Blot a fresh spill with a white cloth, rinse it with cold water and treat what remains with a little washing-up liquid. Heat and hard rubbing tend to set a stain. This guide takes twelve everyday stains one at a time.
Most of what home first aid needs is under the kitchen sink: white cloths or kitchen paper, washing-up liquid and white vinegar. The washing-up liquid mix below is a few drops in a mug of cold water, and the white vinegar mix is one part white vinegar to two parts cold water. Anything stronger than plain water goes on a hidden patch first, such as the inside of a seam or the carpet under the sofa. Viscose, silk, sisal, seagrass and jute rugs can brown or shrink with plain water: blot those only, with a dry white cloth, and ring us before trying anything else.
Coffee stains
Coffee carries tannins, and a milky coffee adds protein; hot water sets both. Press a folded white cloth onto the spill straight away and turn it to a dry side each time it darkens, working from the edge of the mark towards the middle so the ring does not grow.
On a shirt, run the cold tap through the back of the stain, work in a drop of washing-up liquid and rinse. Check the mark before anything goes in the dryer. On carpet, dab on the washing-up liquid mix, blot, then rinse with a splash of plain cold water and blot again. A brown ring still showing on a pale carpet a day later is the point to book a carpet clean.
Tea stains
Tea is another tannin stain, and a mug knocked over on the arm of a sofa can soak right through to the filling. Blot hard with kitchen paper until nothing more comes up.
Rinse washable fabric cold from the back, then soak it for half an hour in cold water with a squeeze of washing-up liquid. A yellow shadow left on white cotton often fades with the white vinegar mix, rinsed out afterwards. On a carpet, use the washing-up liquid mix sparingly: a soaked backing wicks the stain back up as it dries, and the mark reappears the next morning. A tea ring on a sofa cushion is hard to rinse well at home, and it is a job for an upholstery clean.
Red wine stains
Red wine is the spill people panic about, and panic means rubbing. Press a white cloth on it instead. Dab a little cold water onto the mark to thin it, blot again and repeat until the cloth comes away pale pink.
Table linen and clothes go under the cold tap from the back, then get washing-up liquid worked in and a second rinse before the wash. On carpet, follow the blotting with the washing-up liquid mix; if colour still shows, try the white vinegar mix after testing it under a chair. Never put bleach on a carpet or a sofa. It strips the dye for good. If pink still shows once the carpet is dry, book a carpet clean and say it was wine.
Blackcurrant juice stains
Blackcurrant juice is deeply coloured, so a spilt beaker can leave a purple mark long after the sugar has rinsed out. Blot up the puddle, then keep adding small amounts of cold water and blotting until the cloth stops picking up colour.
School shirts and bibs go under the cold tap, then into a cold soak with washing-up liquid before a normal wash. On carpet, the vinegar mix can help a fresh spill, but only after a patch test, as some carpet dyes move with acid. Colour-stripping stain sprays can leave a bleached halo on synthetic carpets. If a purple shadow stays, book a carpet clean and say it was blackcurrant. Dye stains can be permanent, and the cleaner will tell you on the day what is likely to lift.
Ketchup stains
Ketchup sits on top before it sinks in, so take off the excess first with a spoon or the back of a blunt knife, lifting towards the centre of the blob.
On a shirt, run cold water through the back of the fabric, rub in a drop of washing-up liquid with a fingertip and leave it ten minutes before rinsing. Dry it on a rack until you are sure the orange tint has gone, because a dryer fixes any trace left behind. On a carpet, blot the washing-up liquid mix on, rinse with a little cold water, then press folded kitchen paper on the spot under a heavy book. Sauce on a pale fabric sofa is worth a call: a two-seat sofa is £57 to clean, and £67 is the smallest booking for a visit on its own.
Grease and oil stains
Cooking oil, butter and bike chain grease spread along the fibres and catch dirt as they go. Leave the water out at first. Blot the surface oil with kitchen paper, pressing and lifting with clean sheets until they come away dry.
Washing-up liquid is made to cut grease. On clothes, work a few drops into the dry stain, leave it ten minutes, then rinse and wash at the warmest temperature the care label allows. On carpet, dab on the washing-up liquid mix, blot, rinse lightly and blot again. A patch that turns grey a week later still has oil in it. Leave white spirit and other solvents alone; they can soften synthetic fibres and lift dye. The dark band that builds up on a sofa arm from hands and hair is an upholstery job.
Chewing gum
Gum is the one stain where cold does the work. Hold a freezer bag of ice cubes on it until it goes hard and brittle, then chip it off with a blunt knife or a spoon. Warm gum just stretches.
