Removing nail polish from carpet and clothing with bug spray - Mom APPROVED!

I was at the point this morning when I was this close to throwing my hands up and giving one - or possibly - both of my kids back.  I kid...I kid (well, kinda, sorta, maybe).   I should have known something was seriously wrong when my 4 year old daughter was suspiciously quiet in her room for a good 10 minutes.  I didn't think much of it until she asked if I wanted my nails painted.  We were trying to get out the door so I said "no...but did you paint yours because it smells like nail polish." She innocently said "No, but I spilled a little and I cleaned it up." I turned around to little drips of what was now smeared blue nail polish all over the hardwood floor in her room - oh and a half-used roll of toilet paper with the other half crumbled up in little wads with some blue here and there.

Between my gritted teeth I thanked her for trying to clean up the mess she made and told her this kinda thing was better to just let mommy handle.  So as I'm using my blunt finger nails to try to scrape the now-dried nail polish off the hardwood, I turn around to see my 2 year old son basically pouring the entire rest of the bottle all over my daughters comforter and area rug.  This is the point when I'm convinced #3 is NO.WHERE.in.my.future. EVER.

I knew there was no way I would get the nail polish off the comforter and rug so I immediately threw them in the wash thinking maybe by some act of God it would at least lighten the stain. Yeah, um...no. Apparently the nail polish remover gods were not exactly on Team Melissa today.

Hours later, as my son was napping I decided to try to tackle the blue polish.  I had left both things in the washer wet knowing drying them would make it even more difficult to remove the nail polish.  I quickly looked up different methods for removing nail polish from clothing and carpet and came across bug spray.  Ok....I was desperate and I had a bottle of aerosol bug spray on hand so I tried it.

I held the can only about an inch away from the stain and sprayed a good amount of the bug spray on the nail polish stain. I let it sit on there for about 30 seconds and then used an old tooth brush and white rag to first blot it than rub the sh*t out of  the stain.  Look at my rag - this is just after the blot.

 
Whodathunk this would actually work?  I kept repeating this over and over and over on the carpet.   Because the rug is pretty shaggy it took awhile, but I finally started to see the stain disappearing.  Obviously it's not perfect, but it's much better than it was. I'm interested to see what it will look like when it comes out of the wash after being treated with the bug spray.  I may end up repeating on the rug...

This is how I ended up sticking it back in the washer hoping the gods would be with me this time..miraculously they were.  The big blue blotch was completely gone, but the part you see above was mostly still there.   I worked on it a little while longer and hten put it back in the washer with a fresh coat of bug spray.  This time, I put it in the dryer too and this is how it came out!  Can you believe it?

 The blue nail polish was much easier to remove from the bed spread - just look at this before and after!

  

I am shocked....I am also pretty sure A) I will not need to work out my biceps for a good week now and B) my daughter will NEVER have another bug in her room again.

And for all those who are going to gripe about putting bug spray chemicals and whatever else on nail polish and all over my kids bedding....the items are now back in the washer.  I'm sure she'll be fine - if nothing else the mosquitos will never bother her again.

So you're welcome..that's how to remove nail polish from clothes and carpet when your little monsters decide to go all Jackson Pollock on you.