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But you do move like a ninja to clean them up quickly

If we believed everything we saw in the movies, we’d purposely be spilling our hazardous chemicals to become a super human, or a zombie, or a joker, or even a turtle.

How much fun would that be? The kids arrive home from school wondering what form they’d find you in today. Will you be waiting with a snack, or will you be the Hulk, mad as hell that beds weren’t made that morning?

But that’s not reality.

Hazardous spills in our homes can be severe and cause nasty injuries. The good news is there are easy steps you can take to contain dangerous spills.

Here are the top 3 hazardous spills and how to fix them

  • Cooking oil

If you have one mission in life, make it that you never spill cooking oil in your kitchen. Whether it’s knocking over an open bottle, dropping your deep fryer, or knocking a pan off the stove, the result is the same: a greasy liquid pond slowly spreading across your kitchen floor and heading to the great beyond under your cupboards. And broken glass is often added to the pond, making you shake your head and wonder what to do first.

To clean up: If you have glass in the spill, put on shoes (safety first as you don’t want to add blood to the mix), and use tongs to pick up the glass. Wrap up the glass in a newspaper for disposal. Then cover the oil with an absorbent material such as kitty litter, corn starch, baking soda, salt or sand. Let it soak for 15 minutes before using paper towel to clean it up. Finally, wipe the floor with slices of bread (seriously) or paper towels to remove the remaining oil residue.

  • Household cleaners

Does this sound familiar? You’ve left the open bottle of cleaner next to you as you’re scrubbing out the bath, the shower, the basin, the toilet, the tiles. The next thing you know, you’ve bumped it, and you’ve got a river of cleaner crossing your floor. Be careful: abrasive cleaners often have toxic fumes that may cause you to pass out when in confined spaces like toilets. They can also irritate your skin and cause rashes.

To clean up: Wear thick rubber gloves, mop up the excess abrasive cleaner with paper towel, and open the window for fresh air.

  • Spilt paint isn’t pretty

When you’ve finally found the time and mutually chosen a colour you all like, (why do kids always want the craziest colours?) painting a room can be so much fun. Old rooms spring to life, and DIY projects can become family fun days. Until the paint tin gets knocked over that is. Then it turns to panic and yelling – ‘get the cat out of here’, ‘don’t step in it’, ‘get some rags’. The great news is, you can fix paint spills if you act quickly.

To clean up: Scoop up as much of the paint as you can. Acrylic paints can be washed off carpet, tiles and wood with water and detergent (blot away the paint with a sponge). Oil-based paints take more effort to clean up. Start by thinning the paint, then blot it, rinse with water and allow to dry.

But the most hazardous household spill is…

The beloved red wine glass. Grown women come to tears, not only for the loss of their beloved wine but for the stain it’s known to leave. Usually sitting in disbelief for a few seconds while swear words get repeated over and over, it’s important you snap out of it and take action quickly. Especially if the spill is on your carpet. If you don’t get it out, your loungeroom carpet will end up looking like a crime scene.

To clean up: Mix ¼ teaspoon of liquid dishwashing detergent with 4 cups of lukewarm water. Pour a small amount onto the stained carpet. Work the solution into the stain using a gentle blotting motion, and working from the outer rim of the stain to the middle (to avoid spreading it further). Then use water and a clean cloth to blot the spill, and it should remove the rest of the stain. Another method is to sprinkle salt over the spill, then add warm water while blotting the stain.

Do you have any other tips for cleaning up awful spills? Share with us in the comments.

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  • i would use an old blanket or bed sheet on the carpet before painting. i think most painters would do that to avoid spilling.
    my dog peed on the carpet, it wasnt a good smell…i got a blanket to soak up the wee then i put bicarb soda over the carpet. left it for 2 days, vaccuumed it up, then i sprinkled more bicarb one more time overnight and vac. the carpet doesnt smell and the bicarb absorbs the wee.

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  • Since when does water remove paint? They don’t what to use on all types of paints. If it won’t clean off paint brushes completely with water I can’t see it being removed from carpet easily. You need thinners to clean pain brushes and other things tools it goes onto.

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  • Have always used salt on red wine stains and it’s great for tea stains on a favourite tablecloth too.

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  • Simple solution to red wine stains. Switch to white wine ;)

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  • Don’t know if I am in a mood but I found this all ho humm. They did not even bother to tell you how to dilute/thin the oil based paint.

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  • These are all fantastic tips. I hope I never need them, but they’re great and will be most helpful if I do.

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  • Very helpful tips, thanks for sharing.

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  • I have used baking soda to soak up a big spill, works well and neutralises odour as well.

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  • Good to know about the salt or kitty litter for cooking oil!

    Can anyone tell me though if white wine works for helping remove the red wine stain? I’ve heard that it’s meant to work, but have no experience with it.

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  • Great tips ! Sand iver oil is indeed what we do and also yse sand or bicarb over vomit. For red wine salt works good ibdeed and also bicarb of soda. When you have a white or light creme coloured carpet, diluted hydrogen peroxide works also well.

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  • All good tips,we pour salt over red wine and let it sit then wipe away!

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