Homeschool Circus: Wite-Out

If you're looking for ways to remove Wite-Out, you've come to the right place!

Keep reading or scroll down . . .

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Toddler Girl Blonde Hair Blue Eyes L@@K!
From a smoke free home! Cute and very entertaining!

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You are bidding on an ADORABLE 2-year-old girl. She comes with her own wardrobe, including the outfit you see here (minus most of the Wite-Out stains). Pickup only, please.

Why am I selling this precious girl on Ebay, do you ask? Well, yesterday I left the room for exactly 40 seconds (I later retraced my steps and timed it) and returned to find this:

No, this is not a Jackson Pollock original.

It is Wite-Out.

Not the water-based kind.

All over the hardwood floor in the homeschool room.

When I left the room, Drama Queen was working in the homeschool room. Screech was happily playing Starfall with Pete on the computer. In that mere sliver of time, Drama Queen got up to see what they were doing (anything to get out of math for a moment) while Screech got up, grabbed the Wite-Out, and slung it all over the floor.

I didn't yell. I didn't scream. I didn't say any bad words. (Well, they may have crossed my mind. But I didn't let them out.) I did what any good Mom would do.

I got my camera.

For this week's Works for Me Wednesday, here are my step-by-step instructions for removing Wite-Out (and probably Liquid Paper or any other correction fluid) from skin, clothing, and finished hardwood flooring:

Removing Wite-Out from Skin:

This one was the easiest (thank goodness!). Just rub a little baby oil or even plain mineral oil over the skin. It rubs right off!

(Be sure to keep the oil out of reach! I saw on Oprah that if children aspirate the oil it coats their lungs and can be deadly.)

Removing Wite-Out from a Finished Hardwood Floor:

(Note: My floor is a hardwood veneer with a high-gloss finish. I don't know how this method would work on unfinished wood. I would test in an inconspicuous area to be sure.)

1) I let the Wite-Out dry completely, but if I had it to do over I would have wiped up as many of the big blobs as I could before it dried. After it had dried I scraped as much of it away as I could. (I used a razor scraper, but I had to be VERY careful. I think a better tool would have been a putty knife, but I didn't have one. I didn't think about this until now but a credit card or even an ice scraper might work - anything with a sharp enough blade to scrape but not so sharp as to risk gouging the wood.)

2) I tried several products to dissolve the remaining Wite-Out (which was a lot; there was so much of it that the scraping was tedious). All of them worked, but some were better than others. (I review them below.) Once you've chosen your remover:

Spray the remover over a large area, let it work for a minute, then wipe a small section with a cloth or paper towel. As the product works, the dissolved Wite-Out mixes with the remover and turns it into a milky white liquid which can get rather smeary. The trick is to work in a small area, rubbing in small circles. Thicker areas will require multiple applications. These areas also required using the scraper again after softening with the remover. Be patient; it will come off! Keep spraying, waiting, rubbing (and more scraping, if necessary) and repeating until it's gone. The only parts that didn't do well were the cracks in between the planks. I worked as much remover into the cracks with a toothbrush as I could to dilute it and make it less noticeable.

Here are the products I tried, all of which were effective:

Tied for first place:

Motsenbocker's Lift Off #2

and

Oops! Multi-Purpose Remover.

2nd Place (close):

WD-40

3rd Place:

Goo Gone

Other products I didn't try but which probably would have worked (be sure to test in an inconspicuous area):

Goof Off
mineral spirits
lighter fluid

The Motsenbockers Lift-Off #2 was AWESOME. It started dissolving the Wite-Out the instant I sprayed it on. Be sure to use this in a well-ventilated area. It's an amazing product, though. I just found out that it's water-based, biodegradable, and has no VOC's. Check out the testimonials on the website for stories such as removing marks left by gel pens which were left in a jeans pocket that went through a washer and dryer! www.liftoffinc.com

Oops! Multi-Purpose Remover also worked just as well.

WD-40 worked well, but just a smidge less quickly than the above products.

Goo Gone worked, but slower than the others. It also required a good bit more elbow grease. The good thing about it, though, is that it is non-toxic. It is citrus-based and smells like overripe oranges.

Here is my "after" picture. (The chip in the veneer was already there.) Ta-daaa!!!

Removing Wite-Out from Clothing:

This was the hardest part, but I did it! Motsenbockers Lift-Off #2 had many uses listed on the label, one of which was for stain removal of clothing. This I had to see! I never would have dreamed that anything would remove Wite-Out from fabric. (I sure could have used it it after a face painting fiasco at a fall festival awhile back. A whole bottle of red acrylic paint was spilled on my lap. (Although I shouldn't lose any sleep over this, because: a) it was a windsuit, for Pete's sake, and b) even if windsuits were in style, there's no way this momma's tushie is ever going to fit into that size again!)

Back to the remedy: Don't forget to use in a well-ventilated area! The directions said to spray, wait 60 seconds, then rinse with warm water, then launder as usual. I tweaked this a bit due to the thickness of a few of the spots. As I rinsed it under warm water I scrubbed with a soft toothbrush. Admittedly, I got carried away and darn near scoured a hole through the outfit. If I had it to do over, I would still use the toothbrush, but much more gently. I would also wear rubber gloves, as my hands are dry as toast right now. Anyway, it took about 7-8 applications to remove all traces of Wite-Out from the largest spot. As with the floor, the dissolving Wite-Out got smeary and ran all over the fabric. The rinsing step is critical.

It's amazing how it worked, because I seemed to have little success with the stain on the turtleneck. I finally gave up, squirted some Shout on the remaining residue, and threw it in the washer. It came out clean!

Note: I don't know if this helped, but I washed the outfit in hot water. Also, the clothes came out smelling like the remover, so next time I would rewash them or add lots more Downy.

Here are my before and after pics: