Carpet stain removers Diluted washing-up liquid versus the big brands
It makes good sense to have an effective carpet stain remover in the home for dealing with those annoying spills.
But if you don’t have any stain removers at home, it may be worth trying diluted washing-up liquid on the stain before you buy anything, as it may be enough to get the stain out – and it’s cheaper, too.
Use no more than one squirt per two litres of water, as any more can leave dark spots on your carpet if it’s not rinsed out properly.
Fresh stains
In our tests, diluted washing-up liquid worked best on fresh stains, particularly Ribena and tea.
It was at least as good as the average carpet stain removing product for every stain except red wine and chocolate spread, and even then it still did a decent job on those stains.
Dried carpet stains
It wasn’t as effective on dried stains, particularly red wine and coffee. It was slightly better than the average for other dried stains, but didn’t come close to matching our Best Buy carpet stain remover.
- Have stains on your clothing? See our Best Buy stain removers
- Find out how to tackle tricky carpet stains
- See how we test carpet stain removers
