Some homeowners may think that borax (sodium borate) can only be used to soften the hard water that they use to clean their laundry. However, this mineral can also be used to remove stains from your carpets. This article outlines the steps that you should follow in order to use borax as a carpet stain remover.

Step 1: Prepare the Mixture

Take half a cup of borax and mix it in two cups of warm water. Stir the mixture until all the borax has dissolved in the water. Borax can be bought from a home supplies store near you or online.

Step 2: Treat the Stains

Get a white cloth and dip it in the borax solution that you prepared in the step above. Use that white cloth to wet the stain that you would like to clean from your carpet. Just blot the wet cloth onto the carpet so that you don't soak the carpet in the cleaning solution. Leave the wet stain for about thirty minutes before proceeding with the next part of the stain removal process.

Step 3: Dry the Carpet

Get another clean cloth and dip it in cold water. The cloth that you use should be white. Don't add anything in the water that you use during this stage of the cleaning exercise. Sponge the wet stain gently so that the cloth absorbs the moisture from the wet spot. Keep blotting the area with the wet cloth until all the water has been removed from the area that had been stained.  Avoid wetting the cloth excessively because that excess moisture may prevent the cloth from cleaning the degraded stain from your carpet. Leave the carpet to air-dry for about an hour before you perform the final step of the stain removal exercise.

Step 4: Vacuum the Carpet

Use a dry vacuum to clean the carpet once you are sure that you removed all the moisture from the stained segment of your carpet. The vacuum cleaner will complete the cleaning process and leave the carpet spotlessly clean.

As you can see, it is very easy to remove the most common carpet stains using readily available materials in your home. If you try the method above and fail to get satisfactory results, you should only hire professional carpet cleaners to help you. Those professionals will use the latest stain removal techniques to restore your carpet to the spotless condition it was in before the stain marred its appearance.