried. And cried. And cried. Wonder if any of these would have saved my pretty, pretty bedding?
I love Magic Erasers. There isn’t much they can’t do! Great suggestions. I had never thought of most of those!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE WD40. It is so great and I love to use it on mirrors & picture frames to get that sticky residue from the back of the stickers off.
Great tips- I love tips like these!! Thanks for visiting us!
thank you for this. Last week I had a battle with my son, a marker, and the wall…. I wrote about it here: http://thedomesticdiva.org/p-nut/?p=28 …. I definately could have used some of the items you mentioned.
*makes a mental note*
rubbing alcohol will also remove permanent markers from smooth surfaces…I don’t know about the carpet.
But you CAN take rubbing alcohol to make a tie dye shirt with sharpies… color the shirt with sharpies, place over a container to catch the alcohol and then pour the alcohol slowly…the ink runs and dyes the shirt. tah dah!
Cooking spray? I didn’t know that. Red kool-aid is forever. Have you considered just pouring it on all the rest of the carpet?
Thanks for the ideas. I keep Sharpies in a cup on my desk at school, and even high schoolers sometimes use them for nefarious purposes!
Great idea!!! I love the magic eraser! And no thoes red shoes on my site are “Dorthy’s, from Wizdard of Oz”, not mine, but I do have a cape that looks like thoes shoes =))
If you catch it early, club soda will take out red koolaid. The Queen of Clean (as in Linda Cob) recommends club soda even for old koolaid stains (at lest it will make it lighter pink). She says that, after using the club soda and blotting it with a clean towel, use Spot Shot Instant Carpet Stain remover (from Walmart). if the stain is still set, saturate with hydrogen peroxide or undiluted lemon juice. Wait 15 minutes and blot.Conitinue to apply, checking progress to make sure you aren’t lightening the carpet. (Taken from Talking Dirty with the Queen of Clean by Linda Cobb. I recommend it and Clean it Fast, Clean it Right Edited by Jeff Bredenberg. Both books are life savers and aside from old household/cookbooks (which I also collect) are a great help in keeping thiings from being completely ruined with a house constantly full of children.