I use VINEGAR! Let me tell you that I am a coffee-holic and carry my coffee where ever I go! I have a tendency to spill - vinegar straight rubbed into the spot, white towel and a heavy object set on top and poof it is gone! I do this on a lot of different spots that appear on my carpets and it works great. When I clean my carpets with my Hoover Rug Machine I only use vinegar water, no soap, and am always pleased. (Got new carpet this year through out the house and my husband makes me walk around with my coffee cup with a tight closed lid, the nerve, lol.)