Meet Scruffy.
She’s fit into our family perfectly since we adopted her from a local shelter in April. Really. She loves us, we love her, and my 8yo finally has the roommate she’s always wanted.
But Scruffy is the reason why I immediately agreed to try out Spot Shot carpet stain remover.
Scruffy’s done well with house-training, but since she sleeps in my daughter’s room, there have been a few accidents in there. Unfortunately, my daughter (Scruffy’s very best friend in the whole wide world), tends to “deal with” the accidents herself and I don’t know about them until I see the stain.
Stains stress me out. Like, they seem un-deal-with-able in my Slob Brain.
That’s the reason my kids weren’t allowed to eat in the living room until recently. Even on Movie Nights, we would spread out a sheet and they only drank water. Nothing with color or flavor or sugar. They’re now 8, 11 and 12 and I’ve just started letting them use TV trays.
Food or drinks in the bedrooms? No way no how.
My main stain defense has been avoidance.
But with puppies, pee happens.
It was time to get over my Fear of Stains. Specifically, two that were right inside my daughter’s door. They were making me crazy.
Spot Shot sent me several varieties, but I chose to use the bottle that was specifically for pet stains. It’s also non-toxic.
To help conquer my oh-my-word-what-do-I-do panic, I read the directions on the can.
(Novel idea, right?)
I was surprised at the force of the spray. It did a good job of penetrating my oh-so-soft-but-oh-so-pink 80s carpet. The directions said to let it sit for five minutes, so I set the alarm on my phone. After the timer went off, I placed clean cloth diapers (which I now use for cleaning rags) over the treated spot and then pressed down with my foot to blot and draw up the stain.
Puppy pee left my carpet and transferred to the cloth. Totally gross, but totally cool.
With each full-body-weight foot press, I used a new, clean place on the cloth so I could see how much was still coming up from the stain. Following the instructions, I repeated this process until the stain was gone. For this stain, I ended up applying the Spot Shot Pet three times and using four diapers (with four or five “blots” each).
My stains had been there a while. I’m pretty sure a newer stain would require significantly less work.
Once the rags no longer brought up any wee-wee, I decided the stain was gone. Then, I had to figure out what the directions meant when they said, “After full stain removal, gently blot area with clean, cool water in all directions. Repeat and blot area dry.”
Here’s where I get re-stressed out. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?? Blot with clean, cool water?? In all directions?
I feel like I must have missed that day in Home Ec! Oh, wait. I didn’t take Home Ec.
But I stopped my inner-crazy-talk and decided this was what that meant:
It worked, so I hope I’m right.
I wet a clean rag and didn’t wring it out.
I pressed the soppy-wet rag onto the area where I’d used the Spot Shot and rubbed it in all directions, squeezing the water into the carpet. I decided this was to get the water all through the carpet fibers to “rinse” out the cleaner. I then pressed on the area with a clean white towel (with a picture of Shakespeare on it) to dry the carpet. I repeated three times.
I love that the stains are gone. (I removed two. One is shown in these pictures, and the second one was removed in the video below.)
My only complaint? The areas where I cleaned the stains look better than the rest of the carpet. Now I see how badly my carpet needs to be cleaned! (Or replaced. I’ve only been thinking we’d replace it “soon” for about seven years . . . )
If stains stress you too, check out this list of stains Spot Shot will conquer.
Now it’s your turn to enter to win your own Spot Shot AND a $50 Walmart giftcard!!!!
To enter, just leave a comment on this post about which kinds of stains stress you out the MOST!
For an optional additional entry, you can like Spot Shot’s Stain Fighting Community Facebook page where you’ll find tips, coupons and more giveaways! Leave a second comment saying you liked their page.
Giveaway has ended.
Giveaway Rules: Open to U.S. residents only. (Sorry!) Prize is provided and shipped by Spot Shot. Winner will be chosen at random using the And the Winner Is WordPress plugin. If the winner does not respond to the notification email within 48 hours, he/she will forfeit the prize and another winner will be chosen. (So be sure to use an email address you check regularly!) If you are reading via email, click on the title of the post to leave a comment directly on the website. See all giveaway policies here.
Disclosure: I was compensated for this post, video, and giveaway, but all opinions, experiences, puppies and stain-o-phobia issues are mine.
--Nony
The stains that stress me out the most are the ones on the ceiling. Surely you get ceiling stains? Splattered ketchup that no one sees until weeks later, smoke from candles left burning too long, splotches from god knows what. The ceiling is so high in places that I can’t reach it immediately, and end up having to paint over it years later. Gah!
