Emergency Cleaning Guide - Wine and Food Spills

Posted on 04/01/2016

Tips for Cleaning Emergency Party Spills

Oh, no! That wine glass hit the floor before you could do anything about it and now all the red wine is spilling on your carpet? And that plate you pushed over while fumbling to get the glass has now toppled as well, bringing in more stain, this time to the table cloth. Now is time to practice the emergency cleaning skills you need to develop to deal with such issues as soon as they arise. Some stains can be treated after days, but most stains should be taken care of as soon as they appear. Wine and food stains fall into the latter category, so you should be ready to handle the home cleaning in case they fall onto a surface. And don’t worry; it only takes knowledge and no effort at all.

Wine Stains
• Fight fire with fire: A red wine spill can actually be cleaned with white wine. Spill some white wine over the red stain and then add table salt. The white wine will pull at the stain and keep it from sinking into the carpet. Then add the area with a damp cloth. After they suck in the red stain, change the cloth. Keep doing that until the cloth no longer takes up wine. Even if there is still a stain, a simple carpet cleaner will easily take care of it.

• Tablecloth damage: If the spill happened on the table, then immediately add artificial sweetener over the stain. Whenever you are able to take the cloth off the table, brush off the sweetener and apply cold water to the stain. Next use white vinegar and a cloth to wash the stain and end with a rinsing. See, no more wine stain.
• Clothing stains: If any red wine happens to land on your clothes, don’t worry, there is a solution for that as well. Take a white towel, dampen it, sprinkle club soda over the stain or the towel, and scrub at the stain. Do it until the stain gives up and fades away.

• Wine away: There are many liquor shops that actually sell this cleaning product. It is specifically made to take care of wine stains, so you can browse your local wine shops for this as well.

Food Stains
• Dish soap to the rescue: Dish soap is actually a wonderful method of fighting off food stains. It is already designed to take care of the stains on a plate, and it is non-abrasive and non-corroding, so it can also do the same for fabric. When a surface sustains a food spill stain simply apply dish soap, then scrub with a damp cloth or towel. If the stain is stubborn, then repeat, but add vinegar to the mix.

• All purpose cleaner: Mixing vinegar and water can get you pretty good results when you are trying to get rid of random food stains. Mix them in a spray bottle to create your all purpose cleaner, spray and scrub to a clean surface. If you want to disinfect the surface as well, add lemon juice to the mixture.
• Soda paste: And then there is also the good old baking soda. Mix it with water to create a paste-like mixture which you can then apply to the stain and scrub until it dissolves. Rinse for a finish and the stain will be no more.

Use these guidelines to handle any wine or food stain your dinner might end up with. There is no such thing as impossible carpet cleaning and no surface is beyond cleansing. You should be more worried about the clumsy pushing and less about taking care of these simple stains.