Have you ever noticed a mystery spot on your carpet and not known how to remove it? Wonder no more, as a popular Instagram user has shared a clever hack for removing tricky mystery stains from light carpets.
The scoop
In a recent post on Instagram, user Brandon Pleshek (@cleanthatup) shared a DIY trick for getting a pink stain out of a light carpet using only alcohol, soap, and water.
"Today, I was cleaning a house and found this mystery pink spot on the carpet. Now I'll be real, anytime I see a pink spot like this on light carpet, I get nervous because they usually don't come out. But I still want to give it a try, so I sprayed it with my DIY alcohol mix, then gently work that in with a soft bristle brush," Pleshek says. He clarifies that his DIY alcohol mix is 1 cup 70% isopropyl alcohol, 1 teaspoon Dawn dish soap, and 1 cup water.
"Now immediately, I could see transfer to the white towel, which was a really good sign," Pleshek says. "I continued that process of spraying the cleaner down, gently working it in, and then dabbing with a white towel. At this point, it was looking great, but I still noticed a little bit of pink left in the carpet, so I grabbed some 91% isopropyl alcohol, applied that to the area, then rinse the entire spot with a damp towel."
How it's helping
Pleshek's method shows a fairly easy way to clean up messes that ordinarily seem impossible to combat, and none of his ingredients are particularly costly or hard to find. According to the Environmental Working Group, isopropyl alcohol "has been verified to be of low concern in cleaning products based on experimental and modeled data as assessed by the Environmental Protection Agency," which means using it as an element of your cleaning rotation shouldn't cause problems for your health or the environment, unlike some other chemicals in cleaning products that are more toxic to the environment and animal health.
Chemical cleaners have been shown to exacerbate respiratory problems like asthma, according to the American Lung Association. These cleaners can also contribute to algal blooms in water, which can poison drinking water for animals and humans alike, according to AspenClean.
What everyone's saying
Users shared their excitement over the hack in the comment section of the post.
"Awesome tip! Mother of two girls here and they are very creative with how they get random colored spots on my 1990's beige carpet," one user wrote.
"Very smart. This technique is [also used] on clothes at cleaners!" another user said.
"Impressive 👏 pink/red spots on a carpet truly are a nightmare," a third user wrote.
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