I took my boots to the cobbler the other day (anyone else think of Karl Pilkington when they hear ‘cobbler’?) to get the soles re-done. I picked them up looking shiny and new and took them home. I put them on this morning when I got up and 5 minutes later noticed a few horse shoe shaped marks all over the carpet. Not impressed! It’s nice when the guy polishes your shoes after fixing them, but it would be better if he scrubbed the polish off the heels!

Anyway, this meant that rather than making up a cute tutorial for you all I was in stain busting mode. After some quick Googling, I was ready and armed. I know you’re always supposed to test this kind of thing in an inconspicuous area first, but I was naughty and I didn’t…luckily, it worked!

Getting Shoe Polish Marks Out of Carpet

You’ll need:

Mix a few drops of liquid hand dishwashing detergent and one tablespoon of ammonia (Caution: Never mix chlorine bleach and ammonia – the resulting fumes are hazardous) with two cups of hot water.

Using a clean rag, sponge the stain with the detergent/ammonia solution. Blot with a clean rag until the liquid is absorbed. If the area feels sticky from the detergent, sponge with a damp sponge and then blot again until dry.

I went around the house getting many other unknown stains out of the carpet with just the detergent/ammonia mixture. It worked really well.