The Hygiene Items You Already Have In The Bathroom That'll Make Paint Cleanup A Breeze

Painting is usually a more involved project than we give it credit for. Not only does it require you to learn how to hold cumbersome paint brushes and properly roll rollers, but it also requires a lot of prep work before you even begin. It's important to cover your furniture and flooring with tarps, but even the most meticulous of preppers can miss a spot, allowing a rogue paint drip to sneak through. While paint is simple enough to clean up when it's fresh and still wet, sometimes you don't notice where it's splattering, revealing the dried marks only after the project has been wrapped and the tarps removed. 

If this has happened to you, don't worry. Your flooring isn't irrevocably ruined. All you need is a wipe from the bathroom to help clean up your mistakes. Facial wipes can double as paper towels saturated with cleaning solutions — simply grab one from your bathroom stash, and watch the paint melt away. Here's how.

There are all sorts of facial wipes on the market, and each has different formulations. For example, baby wipes are formulated with the gentlest of cleansers to prevent over-drying babies' sensitive skin. Makeup removers contain heavier oils to help strip away long-lasting makeup, and acne facial wipes contain harsher chemicals, such as alcohol, to dry out oily skin. If you want to remove paint from your floors, you want to grab acne facial wipes. 

Grab a moist wipe from the pack and use it to scrub at the splattered paint. If it's latex paint, it should immediately begin to dissolve. That's because the alcohol in the wipe will help to break down the paint compounds, leaving behind clean planks or tiles. Just make sure to spot-test the wipe on your flooring first to see how it will interact with the material. While it shouldn't be a problem on wood or ceramic, the alcohol can eat away natural stone.

Are you now wondering if your acne wipes are too strong if they can strip paint? Don't be nervous; it all has to do with how alcohol affects latex paint. Traditionally, rubbing alcohol is known to melt away latex, even when it has dried. All you need to do is apply it onto the surface for a few minutes and then scrape the paint away. Since acne wipes usually contain alcohol, it's a good tool to use in a pinch. 

However, it doesn't produce the same effect on oil-based paints. That's because the oils used to make the formula are naturally resistant to the alcohol, resulting in them staying firmly on the surface. Instead, you will likely need to dampen the paint with water and then gently scratch it off the floor with a credit card. Luckily, latex-based paint is the more popular choice since it's easier to use and clean up, making it more widely available than oil. So if you're painting your room over the weekend, chances are you picked up latex paint at the hardware store, making this hack great to keep in your back pocket. You'll never have to worry about a botched paint job again.