Tip - Cleaning Stains from a Rug

I was so annoyed with myself today. Little Miss has a new cream coloured rug in her room & I make a point of being careful not to get it dirty when I walk in there. Well, don't ask me how, but I somehow managed to get soil stains on her beautiful rug today, & I was beside myself.

Hubby asked me if we have a carpet cleaning spray (we don't), but I just kept staring at the black stains on the rug. There would have been about 6 or 8 blotches staring up at me.

It took several minutes before I gathered my thoughts & remembered I had seen Sharon Lush on A Current Affair, talking about stain removal around the home. She kept mentioning bicarb soda, white vinegar & water, so I decided to experiment, as I needed to act quickly.

Here are the details:

Put half a teaspoon of bicarb soda on each stain &, with a brush, lightly start to brush on the stain in one direction, then in another direction, so as to displace the soil embedded in the pile. You can brush a bit harder as you go.

If it's a light stain, it should disappear.
If it's persistent, put another half a teaspoon of bicarb soda & repeat the process.
This removed most of my blotches, but unfortunately I had 2 tough ones that didn't want to go.

That's when I used the vinegar & water solution.
Mix 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water in a spray bottle & spray the stains lightly. Grab the brush & brush lightly (as before) in different directions but without being too harsh so you don't damage the rug, until the stain finally disappears.
It's a bit of trial & error, but it did seem to work for me.

Once it's dry, give it a good vacuum (I'll be doing that tomorrow), & it should look as good as new.

Just wanted to share. Do you have any great cleaning tips you'd like to share? Any triumphs that came about after a moment of panic? Feel free to leave me a comment.