Spilled Shoe Shine On Your Carpet? Here's How To Get The Stain Out Fast

Few things ruin a productive morning faster than accidentally splattering shoe shine across your carpet. Maybe you were trying to revive a scuffed pair of shoes before heading out the door, or you were employing the unexpected use of shoe polish to fill in scratches in wood furniture. All of a sudden, that dark, oily splatter hit the floor and sunk instantly into the fibers of your carpet. Shoe shine is great for leather but terrible for carpets. Because it's oil-based and tinted with stubborn dyes, every second you wait means it's sinking deeper.

The good news is you may be able to fix the whole mess using things you already have under your sink, such as rubbing alcohol. There are some common things you should never clean with rubbing alcohol, but maybe you didn't know you could use small amounts to clean your carpet. Before you panic-scroll through local carpet cleaners or start Googling "How much to replace carpet," try a DIY method that costs next to nothing. All you need is a putty knife, paper towels, a spray bottle, rubbing alcohol, dishwashing detergent, water, and a splash of ammonia.

None of these items are super pricey, and this process isn't super complicated. It's basically a gently escalating routine: Remove what you can with each cleaning product, and then rinse and repeat. In the worst-case scenario, if the polish has settled too much, you can still call in a professional cleaner to finish the job. But this quick and cheap method is absolutely worth trying before resigning yourself to permanently rearranging your furniture to hide the spot.

Begin by blotting the stain with paper towels and using your putty knife to scrape off residue to lift as much of the excess shoe shine as possible. This part is important because rubbing or scrubbing just pushes the pigment deeper into the fibers. Next, grab a fresh paper towel and apply a small amount of rubbing alcohol onto the towel – never directly onto the carpet. (You'd be surprised at all the clever ways you should be using rubbing alcohol around the house.) Start blotting again.

Alcohol helps break down the oils in most shoe polishes, which is why you'll see the color transfer onto the towel pretty quickly. It there's still staining left behind (which there probably will be), you can mix 2 cups of warm water with 1 teaspoon of dishwashing detergent and dab that onto the spot. Warm water helps loosen everything, while the detergent cuts through the oily base. If the stain remains stubborn, you can take it up a notch by adding 1 teaspoon of ammonia to the same solution. After the spot lightens, rinse the area using your spray bottle filled with clean water, and blot until fully dry. 

Once you're done, placing a small fan near the area will speed up the drying time and help clear musty smells. To smooth everything over, you can brush the area with a soft-bristled brush after cleaning to lift and fluff all of the fibers.