If you or someone in your household works on cars, you may need to know how to wash spilled gasoline out of your clothes. You also might spill gasoline on your clothes at the pump when you are filling up your car. The strong odor of gasoline is toxic and the harsh gas can destroy your clothes. This is how to wash spilled gasoline out of your clothes at home:

Blot the gasoline: Use a clean rag to blot the gasoline off the clothing. This may not always be possible, like if you spill gas on your clothes while filling up your vehicle, but if you can, take a clean rag, napkin or paper towel and blot any gas that you can off your clothing.

Apply baking soda: Grab some baking soda, and apply it liberally to the stain. Cover the stain totally and use a towel to pat it down on the clothing. The baking soda will get rid of a lot of the smell as well as drying up as much of the gas as possible. Let the baking soda sit on the clothing for about five minutes then brush it off into a bag to dispose of it.

Soak the clothing: The next step is a soak for the clothes. In a sink or in a washtub, mix up a soak that is equal parts vinegar and hot water. Vinegar will start breaking down the gasoline immediately without ruining the fibers of your clothing. The water should be as hot as you can make it. Let the clothing soak in the vinegar and hot water for at least half an hour. If you have spilled a lot of gasoline on your clothes, you should let them soak for an hour.

Wash the clothing: You can wash the gas stained clothes in the washer, but make sure you do not wash anything else with the gas stained clothes. Put them in the washer by themselves with the machine on a delicate cycle and with hot water. Use a natural laundry detergent to clean the clothes. Chemical detergents can damage the clothes and detergents with fragrances will just make the clothes smell worse. A natural detergent will continue the work that the vinegar started and break down the stain without using chemicals. Wash the clothing twice if necessary. Then run the washer through a cycle of hot water with nothing in the machine to clean it.

Never put your gas stained clothing in the dryer or you could be risking the dryer catching on fire. Line dry the clothing.

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