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Various tips from mothers…
Ah, yes, you know we’ve needed this advice in the past and probably will again in the future. The nice people at Sharpie advise us to:
Take the child into a warm soapy bath and gently stroke the area. Never rub as this just buries it deeper into the skin.. The best soap to use is Gerber Giggles and Grins. Apply it to the area and gently wash away. If that doesn’t do it, gently stroke the area with rubbing alcohol (rinse well and put the rubbing alcohol up high right afterwards of course).
If the permanent marker is also on surfaces and other items, this list of 8 ways to remove permanent marker should help…
Be sure to visit the rest of the Works For Me Wednesday tips as well.
Ducky goes everywhere and gets dirty in the process! Poor thing looks so ragged from all his adventures and washings, but at least he is clean. Here is how we keep him that way:
We do put him in the washer and dryer. He first goes into a pillowcase (you could also try a lingerie bag), tied shut with a thin sock (you can also use a safety pin, it’s just that the sock is convenient, unlike having to hunt around for hours looking for a safety pin), then into the gentle cycle on cold. For the dryer, he stays in the pillowcase on gentle cycle, low heat. Not all stuffed animals will survive this, so check the label if you can before trying to actually wash a beloved stuffed animal.
To freshen him up when he really doesn’t need a whole washing: baking soda and Ducky in a paper bag and shake. Don’t do this while your little one is around unless you really want to traumatize them…. 
To kill dust mites: Put the stuffed animal in a Ziploc bag and then into the freezer for 24 hours (if you can do without it for that long).
Be sure to visit the rest of the Works For Me Wednesday tips for other great ideas as well.
After using diaper pails for a year or two, they tend to retain the diaper stench regardless of many attempts to clean it. However, I just discovered that putting a few (scented) dryer sheets in the bottom of the pail (we have a Diaper Genie but I’d try it in any diaper system or just a regular pail) really helps the stench. Now we use one underneath the liner in his Diaper Genie and also in our regular trash cans all the time.
Be sure to visit the rest of the Works For Me Wednesday tips for other great ideas as well.
One memorable day, a few months ago now, Lil’ Duck discovered the joy of Baby Vaporub. This product must feel especially lovely in hair, because that is exactly where he put it. We tried hot water, shampoo, etc. but it just took about 8-10 washings before it was back to normal (we had some mohawk fun in the meantime).
However, if I’d known that putting cornstarch in his hair would sop up the extra oil, it would have saved us a lot of scrubbing. Hopefully I don’t need to use this tip again, but it might help one of you - I’d try it for removing any petroleum-based/oily product. It would probably have also helped us with our vegetable oil flood….. ah, well.
Be sure to visit the rest of the Works For Me Wednesday tips for other great ideas as well.
Lil’ Duck makes a disaster of his shoes. I am very anti-white shoes, especially for him, so his shoes are dark blue, but they still need a washing now and then. Now, with his shoes, they are small enough that throwing them in the washer isn’t really a problem. With our shoes, I usually put them in a pillowcase or mesh bag, then put some towels in there too so they don’t bang up the sides of the washer.
If you do have white shoes (I think most of you do, judging from the shoe displays I see in the stores ;)), you can use that nifty little Clorox bleach pen to clean them right up. I use that thing for cleaning grout in my shower, it’s a beautiful thing.
As for drying them, you really shouldn’t put them in the dryer. Not that I haven’t done it (in a bag on low or no heat), but they could shrink, melt, destroy your dryer, etc. so I really don’t recommend it (so don’t call me if you ignore this and try it anyway ;)). Putting them on the floor at the foot of the fridge so that the fan dries them usually works (if you don’t have a little guy who takes off with your shoes and it isn’t 100 degrees and dripping with humidity in here….), same idea with putting them in front of an a/c vent or a regular fan.
Just don’t put them outside if it’s hot and humid (I’m thinking cold wouldn’t be good either ;))….. also check them for varmints if you do put them outside, I’d hate to try to clean the shoes if you squished something inside there, not to mention that is incredibly creepy!!
Be sure to go visit the rest of the Works For Me Wednesday tips for other great ideas!
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…
(also works for crayons, but don’t use it on skin, of course)*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.
After yesterday’s mess, it seemed that my house would never be clean again. Despite this, I was determined to restore some order to my house, even though we’re still battling this nasty cold and generally don’t have a lot of energy. With a pot of coffee and some Crazy Frog, I was off to meet the challenge.
However, Lil’ Duck was playing by himself in the corner by the front door. Even more unusual, he was chasing something and giggling. Then I hear, “Mama, ‘izard, ‘izard!”. Not what I wanted to hear at all. Sure enough, a lizard had hopped in through the front door and was trembling in the corner with a great fear of the toddler giant. (more…)