Clothing stains – red pepper, dirt, chocolate etc
pet stains on the carpet + food stains on any clothing!!!
We too have a young dog that was never house-trained (either that or my son has regressed) and the stains totally freak me out – I usually don’t know they are there until they are good and dry and well set in!!
Pet stains DEFINITELY stress me out the most! Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew! They are a constant reminder that I am not the best housekeeper. Grrr. My kids are older now, but spit-up stains used to be a close second.
We have 3 kids ages 5 and under (and 1 on the way) and 4 pets (2 mini doxins and 2 cats). All the stains stress me out! ;). I would say pee/vomit stress me out the worst.
The vomit would stress me out too. 😀
Oh, Spot Shot is awesome stuff! We use it with our kids’ stains. In particular, there are some old throw-up stains in my daughter’s room. My daughter who is almost 3 and has not been a puking baby for a loooong time. Also, the stains might actually be from my older daughter. The 6 year old. Ahem. Anyway, I have used Spot Shot in the past, but the stains are at the bottom of my List of Things to Do Right Now, so there they sit. Maybe if I get to go shopping for new Spot Shot, I will be motivated to then use it. 🙂
Any kind of pet stain… Dirt, pee and so on! Oh, and my carpets are cream… :/
Doggy pee stains are the worst!
Pet stains make me crazy!!!! And I have them!!!!
Now that its winter and wet out my husband keeps tracking in mud and leaving his shoes on the very nice carpet in our rental right next to the plastic shoe mat thing :/ so that’s upsetting! And I always seem to have food grease stains on my shirts that a a pain to get out!
Powerade drinks stains nearly impossible to rid out of. Should we switch to water?
Liked them on Facebook. Thank you.
Cat puke. I hear our cat start to hock and pray he’s on the linoleum.
The cat has been puking behind the couch. I’m 32 weeks pregnant and don’t fit back there at all. But the toddler keeps telling me “Camilla, bleah!” Thanks, kid.
Pet stains for sure!! We have a 4 month old puppy who has done fairly well with training, but still forgets sometimes!
puppy stains! I hate the smell and they like to hide and do their business I will have to go look for this stuff 😉 we need to one day get new carpet and some furniture from our furbabies chewing 😉
Mystery stains. I HATE and freak out about mystery stains. We have 4 kids and a “no eating in the living room” policy, and yet little brown spots appear. Drives me nuts!
We have pet stains as well…2 Mini Schnauzers who sometimes pee AND puke. It’s lovely! Love your blog!
The stains that stress me out the most are the cat pee… We have a lovely kitty who was rescued when he was about 8 week old… just old enough that he feels the need to protect his territory (yes, he is fixed)… but his ‘territory’ was the couch (just gotten rid of) and any place that is around a door or window. It smells and ruins whatever it’s on. I have yet to find something that takes that smell out.
I have read that vinegar takes cat urine smell out (tried in laundry rinse cycle using a downy ball, and it seemed to have worked) so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work on other stuff – also baking soda and peroxide, apparently – http://www.cozycatfurniture.com/cat_newsletters/catnewsletter10.html – Good Luck! 🙂
They sell a product called Nature’s Miracle at Petco/Petsmart that has enzymes in it to breakdown cat pee odor. Might be worth a try…
I have a toothpaste (dont ask) stain that is really stressing me out. Not looking forward to tackling it again.
My puppy got kennel cough while we were gone for fall break….needless to say there was a lot of puppy puke piles all over the house….talk about stressing me out!!!!! Thankfully he is better, and now my kids everyday messes have taken their usual “drive me crazy” spot!!
I liked their FB page also!! 🙂
Cat vomit and sunny D are my awful stains that don’t want to come up. I think I gave myself carpal tunnel trying to scrub them up.
We get dirt stains on the new carpet from the front door to the bathroom. Drives me nuts!
Pet and mud stains stress me out. We rescued 2 cats in our neighborhood and they have definitely added many stains to our carpet that I haven’t been able to completely remove.
All of them!
Hair dye stains! not the normal cover up grey hair kind like I use.. but my niece….. she loves her hair to be all sorts of crazy colors… so smurf blue and teal to lemon neon yellow and red or orange… this always gets all over my bathrooma nd shower because she is not careful… drives me crazy!
Mud stains, and also juice and food stains.
Pet stains, definately!
Also anything that lands on my front while I’m at work or on my way to work. Happens to me a lot, to the extent that whenever I so much as drink coffee (in a tightly lidded mug btw) on my way to work, I wear a jacket.
