• In a college town apartment, when a Friday night game party ended up with some punches and a bloody nose, one of the tenants took their Barbasol, sprayed it into Berber carpeting. He rubbed it vigorously and got a cloth wet with cool water and wiped vigorously. The blood came right up. His timing for the shaving cream soak was half an hour.
• One of the students was running across campus to make a class on time and ended up with a bloody nose. Nothing on hand to clean up his shirt, he spit on the stains and rubbed pretty hard. Then took his handkerchief and blotted it off until he could get into the bathroom and a paper towel and cold water to clean up.
• Saliva or spit has an enzyme that breaks down the blood cells.
• One of the cooks in the `motorized lunch kitchen' had ice and hydrogen peroxide available for clean ups. One customer was trimming an apple with his pocketknife and cut himself. She used the peroxide to clean up the blood. There is a down side to this. Hydrogen peroxide also messes with healthy tissue on the area of a cut. So the cold water and an antibiotic soap would be better choice for the customer, and peroxide for clothing etc.
• A family on a fishing trip saw a bloodstain on some valued blanketing they were sitting on. The mom grabbed the box of Norton salt and rubbed that into the blanket. Then went to the lake and rinsed out the bloodstain.
• Fresh drops of blood can be picked up with cold water and scrub with shampoo. Rinse with cold water also. Baby wipes also works on most fabrics.
• Someone on campus shared the `fix' of soaking blood stained items in milk over night. Then wash in a normal way.
• Last resort, for blood on sheets and handkerchiefs, there is toothpaste that advertises having oxy type bleach. It is called Colgate oxygen. This scrubbed onto sheets that have been vigorously rubbed with cold tap water, moves the blood right out.

When a pet dog gets a paw cut, and gets blood in the carpeting, a product called OxyClean in a spray bottle mixed with water. Spray all the places where the paw was dropping blood, let it become absorbed, then rub gently with a cloth and the blood comes up.

Some cleaning services recommend a mixture of white vinegar with the peroxide for white carpeting. Other additives could include 409, or Spic and Span to a solution but only about 3% of the cleaning product. Spray it on; allow soaking in, and then wiping off the top layer. Next, a commercial cleaning machine is needed.

Caution: some cleaning chemicals are very toxic and should not be used in a home. Examples are carb9h tetrachloride and trichloroethylene. These MUST stay away from the family and pets.

Skin stains can often be removed with lemon juice. It's non-toxic.

A good general cleaner not often used, is engine degreaser used in the shop. You can buy it for about $7 a gallon. It takes up adhesives, cleans carpeting, furniture, clothing, walls and bathrooms.

Sometimes when trying to remove stains, a yellowish color shows up. Like bleaching white tennis shoes can produce that. One student used a paste of ½ cup cream of tartar and mixed into a quart of almost boiling water. Soak ½ hour to a couple hours.