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Amy Bates
Here's What Happened When I Let My Family Clean ...

When GoodHousekeeping.com asked me to stop doing housework for two weeks, I was terrified. For starters, we're your typical, busy Midwestern family with two teenage sons and two dogs. My husband Alan is a tidy and fastidious civil engineer, and I am the proud owner of a Merry Maids office and the founder of the Don't Look Under the Rug blog. The two of us divide the chores (Alan washes dishes, cooks, and vacuums; while I handle laundry, grocery shopping, and monitoring general clutter) and the boys are expected to pick up after themselves. That said, I do feel I handle more than my fair share of housework after a day at the office.

I don't think my standards are unrealistic. I love things to be clean, but I also enjoy living in my home. We do have a mail pile and a "take it up the stairs" collection. So, eventually, I felt cautiously optimistic about taking a two-week hiatus from housework. My boys are well-behaved, helpful, and only slightly sloth-like when it comes to picking up after themselves — how bad could it be? 

Here's What Happened When I Let My Family Clean the House for Two Weeks

clothing

How To Easily Clean Chocolate Stains On Clothing

So there’s a reason I know how to clean chocolate stains and smears so easily from fabric and clothing. My chocolate cleaning powers have to do with my childhood. Growing up, I never learned to eat chocolate properly without making a giant mess! You may think every child has problems with “properly eating”, but my poor candy eating skills go far beyond basic kid blunders.

See, I was raised by a self-proclaimed chocoholic AND a small-town dentist! This parental combination was confusing and challenging for me. It may be hard to understand, but I would like you to imagine these memories from my upbringing...

I would find my mom's ever-present, old, half-eaten Hershey’s bars hidden throughout the entire house. It felt like there was a constant temptation of forbidden, freshly made brownies in my mother’s kitchen. Then, “You are going to rot your teeth!” would ring in my ears as I peeled back the foil on the brownie pan. Despite the constant stream of chocolate in our house, the Hershey’s and brownies belonged to my mother, and she…did…not…like…to…share! I didn’t even dare to ask for such delicacies for myself. 

Since my father was the town dentist, to be publicly seen at the Main Street Ben Franklin buying chocolate sweets was simply not permitted. Despite my mother’s chocolate obsession, Halloween was for apples and CandiDent at my house. I was never taught to properly eat chocolate because it was taboo to have it in the first place. So when I eat chocolate as an adult, it is next to impossible to not cover every nearby surface in its melted goodness. 

Since moving from the cooler temps of Minnesota to the sweltering heat of Oklahoma, I frequently practice properly eating the divine delicacy as it melts so much faster! I have learned to easily clean up the smudges, stains and smear that milk, dark and semisweet chocolate leaves behind. So if you need to remove chocolate stains from your shirt, I have you covered with this easy cleaning tip:

How To Easily Clean Chocolate Stains on Clothing

What You Need :

  1. Access to cold water

  2. Dull knife (a butter knife does fine)

  3. Enzyme Detergent (I like TIDE)

  4. Extra clean cloth on hand

  5. Pre-treatment spray or hydrogen peroxide (in case this chocolate stain is really set in)

#happycleaning

-Amy Bates