Spot Shot is a great product. And you got it Dana — that last step is to sop up any remaining cleaner from the carpet. Otherwise, after it dries, you end up with a ring of cleanness where you blotted up the stain.
I have light carpets and have a major stain–very large. I don’t even know what it was from. It has just grown. I think it started as spilled soda. Anyway, I can clean it and it looks great for about 4 days, then it comes back. Any ideas on this?
My most stressful stains are (1) pet stains and (2) hubby’s grease stains on my carpet and furniture (he’s a mechanic)!
We just bought a house with very nice new carpet. 3 little kids + a black lab retriever on tan carpet = MAMA STREES!!! I’d have to say pet stains and potty training nakie time stains stress me out the most!
I liked the Stain Fighting Community FB page.
The dog stains definitely get to me the most!
I have a mystery stain on my livingroom carpet that has been bugging me. I would love to try the Spot Shot on it!
We had a wonderful cat for 17 years. Towards the end, he left lots of stains that I still haven’t been able to get out. Then we had a new baby and I hated that I couldn’t get them out better!
The stains that stress me out are the dog stains / cat throw up. Frequently, I find these after the fact. Well after the fact. Sigh.
Pet stains on carpet and also chocolate and mud on clothes put me in severe avoidance patterns!
The stains that stress me out are the red/purple/highly colored kool-aid/slushie/not supposed to have it on the carpet so of course you immediately spill it everywhere stains. No matter how quickly you try to get them up, they stay. I have random red spots on my carpet. At least with regular dirt stains, your carpet just looks like it’s supposed to be that color. But those glaring red stains just scream “dirty carpet” even if it is freshly cleaned. Sigh.
Facebook Page liked- #17954.
I’d have to say pet stains also! My cat pukes up hairballs and food and it grosses me out. I’d love to win some stain remover and a gift card to WM. Thanks for the giveaway!
The greasy footprint stains from my son the garage mechanic, the “Oh? Was that me?” footprint that you can follow down the hall into his bedroom.
I hate stains from spilled food and drinks in my boys’ room
Pet stains are the worst! Especially in high traffic areas. It seems like once the stain is there it keeps attracting more dirt.
Pet stains (we have a 22 year old indoor/outdoor cat) and coffee stains. Is my husband the only one who regularly takes his coffee mugs into a carpeted room and spills them?
I also liked their facebook page. Thank you for hosting this giveaway!
I definitely need to try this product in my house. With two inside dogs, we have our share of pet stains on the carpet (mostly in our dining room, which now rarely gets used because of this unsightly problem!). Thanks for sharing this information.
Coffee spills are what haunt this house. I can see the dribble up the stairs and just have not figured out what to do! Our son’s dog added a few little spots that keep coming back too in the den. Getting new carpeting soon, and have found out about padding with moisture barrier so that will help keeping spots from coming back once cleaned. Thanks for the chance and for sharing your tips. I’ve never done the blot with water trick, makes so much sense to remove the cleaning agent.
Ugh…pet stains, definitely!
And one particularly bad stain left on brand spanking new carpet (like less than a week old!) left by my then 10yo son (he’s now 18). He got sick after we had tomato soup for dinner. I’ve been trying to get that stain out for years now. Ick!!
Food stains! In the apartment we are renting, there is carpet in the dining room! We have three children under the age of 5. It is a constant battle to keep the floor clean.
Carpet stains from food… the carpet in our dining room is suffering at the hands of my toddler!
Pet stains or any stain on the carpet.
I liked Spot Shot on facebook.
Because our dog has a skin allergy, we ripped up most of the carpet in the house, so stains on the floor are no longer an issue, but laundry stains? Another matter entirely. They have defeated me forever. I’ll have to see if Spot Shot has a laundry product. 🙂
Pet stains are THE problem around here. Our critters are mature, but as they age, they fail in what they know. Thanks for this opportunity.
toddler potty training stains from my grand daughter!
I’ve 3 dogs who stay in my house all day while I’m at work, so for me it’s the inevitable occasional pee stain! I need this 🙂
We have 4 kids (teens) and between them and their friends I find stains from spills all the time. Even after I “clean” them they seem to come back. Also have a mystery set of spots that I just can’t figure out what it is. Frustrating.
Coffee stains. !!
The stains that bother me the most is anything that comes from something living. Basically Puke, Pee, Poop and Blood.
The look of colored food stains bother me, i.e. koolaid, jello. But the living excrements have me freaking out if the floor is really clean enough for babies and toddlers. In addition to humans, we also have dogs, cats, and guinea pigs. And because it is hunting season we also have blood frozen to the concrete of my non heated garage. As soon as the temperature gets high enough for a few days that will be cleaned up. But right now it is just gross.
