10 Tips to Remove Stains From Clothes and Carpet Naturally

There are many home remedies you can use to remove stains from clothing and carpet. This way you can avoid conventional laundry stain removers that are full of artificial fragrances and other unpronounceable, questionable ingredients. Stay natural with what you already have in your kitchen cabinets.

1. Baking Soda
Make a paste of baking soda and water and rub it on the carpet stains. Once the powder dries, vacuum it up.

2. Toothpaste
Briskly rub it on the stains on the clothing or carpet. Wash or rinse them as usual. Toothpaste is supposedly good for removing stains in tea and coffee cups (the TreeHugger article where I first read this tip specifically recommends Tom's of Maine toothpaste). He also warns against using whitening toothpastes, which can bleach clothing)

3. Lemon juice
Scrub underarm stains with equal parts lemon juice and water. Use lemon juice straight or a paste of lemon juice and cream of tartar for ink stains, preferably as soon as they appear, then wash with cold water. For mildew or rust stains, use a paste of lemon juice and salt and dry in sunlight. Fresh lemon juice can freshen up a load of whites and reduce mineral stains.

4. Coconut oil
Rub some coconut oil on a stain on carpet or upholstery to loosen the stain. You can also mix it with baking soda for a better effect. This combination of baking sodaand coconut oil can also be used as a whitening toothpaste to remove tooth stains.

5. Salt
Remove sweat stains on shirts by making a salt water wash. Put 1/4 to 1/2 cup of salt in the washing machine and add enough cold water to cover the clothes. Mix and let soak for 1-2 hours. Wash as usual. If you don't have a washing machine, make a salt paste with water and apply it to the stains before washing by hand.

If you have blood stains on your clothes, soak them in a mixture of 1 liter of cold water and 2 tablespoons of salt before washing.

Shake a generous amount of salt onto red wine stains as soon as they appear. Let them soak for a few hours before washing them in cold water.

6. Vinegar
This can also be used to get rid of sweat stains. Soak clothes in a mixture of 1/4 cup vinegar and cold water, then wash as usual.

7. Water
Pour a kettle of boiling water over the stains from as high a height as possible - at least three feet. (Try standing on a chair.) This works for berry stains, ketchup, red wine, coffee and oily stains. One TreeHugger reader recommended placing a bowl inside a shirt, with the stain in the center, and then pouring boiling water through the stain into the bowl.

Use ice water to remove blood stains. Soak the garment in a bowl of cold water, adding ice as needed to loosen the stain before washing.

8. White chalk
If you have an oil stain on a fabric, rub in some white chalk as soon as possible. Wash the garment in cold water and don't put it in the dryer unless the stain is completely gone, as it'll set in there.

9. Rubbing alcohol
This is also effective for oil stains. Dab a small amount on the stained fabric before washing in cold water. 10. White Wine

Here’s the one case in which two wrongs make a right. If you spill red wine, pour a small amount of white wine onto the stain to counteract it. Blot with a clean absorbent towel from the outside in to prevent spreading. Treat stain remnants with another method.