What to do if you're still stuck on David Lee Roth

OK, so this is not a new product, but it is new to me. And since I found it, I’m not sure how I ever lived without it—though I’m sure many already know of its miraculous powers. Goo Gone is an oil-based, light-yellow liquid that smells like oranges. Its citric magic removes gum, grease, oil stains, glue, etc.—and it really works. An 8 oz. bottle will run you about $5.

I first needed it when I sat on some tree sap at an outdoor lunch a few months ago, and my sister, an artist, mentioned it to me in an offhand way. By that I mean that she just told me about it, but forgot to mention that it was the ambrosial stain remover from the gods that it is.

Since then, I've used it a number of times to remove seemingly insurmountable stains and goo (hence the name). The other day I used it to remove the sticky residue off the back of the rubber finger rest of my cell phone, which had become unglued and fell off in the Memorial Day heat. Three days earlier, while riding my old three-speed to the This Old House offices, my work pants had gotten stuck in the bike’s greasy chain, leaving oil-and-rust teeth marks on my cuff. Five minutes with Goo Gone and the stains disappeared.

TOH associate editor Keith Pandolfi told me he once used Goo Gone to remove the Van Halen stickers from his stereo system in college. (He later said they were “Bauhaus” stickers, but I’m sticking with the initial story.) It’s amazing really, once you get some: You realize how much goo there is in the world, and how much of it actually needs to be gone.