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Whether it's salad dressing splashing on your shirt or other people's red wine splashing on your beige sofa, stains are inevitable. Before you say goodbye to your favorite clothes or rearrange your living room to hide ugly spills on the carpet, learn about our stain removal techniques!

We have created the ultimate decontamination guide with tips and tricks to help you remove any stains or smudges. Sweat stains, lipstick stains, ketchup stains? no problem. Although some things (especially wool, silk, and cashmere) require professional cleaning, most stains can be treated with simple methods at home, including soap, lemon juice, vinegar, baking soda, and other stain removers. In some cases, you may also want to use a steam cleaner.

Click on stains to learn how to remove the most common stains on carpets, upholstery, and clothing.

Avocado and Guacamole Stain| Baby Formula Stain| Barbecue Sauce Stain| Beet Stain| Berry Stain| Bicycle Chain Stain| Blood Stain| Blush and Bronze| Candle Wax| Carrot Stain| Cherry Juice| Chocolate Stain| Coca-Cola| Coffee Stain| Color stains on white clothes | Crayons on the wall | Crayon stains on clothes | Eyeliner | Glitter | Grape juice stains | Grass stains | Ink stains | Iron scorch | Ketchup stains | Leather shoes wear | Lipstick | Mascara stains | Mayo stains | milk stains | mud stains | nail polish stains | newsprint stains | oil and oil stains | paint stains | urine (urine) stains | perfume stains | stool stains | red wine stains | silly putty stains | slime stains | soy sauce stains | Spinach stains | suede shoe stains | sunscreen oil stains | sweat stains | tarnish stains | tea stains | ketchup stains | toothpaste stains | tree sap stains | vomit | water stains | white clothes stains | white shoes | purple and red sauce stains

Note: Before DIY, be sure to check the care label on the fabric to make sure the item is washable and to determine how much hot water (if any) it can withstand. Remember, the best way is to deal with stains as soon as possible. It is also important to ensure that the stain disappears completely before heating (for example, washing in hot water or machine drying), because the heat will set the stain and make it more difficult to remove. You may need to repeat the stain removal process one or two times before the stain is completely removed.

Read more about how to remove avocado and guacamole stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove baby formula stains on clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove grill stains from clothing, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove beet stains from clothing, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove berry stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove bicycle chain stains from clothing, upholstery, and carpets.

Read more about how to remove blood stains from clothing, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove blush and bronze stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove candle wax from fabrics and carpets.

Read more about how to remove carrot stains on clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove cherry stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove chocolate stains on clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove Coca-Cola stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove coffee stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove stains on white clothes.

Read more about how to remove crayons from the wall.

Read more about how to remove crayon stains on clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove eyeliner stains from clothing, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove flash.

Read more about how to remove grape juice stains on clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove grass stains.

Read more about how to remove ink stains on clothes, upholstery, carpets and hard surfaces.

Read more about how to remove scorch marks on clothes and carpets.

Read more about how to remove ketchup stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to clean and polish leather shoes.

Read more about how to remove lipstick stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove mascara stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove mayonnaise stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove milk stains from clothing, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove mud stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove nail polish stains from clothing, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove newsprint stains from clothes, upholstery, and carpets.

Read more about how to remove oil stains and oil stains from clothes and carpets.

For water-based paint stains (indoor/outdoor paint, finger paint, acrylic or poster paint):

Read more about how to remove paint stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove urine (urine) stains from clothes, bedding, upholstery, and carpets.

Read more about how to remove perfume stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove poop stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove red wine stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove silly putty stains on carpets, clothes, and fabrics.

Read more about how to remove slime stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove soy sauce stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove spinach stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to clean suede shoes.

Read more about how to remove sunscreen stains.

Read more about how to clean sweat stains.

Read more about how to remove rust stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove tea stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove ketchup stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove toothpaste stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove sap stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to remove vomit stains from clothes, upholstery, and carpets.

Read more about how to remove water stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

Read more about how to deal with white clothing stains.

Read more about how to clean white shoes.

Read more about how to remove ketchup stains from clothes, upholstery and carpets.

If you need more laundry cleaning guidelines, check out our tips on cleaning washing machines, cleaning clothes dryers, making sure irons are clean, and avoid bad advice from old laundry myths.

This article was originally published on March 30, 2021.

Jen Laskey is an award-winning health and lifestyle writer, editor, and content strategist based in New York City.