Best Stain Remover

It's salt.

Yup, regular old salt.

Salt is nice because it's not toxic and it's cheap.

Now, salt won't work if you have a very old, dried in stain, nor would I try salt on anything silk or that isn't colorfast....or probably furniture, carpeting...things that can't get a REAL washing or you'll be spreading salt around everywhere.

But if you have a child who's constantly getting stains on their clothes- especially blood stains- then I recommend salt.

1. Rinse out the area with water the best you can.
2. Pour enough salt on the stain so that you can visibly see the salt.
3. Wait.

Now, salt does take some time, but if you leave it say, overnight, then the stain will be completely gone.

In fact, I found a whole site talking about how to get your laundry cleaner using salt.

There seems to be some contention about exactly how salt works to lift stains.

Some say it's because it works by drawing the moisture from the stain by osmosis (water moving from areas of low solute to high solute).

Others say that it's because it works like a soap:  breaking down the surface tension of the water and allowing water to enter a stain and dilute it...on the atomic level.

I'm not sure which it is, but I would recommend one last tip if you're going to use salt:

Make sure the salt that you use doesn't have sugar in it.  Or you'll be attracting every ant and bug in the house.