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Step 1
For the fresh stain, act quickly! Blot spot to remove as much of stain as possible. Better yet, use a shop vac to suck up the spill. Now flush spot with water and repeat with shop vac (or blot with white cloth). Water on fresh spills is the perfect remover and it won't hurt your carpet. Again, act quickly before your stain has a chance to dry or set.
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Step 2
For the set stain, start with the easiest method first, again water. Fill a spray bottle and heavily mist your stained area with warm water. Next, get a white soft cloth and place over the stain. Blot the area as much as possible to remove the stain out of the carpet. Re-spray with warm water and place a new cloth on area and then place something heavy (or stand) on the area. This will bring as much of the stain as possible into the towel. (Again if you've got a shop vac, use it.).
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Step 3
If the stain remains, repeat action but this time use a good carpet stain remover instead of water. Spray area with stain remover. Next, using a soft brush, agitate the area. This will help to break any bond the substance has to the carpet. Blot with soft cloth. Repeat as needed. After, spray area with warm water only, then place a new cloth over the area along with some weight to bring out the rest of the stain into the cloth.
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Step 4
If the last two steps didn't work, your stain has bonded tightly to the carpet fiber. This is when it warrants renting a steam cleaner to attempt to remove the stain. You need some heat and steam to break the bond. If the steam cleaner doesn't work there may not be any other recourse. At this point you can call professional cleaners for help or accept the fact there may be nothing else you can do.
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Step 5
Here are some additional tips I've learn along the way to remove specific stains:
Club soda is a great emergency stain remover. Act fast, pour club soda on spot and blot with cloth. It's the carbonation in the soda that brings up the stain to be blotted.
Red Wine - Use white wine on spot. Apply from the outside rim moving towards the center (to prevent stain from spreading). It does the trick.
Grease - Original blue Dawn dish washing detergent (a teaspoon in a cup of water) makes a decent grease stain remover for your carpet. Apply Dawn-water cleaner to a white cloth and work it into the spot gently. Work from the outside towards the center. Blot the stain after a few minutes, then re-apply as needed to remove.
Blood stains on carpet will come out if you get to them quickly. Heat will set the stain, so use only cold water alone or with solvent.
Marker - Dampen cloth with rubbing alcohol and blot to absorb marker.
