I know a lot of people who are freaked out by the horror movie, The Ring. Me, I’m not into scary films. I’ve never quite understood why some people find being in a state of anxiety is a form of entertainment (same reason why I never cared for ER either). Anyway, the rings that really bug me are the ones left behind from glasses on wood furniture.
The horror! Like Larry David said in a recent episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, I have to ask people who do this, “Do you respect wood?”
If you recently had someone in your home who does not respect wood, I have a simple way to remove water ring stains from wood tables. This solution, however, only works on naturally stained and waxed furniture, and because results may vary, use these techniques at your own risk:
1. Ensure the area around the ring is dry. If it’s a new stain (just happened), press paper towel into the ring stain for a few hours (no one is expecting you to stand there and do it – place a book over the paper towel for pressure).
2. Get full fat mayonnaise (no impostor stuff!) and generously smear the affected area with it. Take a clean paper towel and rub the mayonnaise into the stain. Pop a little more mayo onto the area and let it rest.
3. Let the mayonnaise sit on the stain overnight or for about six hours.
4. Using another paper towel, clean away the mayo. The stain should be gone!
You may find that the area doesn’t have the same lustre as the rest of the table or wood. If this is the case, you might want to try another housewife tip:
1. Combine equal parts of non-gel white toothpaste and baking soda. Smear them together into a paste.
2. Polish the wood with the paste using a clean cloth and a circular motion.
3. Wipe the mixture off and apply some furniture polish (only if your furniture uses polish!).
All this may come in handy if you expect a house full of New Years Eve revelers depositing their sweaty drink glasses around your house tonight!
Good Mayo tip: out West, it’s Best Foods Mayo that’s the equivalent of Hellmann’s. It works much of the time, and even when it’s not a perfect fix, the rings are less obvious than before. It makes me just as mad when people set their drinks on my (always) quality magazines & curl them up. Any fix for that?? Short of physical violence?