At some point in your life you’ve likely seen the column “Hints from Heloise.” These “lifestyle” hints (now being penned by a second generation) are still one of the most widely syndicated newspaper columns.
But I wonder if Heloise ever answered this question, posted recently on the Women in Trucking Facebook group:
How do you get fifth wheel grease out of your clothes?
I thought I’d share some of the ideas, which should be of help to all truckers, not just women drivers:
Mean Green….spray on grease and add a little Tide to it. Scrub it in the spot lightly and launder.
Soak it in a bucket of warm water to loosen the stain then treat with Dawn on both sides of the fabric, rub in to the stain & let sit about 15 minutes. Put clean warm water in the bucket & let soak again. Repeat until stain is gone. If the stain is still lightly there use Fels Naptha Soap, rub into stain & launder. Fels Naptha is a great stain treater, it’s a bar of soap found in the laundry aisle by the stain treaters.
Go to Dollar Tree and get a spray bottle of Awesome Cleaner…this stuff is great…you may need to scrub with a toothbrush
I dumped some baking soda into a dish, added enough vinegar to make a paste. Use a wet sponge and work the paste into the stain using a circular motion. Once you have worked that in, put some Dawn dish soap on the sponge and work that in. Launder.
Electrical contact spray….electricians use it in electronic boxes for corrosion. …just spray it on.
Brake cleaner fluid
Dawn dish soap and sugar
Dawn, WD-40 and Goop
Plus a few suggestions to prevent getting greasy in the first place:
Use a 5th wheel puller
One of the reasons I always had a “grease ” shirt handy to put on if messing with the truck … especially if I was greasing it … men’s dept at Salvation Army … Goodwill or yard sales
I saw an old Roadway driver wearing a shop apron to hook up.
And for those pessimists:
Drop box at Goodwill, LOL
Scissors…lol. They end up being rags
A credit card and a shopping spree. It’s tax deductible.