Removing Drink Stains

Stains start out as spills, and often never become stains if cleaned up right away, so the key to removing drink stains from carpet is to act quickly. Get out the wet/dry shop-vac and suck up that spill. Otherwise grab a towel - preferably a clean white one, and mop it up. Then do the following...

Rinse the area with water, using a spray bottle and blotting up the water between applications. Mix a tablespoon of clear ammonia (not the colored ones) in a cup of water and spray this on the spot to neutralize odors and clean the stain. Spray lightly repeatedly and blot it up each time using that wet/dry vacuum cleaner or white paper towels or a a clean white cotton cloth. Do not soak the carpet so heavily that the solution reaches the carpet backing, or damage could result.

Make a cleaning solution from a few drops of Dawn or Joy dish washing detergent and a cup of warm water. Apply this several times, blotting it up each time. Gently work it in, but don't rub hard.

Rinse with plain water several times, again extracting the moisture each time. Get all traces of the detergent out or it can attract dirt.

Dry with paper towels (white ones only) or a clean white cloth. One of the better methods is to put a stack of paper towels over the spot and weight them down with a heavy pan or books (put plastic in between so the books don't get wet). Replace the paper towels as they get saturated, and finish with a fan blowing on the spot for a few hours.

Whether removing drink stains from carpet is possible depends on the type of drink spilled (some have colorings that really stain), and how old the stain is. The procedures here should get most stains out.