A small garment can go in the freezer for an hour instead. Once the lump is off, a grey smear usually remains; work a drop of washing-up liquid into it and wash as normal. On carpet, re-freeze and chip away a little at a time; tugging soft gum pulls tufts loose. Skip the old tricks with an iron or peanut butter. Heat pushes melted gum deeper, and oil leaves a grease stain of its own. Gum trodden into a stair carpet over months is hard to shift at home, so mention it when you book a carpet clean.
Milk stains
Milk is protein, and protein cooks onto fibres in hot water, so use cold water only. It also sinks through a carpet into the underlay and can turn sour as it dries. Blot hard, then again with fresh kitchen paper; the more you lift in the first few minutes, the less is left to sour.
Rinse clothes under the cold tap and soak them in cold water with a little washing-up liquid before washing. On carpet, dab on the washing-up liquid mix, then rinse with plain cold water two or three times, blotting in between, since leftover soap causes trouble too. Open a window so the patch dries quickly. A sour smell days after a big spill usually means the milk reached the underlay. Book a carpet clean and say it was milk; a smell from deep in the backing does not always lift.
Fizzy drink stains
Cola and orange fizzy drinks carry sugar as well as colouring. The colour shows at once. The sugar shows later as a tacky patch that collects dirt and turns grey.
On clothes, rinse cold and wash as normal; a cola mark that survives can take a dab of the white vinegar mix and a second wash. On carpet, blot the spill, dab on the washing-up liquid mix, then rinse with small amounts of plain water until the spot no longer feels sticky once dry. A party can leave several of these across a living room, and an after party clean deals with the glasses, bottles and sticky hard floors. Drink stains on carpet or a sofa are booked as a carpet or upholstery clean alongside it.
Nail polish stains
Nail polish dries to a hard film in minutes, so the first job is to stop it spreading. Lift wet polish with the edge of a card and blot what is left with kitchen paper, pressing straight down. Do not wipe sideways.
Nail polish remover is a solvent. It can strip dye and it dissolves acetate and some other synthetic fibres, so never pour it onto a carpet, a rug or a sofa. On clothes, scrape off what has set, keep nail polish remover away from the fabric and take the garment to a dry cleaner, saying it is nail polish. Bright polish on a pale carpet is best left for a carpet clean; the cleaner will say before starting whether it is likely to lift.
Hair dye stains
Hair dye is made to fix colour for good, which makes it the hardest stain on this list. Before dyeing at home, put old towels over the floor and the chair and keep a bowl of cold water nearby. If dye lands where it should not, blot it that minute.
On clothes, flush the spot with cold water from the back, work in washing-up liquid and rinse, and keep going while colour still runs out. On carpet, dab the washing-up liquid mix on, blot, then try the white vinegar mix after a patch test. Bleach and colour removers leave a pale blotch on carpets and upholstery, so keep them well away. Many hair dye marks are permanent. If one stays on a carpet, ring us and say what it is; a carpet inspection costs £22 if you would like someone to look first.
Lipstick stains
Lipstick is wax and oil carrying a strong pigment; rubbing smears it and warmth melts it in. Scrape off what you can with a blunt knife, lifting upwards, then press kitchen paper on the mark to take up some of the oil.
On clothes, work a drop of washing-up liquid into the stain from the back, leave it a few minutes, rinse in cold water and repeat before washing. Keep the garment away from the dryer and the iron until the mark has gone. On a carpet or a cushion cover, dab on the washing-up liquid mix and blot. Keep methylated spirit and other solvents off the sofa altogether; they can lift the dye along with the lipstick. A smear on a pale sofa arm that still shows after two goes at home is one for an upholstery clean.
Questions about stain removal
How do I patch test a cleaning mix?
Choose a spot nobody sees, such as the inside of a hem or the underside of a sofa cushion. Dab a little of the mix on with a white cloth, wait ten minutes and blot. If colour shows on the cloth, or the fibres look rough or faded, do not use that mix anywhere on the item.
Will a professional carpet clean shift an old stain?
A carpet clean uses hot water extraction with portable machines, room by room. Old drink marks usually lighten; dye stains such as blackcurrant or hair dye can be permanent, and the cleaner will say on the day what is likely to come out. A bedroom carpet is £36 and a living room £43, with £67 as the smallest booking for a visit on its own.
What should I tell the office about a stain?
Say what was spilt, when, and what has been tried on it, including any shop-bought spray. Products left in a carpet change how a stain reacts.
When should I stop treating a stain myself?
Stop when the mark has not changed after two or three rounds of blotting, or when colour from the carpet itself starts showing on your cloth. Scrubbing past that point mostly wears the fibres.