Why You Should Give A Kid A Coat

Did you know that children are less able to regulate their body temperature than adults?  Because of this, a child’s body temperature can drop much more quickly than in adults, leading to hypothermia.  Further, newborns are even more susceptible to hypothermia because of their large surface area per unit of body weight, small amount of subcutaneous and brown fat, and inability to shiver. 

How do children avoid hypothermia?

a.  Never leave the house
b.  Move to Florida
c.  Wear the appropriate clothing when going outside during the winter

Silliness aside.  Obviously having your child (or children) wear the appropriate clothing outside during winter would be the choice of every parent, but some parents must make hard choices.  Buy the kids coats or buy food?  Buy the kids coats or pay the heating bill?  Buy the kids coats or pay for medicine?

Here’s where my happy voice comes in.  Not because I’m making light of any difficult situation, but because we have Give A Kid A Coat.  For 31 years, folks in the Triad, Triangle, Roanoke, and Blacksburg have been checking closets for coats their children have either outgrown or no longer wear, and they graciously donate them at any A Cleaner World location.

Then our fantastic staff cleans, presses, and makes minor repairs to the coats.

The folks at The Salvation Army pick them up, take them to their distribution points, and then are available to help as folks come in to select a coat.

Give A Kid A Coat is such a fantastic program not only because it helps keep folks warm in the winter, but also because it just seems to bring out the best in everyone.  Neighbors that donate coats walk away with a warm feeling; staff members that work hard to pull the campaign together, clean coats, or distribute coats happily work extra hours knowing how the coats bless others; and those that receive coats, well just looking at the photos tells you all you need to know.

The 2018 Give A Kid A Coat campaign kicks off at the A Cleaner World located at 2527 Eastchester Drive on Friday, January 5 and runs through February 10.

Common Holiday Table Cloth Stains

There are so many wonderful things that surround any holiday, whether it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, July 4th, or even a birthday, and that’s the fun and fellowship with family and friends around the dinner table.  There’s nothing better than sitting down at a long table, filled with yummy food, surrounded by people that you love, eating, telling stories, and laughing.  Sadly, there’s that moment when we all look around at the damage we’ve done and realize that someone (more likely several someone’s) is going to have to clean up the mess.

We have this standing joke at my parent’s house that whoever messes up mom’s tablecloth first is the one stuck with the job, and the best part is when they get caught making the mess, the catcher yells, “you goobered.”  Then the harassment begins.

Somewhere, someone is going to lose and be stuck with the cleaning up chore, so we’ve compiled a list of common table cloth stains that you may encounter this holiday season and have included tips on how to care for them at home.  Of course, you could always take them to a professional, telling what the stains are at drop off, so you don’t have to mess with them.  After all, we remove these sorts of stains all the time.

1. Candle Wax – First, let me just point out that one way of avoiding getting candle wax on your nice table cloth is to not place and light candles on your table cloth.  We generally advise not to place burning candles on flammable surfaces.  But I know that someone somewhere in this world is going to ignore my advice.  In that case, gently lift off the larger pieces, treat with a solvent-based stain remover, and wash in the hottest water that’s safe for the fabric.  Check to see if the stain has been removed before placing it in the dryer.
   
2. Coffee and wine – Move quickly by blotting with a plain white cloth or paper towel to draw out as much as the liquid as possible. Never rub.  Once the meal is over, rinse the area from the back with cool water, treat with a mild detergent, and launder according to the care label’s directions.  Check to see if the stain has been removed before placing it in the dryer.
3. Salad Dressing – Oil-based stains are difficult to remove at home because grocery store pre-treaters cannot break them down.  Dry cleaning solvent is a degreaser, and any professional dry cleaner can remove this type of stain easily.  If you are determined to get this one out on your own, try treating the area with a liquid detergent that contains a degreaser, launder according to the care label’s directions, and check to see if the stain has been removed before placing it in the dryer.
4. Cranberry – Rinse the area from the back with cool water, then treat with a mild detergent and white vinegar before washing.

Two words of caution here.  First, time is of the essence; it is best to wash stained items or take them to a professional dry cleaner as soon as possible.  The longer you let stains sit, the more difficult they are to remove.  Second, don’t try too many attempts at stain removal before taking it to a professional; it is possible to try too many times and ultimately pull the color from the item or damage the fibers.  Once that happens, there’s no fixing it.

How to Care for Christmas Tree Skirts

I am not emotionally attached to our Christmas tree skirt.  I can’t tell you where or when I purchased it; likely because I picked it up right after Christmas when it was on clearance.  But for some folks, their Christmas Tree skirt is a valuable, sentimental treasure perhaps because it is a family heirloom, a special gift, or an unusually expensive purchase.  Whatever the reason, Christmas tree skirts, even if they were purchased on clearance, should be handled with care.

Unfortunately, there are no step-by-step instructions when it comes to caring for Christmas tree skirts.  Because they are typically embellished with beads, sequins, lace, felt, quilted, multicolored prints, and decorative trims, they cannot be safely laundered or dry cleaned.  Eventually they will get dirty, especially if you have a live tree or perhaps a critter that likes to lay underneath your tree.  So

here are a few things you can do at home to keep your Christmas tree skirts looking festive:

• Always follow the directions on the care label.
• If you spill water on your tree skirt, carefully blot the area dry with a clean, white cloth or paper towel.
• If you need to remove a stain or spill, test an inconspicuous area before attempting to remove the actual stain to see if there is any color bleeding or color loss.
• Local stain removal treatments may be the only safe way to clean tree skirts, and it is possible that stains may not be able to be removed without damaging the skirt.

If you have questions or need help with your Christmas tree skirt, bring it by one of our locations to see if our stain removal experts can help. 

Purchasing and Caring for Down Items

In March we wrote on caring for bedspreads but heavily insulated comforters, sleeping bags, and garments can pose a challenge to clean thoroughly. Down, a natural product, and fiberfill, a polyester fill, are both terrific products to help keep you warm; the problem comes in when the item is poorly constructed. This is especially true when it comes to inadequate quilting because that can cause the filling to move around or lose its shape. 

What specifically should you look for when purchasing down items?  Below are some tips:

1. Check the quilting.  Quilting stitches should run vertically and horizontally with quilting lines about 8” – 10” apart.
2. Check the construction.  Make sure the stitching strength is strong.  If the stitching is loose, then the down or fiberfill will shift.
3. Check for fullness.  Thicker filling means more insulation.

We recommend taking down and fiberfill items to a professional dry cleaner for two reasons.  First, A Cleaner World’s staff has been trained in the best practices for bedding and to say we have experience handling these items would be an understatement. Second, many times down and fiberfill items are large and bulky, which can lead to overfilling, spills, and sections that weren’t fully saturated by detergent.       

If you choose to care for down and fiberfill items at home, we recommend the following:

1. Follow the instructions on the care label.  Keep in mind that these items might take a longtime to air dry.  If the care label indicates that it is safe, tumble dry keeping the temperature below 140 °F (medium heat) to prevent shrinking.
2. Always clean the item and repair any tears, snags, or broken fasteners before storing it away for the season. 
3. Never put it away before it is completely dry; doing so will lead to mold and mildew issues. 
4. Store in a cool, dry, dark space that isn’t subject to extreme temperature changes. 
5. Finally, don’t compress the item or place it in plastic bags while in storage.

Of course, A Cleaner World is always available to answer any questions about down and fiberfill garments, comforters, and sleeping bags, or any garment for that matter.  Simply call or stop by one of our locations.  We are always here to help.