Grease stains stress me out as well as pet stains!
I liked spot shot on Facebook
Clothing stains!
Ink from a printer. The ink got all over the hallway rug and the stairs and I still can’t get rid of it.
Milk stains in the carpet. By far. Trying to stop a toddler armed with a sippy cup (that she has learned to take the top off) as she gleefully proceeds to dump the entire contents out on the carpet is like doing the 500 meter dash while in a horror movie. Seriously, everything is all slow mo dive and scream before you are left with a stinky, sloshy mess that lingers for weeks.
Liked spot shot.
Are you missing an earring? And will it work if my towels don’t have Shakespeare on them? 😉
Yes, I’m missing an earring! Hate it when I do that! And no, your towel MUST have the Bard on it!
Cat Vomit–I hate it!
I started pulling my carpets up and am painting the subfloor. Can’t afford to match my hardwood from the other areas yet. Don’t want more carpet to clean! 😉
Hacking up a hairball stain from my cat. Ack!
Your dog is so cute!! I hope future posts feature more pictures of her. What kind is she?
She’s a “terrier mix.” That’s all the shelter knew!
i get the most stressed out by stains on my upholstery. bc no matter how much you try to clean them, even if they do come up, you’re left with a gross dirty ring around the area you cleaned. So you either have to clean the whole damn thing (which, incidentally, i have yet to find a spot/stain remover that was good enough at removing the stain to warrant me cleaning an entire couch with it.) or buy a slipcover. Guess which one I did. I’d really like to be able to see my off-white couch again though.
I hate tracked in dirt from a pet or a human
i like on facebook
CLOTHING stains. I always feel like such a schmuck when my kids get stains on their clothes that I can’t get out!
Food stains on my kid’s clothing stress me out the most because this happens so often.
I like like Spot Shot’s Stain Fighting Community Facebook page (Kelly D Saver)
Hairball stains! So gross. Also, spilled food messes left by the kids.
A combination of light blue carpet (not sure what the previous owners were thinking!) and my mother-in-law’s dog not making it outside to go wee-wee soon enough is what stresses me out. And the fact that my M-I-L can’t seem to clean it up properly. : (
Totally trying this. Have some pee spots on my favorite rug. Hope it works. Thanks for the clarification of the instructions… Those confuse me too!
Carpet stains really get me upset. Walls, I can paint. Clothes, I can replace rather inexpensively. Carpet is ALMOST forever (definitely not cheap to replace frequently). I have one child that tends to use all the above as a canvas–UGH!
I liked their page as well.
Spot Shot is an amazing product! The stains that worry me most, though, are the old ones – the Mister wasn’t so good about taking care of the carpets before I lived here, and they are basically ruined, thanks to his dog. No matter how many times I go over the floors with our carpet cleaner (using the heavy duty commercial line of floor cleaner!!) there’s still too many spots of orange (don’t tell him I told you that!).
Red drink stains are the most stressful. Like fruit punch and red kook aid!
The I just found it but I don’t know what it is stain stress me the most. How long has it been there, what is that anyway? Will it ever come out? Hope to win this spot shot and gift card. Thanks Dana!
Definately pet stains! The kicker on that is they are not from my 2 dogs but from my 2 college sons who each got their own dog. When they come visit or ask us to watch said dogs while they go catch up with friends , well you guessed it pee happens on my carpet! Love my boys and their dogs but sure could do without the stains!
Any carpet stains. Many times I struggle to even figure out where they came from! We have 3 cats, 2 kids, and a dog, so it is anybody’s guess. Maybe it is better if I don’t know! Lol
I liked the Spot Shot stain fighting community on Facebook
motor oil ack! My husband stepped in it when we were in our other house and you could tell everywhere he walked ugh! Spotshot got every bit up yay
Anything with oil or grease in it! I got lipstick on a shirt once and never did figure out how to remove it…
The stains that freak me out the most are the mystery stains that came with the carpet in our rented house. I can’t help but think, “eeew!” every time I see them.
Pet stains of any kind! My hall way has quite a few spots. They drive me crazy! I’m going to try your method!
Anything red or oily. Hate them!
Hands down pet stains Drive me crazy!
Baby puke stains & pet stains both cat & dog.
Makeup!! I have a 17 yo daughter with a bajillion makeup stains that will not come out of her carpet 🙁
Also Liked the other Page 🙂
Ummm puppy!!! We washed our rugs and they all came back!! Grrrrr