Removing Barbeque Sauce Stains

Worried you've ruined your favorite shirt with a splotch of barbeque sauce from your sandwich? Wearing an embarrassing stain and ruining your favorite shirt are both unpleasant events that can ruin your barbeque or picnic. There are several tricks you can try before saying goodbye to your clothes.

First, dab away any excess barbeque sauce. Be careful not to rub in or spread around any more barbeque sauce at this point. If you catch the stain before it has time to set and dry into your shirt, run cold water through the back of the stain—this will remove more of the barbeque sauce before it sets into the fabric fibers. If you're out and about, this rinsing technique might remove enough of the stain to make it much less noticeable. Just blot the stained area with a cotton towel to dry it, again being careful not to rub at the stain.

Now you're just dealing with the actual stain—the barbeque sauce that has set into the fabric. There are several options at this point, but the one that may be the easiest is to gently rub some liquid laundry or dish detergent into the stain. Rinse the detergent out and repeat.

If the shirt is white, or if it is colorfast, alternate the detergent rinses with slight applications of bleach (or hydrogen peroxide). If you don't have hydrogen peroxide or bleach, vinegar or lemon juice will also work. If the stain persists, try a stain remover product, or rub some bar soap on the stain. Leave the stain remover on for as long as the directions on the stick or spray require, and wash the stained item in the machine with regular detergent.

If you do not have a stain-removing agent, such as a spray stain remover, try a paste of dry laundry detergent and water applied directly to the stain. Let the paste sit for five or ten minutes before washing. Be careful not to put the stained item in the dryer before you check that the stain is completely gone. The heat from the dryer will bake the stain into the fabric, making it much more difficult to remove.

If the stain is not gone, wash the stained item by hand and let it soak in laundry detergent and water for half an hour. Reapply your stain-removing agent according to the directions, and wash the item again.

Another method you can try is to let the stained article of clothing air dry completely and dry brush the stain with a special brush you can purchase or a fuzzy cotton towel. With this method, you are trying to get individual flakes of the dried barbeque sauce to flake off of the fibers of the cloth. After dry brushing, apply a stain-removing agent, and wash in the washing machine with regular detergent. Again, don't forget to check that the stain is gone before putting the stained item into the dryer.

With a little bit of effort, your shirt or pants can be as good as new.