Lattes, sodas, orange juice — oh, my! Most likely none of us will be able to drink or eat without the occasional spill onto our clothing. Keep these solutions at the ready in your back pocket.

First, attack the stain as soon as possible. If you're out of the house, you can use one of those stain-remover pens. Just make sure that you wash the item that night — don't toss it into your hamper. Otherwise, the bleach from the pen could discolor your clothing. If you're at home, apply stain remover to the item and handwash or wash (and find a new outfit to wear!). Moving quickly like this should do the trick for ridding clothes of most beverage and food stains.

For more difficult stains, try the following:

For oil or grease stains. Who remembers to wear an apron when they cook? The result is that your clothes get frustrating little oil spots. Get them out with this homemade oil remover that Queen of Clean Linda Cobbs swears by: Mix together 8 tablespoons warm water, 1 tablespoon any liquid dish soap, and 1 tablespoon glycerin (find this product in the hand cream section of a drugstore). Pour into a squirt bottle, keep it in your laundry room, and shake before using. Wash item after spraying.

For bloodstains: Pour a bit of 3-percent hydrogen peroxide through it and wash as usual.

For pen ink stains: Blot with a wet cloth and then spray the spot with hairspray and continue to blot. When you can't blot any more ink out, rub a little liquid laundry detergent into the spot and then wash in cold water. Stain still there? Repeat the hairspray step once more and wash.

For a dried stain: Didn't notice a stain on a garment until after you pulled it out of the dryer? These can be the toughest stains to get out. Your best chance is to first saturate the stain with a bit of a degreaser home cleaning product. Then rub with a toothbrush on the inside and outside of the stain. Rinse, spray again, and let set for 15 to 30 minutes.