Frogz:
I didn't get your private message because I recently reloaded Windows XP on my computer, and I forgot to reset my options to allow pop-ups from this site. My computer interpreted your PM as a pop-up and killed it. Please PM again if the following doesn't answer all your questions.
Both Goof Off and Goo Gone are petroleum distillates, just like naptha, mineral spirits, gasoline, aviation fuel, and utimately, even asphalt. They're all the result of distilling crude oil.
The difference between Goof Off (and it's twin brother, Goo Gone) and mineral spirits is that Goof Off contains some higher fractions, that don't evaporate, and leave a residue behind. Water won't remove that residue, but mineral spirits will.
Typically, mineral spirits and paint thinner are the same thing. However, paint thinner MIGHT also contain some other chemicals to allow the paint to spread smoother and self level better. So, try to get a bottle of MINERAL SPIRITS (instead of paint thinner) which won't contain anything other than the relatively low carbon number petroleum distillates which all evaporate without leaving any residue.
Also, petroleum distillates consists primarily of two different kinds of hydrocarbon molecules; aliphatic and aromatic. The aliphatic hydrocarbons are the hydrocarbons that don't have any "benzene rings" in them. They may be branched, but they don't have any branches that close on themselves to make a six sided hexagonal benzene ring. All of the hydrocarbons in the following diagram are all aliphatic hydrocarbons:
Typically, these aliphatic hydrocarbons have very little odor associated with them. You can't smell the butane coming out of a butane lighter for example. The only one that has any smell at all to it is propane, and if you can smell propane, it's because the breath you inhaled had a LOT of propane in it.
The hydrocarbons that smell are typically the aromatic hydrocarbons, and these typically have a cyclic structure, like benzene, toluene, naphthalene, etc. When you inhale these hydrocarbons, you often get a "light headed" feeling that gives some people headaches. Propane won't make you feel light headed, but toluene, which is the primary constituent of lacquer thinner, will make you feel uncomfortable and light headed like you're almost dizzy.
In the above diagram, naphthalene is what moth balls are made of, and they smell to high heaven. Moth balls actually work by "sublimating" (which means evaporating from a solid directly to a gas without becoming a liquid first), and thereby filling the air of the space they're in with naphthalene gas, which will kill just about anything given a strong enough concentration and sufficient time.
You can buy "low odor" mineral spirits which is simply where they remove the aromatic hydrocarbons from the mineral spirits. The remaining aliphatic hydrocarbons will still remove the Goof Off residue on your baseboard, but won't smell nearly as much as regular mineral spirits (which will still contain some aromatics).
If you can't find low-odor mineral spirits at your local hardware store, contact any of the oil companies bulk stations in and around your city. They might just pour off a small bottle full for you. Low odor mineral spirits are only slightly more expensive than standard mineral spirits.
Typically, MOST of the fractions in both low odor and standard mineral spirits should evaporate from your baseboard within a couple of hours. However, the heaviest ends like C12 to C16 (meaning 12 to `16 carbon atoms in them) might take two or three days. Rest assured that anything that comes in a container marked "Mineral Spirits" will eventually evaporate into the air, leaving no residue behind. And that's true whether it's low odor mineral spirits or not. The only reason it might take longer than a few days is because some of it will be absorbed into the wood, and therefore have a harder time getting out of that wood than if it were on an impermeable surface like metal, glass or plastic.
The residue from the Goof Off will not evaporate and will need to be cleaned off.
Hope this answers your question.