You're out on a long day trip. Your best friend in the seat next to you, with some delightful treat in their hands. You're listening to the radio, and maybe going a little bit faster than you realized, and you hit a bump in the road. You hear the dreaded "Oops!" come out of your friend's mouth. You look to see what's happened and you realize whatever was in your hands is currently all over your car's carpet.

Now, one way of keeping your car's interior clean is to keep food out of it and try to wipe your feet before you enter your car. Sometimes it's inevitable that someone is going to bring some type of edible item into your car, and that it is going to get all over your car's carpet. The best way to keep your car clean is to clean up that mess as quickly as possible. You do not want food to dry onto your carpet. Dried stains are much harder to get out of your carpet than wet stains. Here are some common car carpet stains and how to clean them.

Greasy Foods

Burgers, french fries, and other fast food fare can fall onto your car carpet leaving a halo of a grease stain onto your carpet. Grease can be a toughie, but it can be managed.

How to Treat:

• Begin with vacuuming. You want to make sure that all crumbs and greasy bits of food are removed from the carpet. You do not want to be scrubbing them into the carpet.
• Once the area is completely clear of crumbs, blot the area with a clean rag to remove any excess grease.
• Sprinkle the area with an absorbent such as baby powder or cornstarch. Let this sit for 10-15 minutes
• Vacuum again
• Use a dry cleaning solvent on the stain and blot clean.

Fruit Juice

We know how much your kids love their juice. Apple, grape, or fruit punch, somehow it gets onto your car's carpet. We recommend that you deal with this one as soon as it happens. Juice is much more difficult to clean after it dries.

How to Treat:

• Dry the area as quickly as possible by blotting the area clean with a paper towel or clean rag. Do not use a circular motion to clean the area, as this may scrub the juice further into the carpet. Lightly press the rag onto the area and pull it off.
• Spray the area with lukewarm water. Don't use hot water. Blot the stain again.
• Spray a carpet cleaning detergent onto your carpet and blot it clean.
• If the stain is still apparent, fold up a clean rag, place it on the stain and place a heavy weight on the rag. Wait at least 2 hours before removing the rag from the weight.

Ice Cream

Ahh, Ice cream, a summertime favorite. Everyone loves ice cream just not on their car's carpet. This favorite can drip off the cone or the scoop could just plop off.

How to Treat:

• If you have a large puddle of melted ice cream, do your best to scrape the liquid off of your carpet without spreading it around. A plastic dust pan can work very well for this.
• Use a clean rag to blot the area dry.
• Mix one tablespoon of dishwashing detergent with 2 cups of warm water. Lightly sponge the solution onto the carpet.
• Blot the area clean with a clean rag.

If you treat these stains and there still seems to be some spots or residue left, you should have it professionally detailed. Many of these tips will work to clean car seats as well. Whatever you do, do not soak your carpet with water and not properly dry it. This can damage your carpet and leave mold or mildew. If you properly take care of your carpet, it will look like new for quite a long time.

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