My superhero daughter recently got yellow gum on her Wonder Woman super suit. Lest you think me a negligent parent, the piece of gum was the size of a dime, so it would not bother her system if it ended up in her stomach, and it was an earned privilege that she has handled well in the past. (By the way, it is amazing the surface area gum can cover when stretched out. Crazy!)This gum problem might not immediately strike you as cause for alarm, but you’ve got to know, Dear Reader, that in the world of super suits, rockin’ girl suits are hard to come by, particularly ones that have matching boots, a cape and belt to go along with the dress.  This was a super emergency situation.

I left the gum to dry out, thinking that I could flake it off once the gooey-ness had deteriorated. But I must have been dealing with long-lasting ingredients, because even after a couple days, the stuff did not dry up. In keeping with my dry=better theory, I decided not to try and freeze it off with an ice cube. I had to pull out the big guns.

Quite a while ago, a good friend of mine told me about a cure-all find of hers. It had taken Sharpie Marker off the ceiling of her car, if that’s any clue as to the power of this stuff, all while managing NOT to leave a greasy or discolored mark in its place. It was difficult to find at the stores that I frequent, so when I came across some I went ahead and bought it in a preemptive moment of wisdom.

I dug this stuff out, squirted it on the supersuit (both the blue velvety material and the red faux lamè) and then brushed at it with a rag. Unbelievably, the gum came right off! It rolled into little balls or wads and came up easily. I threw the supersuit into the wash, and it now has resumed its proper place in our suit rotation.

If you’ve got a seemingly inconquerable mess, stain or goop problem on your list of things to handle, maybe this stuff will make your life a little easier. Good luck!

This squirty stuff is worth any extra trip to the store.