Spilling something like red wine, coffee, or jam on your carpet can easily send you into a panic. You picture your carpet with that unsightly spot on it forever. Some stains are harder to remove than others, but almost all of them can be faded considerably – if not removed completely – if you go about it in the right way. In addition to using a high-quality carpet stain removing product, follow these tips.

Blot; don't rub.

If there's one mistake that will cause the stain to get worse instead of better, it's rubbing it. When you rub back and forth across carpet fibers, you drive the staining material deeper into them where it will be very tough to remove. Instead of rubbing, blot the stain. Press straight down with a clean, dry cloth or stack of paper towels. Once all of the staining material has been absorbed, you can apply your cleaning product according to package instructions. When it's time to clean the product up, make sure you once again blot instead of rubbing.

Start on the outside, and work your way in.

If you start working on the inside of the stain and work your way out, you'll cause the stain to grow larger. Instead, make sure you're always starting on the outside of the stain and working your way in. Go from outside to inside when spraying on cleaning product, and also when blotting it up.

Soak everything up before applying a cleaner.

Carpet cleaners work by breaking down the spilled, staining materials. The more staining material present, the more carpet cleaner you'll have to apply – and the harder it will be to remove it all. To enhance the effectiveness of your cleaning process, make sure you soak up as much of the spilled material as possible before spraying on the cleaner. Keep blotting with dry towels until you can press down on a towel and no more spilled material is soaked up into it. Only then should you spray on the cleaner.

If one cleaning product does not work, try another one.

Every stain has a different composition. Each cleaning product works best on certain stains, and it's tough to know whether a certain one will work until you try. If you try a product and it does not work, don't give up and assume the stain is impossible to remove. Instead, let the spot dry, and then try removing the stain with a different product. Make sure you're following the instructions on the package; each one must be used a bit differently. For professional help, contact a business such as Sergeant Steam LLC.