Travel Stain Remover

If you're the type who spills things on your shirt on a regular basis, you might want to pack this Oxi Clean travel size stain remover.

When I was backpacking around the world for years on end, I didn't care too much about how my clothes look. First, buying new stuff was so cheap in a place like Bangkok or Delhi that it didn't cost much to switch out the wardrobe every few months. Plus when you had someone else do your laundry, they usually whacked the stains out of the travel clothes by say, beating them on a rock.

When you're on a regular vacation though, or traveling on business, a glob of goo on that nice blouse or tie can be a bummer. So I've been testing out this Oxi Clean Spray-a-Way job to see if it would be worth taking along. It's only the size of a breath freshener spray and weighs about as much, so it passes the small and light test. It's also pretty cheap: list price of $4.99 or two for $6.99.

The key thing is, does it work? I have to say I'm impressed. I'm not sure what's in the stuff, and probably don't want to know, but it does the job. During a particularly slovenly two weeks, I managed to subject shirts to 1) barbeque sauce, 2) strawberry juice, and 3) blood. (I can explain officer--really!) The stain remover came through on all of them with flying colors. It got a good bit of it out on contact, then the rest came out in the wash.

Small, light, cheap, and performs as advertised. Right up my alley.