The Cultured Girl

I spill things on myself a lot. Just this morning, in fact, I splattered hot tea all over my cream-colored blazer. Fortunately, I had on hand a brilliant stain-removing tool: the alcohol swabs typically found in first-aid kids and used to prep the skin before injections. My mom first turned me onto the clothes-cleansing power of the alcohol-soaked pads (you can buy like 100 of them for $2), and now, I always try to carry a few in my purse.

For best results, attack the stain immediately by rubbing vigorously with the pad, then wipe the area with a wet paper towel or cloth. The results are miraculous: If you saw my jacket right now, you’d never know that I doused nearly an entire cup of tea on myself just hours ago. The alcohol, however, can have a bleaching effect on dark clothes, so I recommend using these only when you’ve spilled something on a light article of clothing.