Coffee is the magic elixir that keeps us going all day. It’s inevitable; you’re going to spill it on yourself. We all know that coffee stains. If you’re at home it isn’t a problem and you can take care of the spill quickly. But what do you do when you spill coffee on yourself at the office? Your clothes are an important investment and you want them to look their best. These tips will help you keep things in tip-top shape.
If you spill coffee on yourself at work, your first instinct will be to rub the stain but you shouldn’t do that. Rubbing will only help to set the stain into the fabric. Blotting is best. Use a paper towel and blot the excess liquid off. The last thing you want to do is scrub it, even though everything inside of us tells us that’s what we need to do. Scrubbing can actually help spread the stain further.
If the liquid has soaked through, you may want to use a paper towel or some sort of fabric to put behind the stain. Wet your fingers or a rag in soapy water and blot it onto the fabric. The paper towel/fabric behind it will soak up some of the stain. Again, make sure not to rub it. When you’re done, use a dry paper towel to get any excess water off and let it dry for a few minutes. When you get home, you can treat the stain properly and clean the garment as you normally would.
Some of you are already prepared for just such an occasion. Probably because you’ve already had it happen to you. There are different products on the market that can help with stain removal. Two of the most popular are the Tide To Go Pen and the Shout Wipe and Go Wipes. Use them as directed, and you should be fine until you’re able to get home and clean them.
If you’re wearing dry clean only fabric then you’ve got a little bit of a problem, but not one that can’t be solved. You probably shouldn’t do anything on your own to try to remove the stain, unless you know what you’re doing. You don’t want to worsen the problem. You’ll have to wait until you can go to the cleaners and let the professionals handle it.
A stain doesn’t have to ruin your day. If you take the proper steps, you can save that article of clothing. As stated above, being prepared is probably your best option. Keep a couple of fabric cleaning products in your desk so you won’t have to worry when it happens to you.