Okay, so, picture this: I’m chilling, enjoying my tea, and BAM! I spill it all over my favorite white shirt. I almost cried, seriously, this shirt is like, my go-to for everything. It was a total mess. I needed to do something real quick before that stain set in for good.

First things first, I grabbed some paper towels and blotted at the stain. No rubbing, just blotting. I read somewhere a long time ago that rubbing just makes it worse, spreading the stain around and whatnot. I just kept blotting until no more tea was coming off on the towels.

The First Try

Then, I remembered this article about using toothpaste. I was like, “No way!” But I was desperate, so I gave it a shot. I squeezed a little bit of regular white toothpaste onto the stain and gently worked it in with an old toothbrush. I let it sit for a bit, then rinsed it out. It did take some of the stain away, but you could still totally see it. Ugh.

The Second Try

Next up, I went to the cleaning closet and grabbed bleach. It said that I should mix it with water. I mixed it and dabbed the mixture onto the stain with a clean cloth. Waited like ten minutes, then I threw the shirt in the wash. Crossed my fingers, said a little prayer, and hit start.

While it was washing, I was pacing around, feeling all anxious. When the cycle finished, I practically sprinted to the machine. Pulled out the shirt, and… it was mostly gone! You could still see a faint outline if you looked really close, but it was way better than before.

The Final Wash

I figured one more round of bleach might do the trick. I did the whole process again, using a bit more bleach this time. And guess what? After another wash, that stain was gone, I mean, totally gone. My shirt was saved! I was so excited.

• Blot the stain first, don’t rub.
• Toothpaste might work a little, but not all the way.
• Diluted bleach did most of the job.
• It might take more than one try to get it completely out.

So yeah, that’s my story of how I got a tea stain out of my white shirt. It was a bit of a roller coaster, but we got there in the end!