Christopher Meyers: Hello! My name is Christopher Meyers; I own a company called Christophers Incorporated in Merrifield, Virginia. We are a textile care service company. We specifically maintain high-end textiles, carpet and upholstery, in homes also wall upholstery and newly outdoor textiles as well, umbrellas and pool furniture cushions, things of that nature.

My experience: I have been doing this for 14 years, started it in Los Angeles, California and have since moved to the East Coast. On the West Coast we worked for many of Hollywood's A list celebrities. On the East Coast here in New York, we are very close to Washington DC. We worked for many of the Whos Who of the political scene here, many names I am sure you would recognize.

The reason that I am here today is to talk to you about safe procedures for spot cleaning. Now, an environment at someones home could be 99% clean I mean spotless, it could great, but if you have one spot thats in a prominent area, it can completely ruin the look of that room or that sofa or that piece of carpeting, or rug or what have you. So thats why we are here today.

Now, to begin with, the first thing that you should do is to contain a spill, if it is a liquid spill, and the way to do that is to take a white absorbent towel, clean white towel, dont use your bath linens because you may ruin this towel and you want to simply just place it on the spill and blot it, dont rub, blot. In fact, never rub, but just blot the spot to absorb it as much of it into the towel as you can until as thoroughly dry as you can make it.

At that point, you want to review the manufacturers instructions on how to safely clean whatever it is that the spot is on. Many manufacturers have specific things that theyd like you to do, and you may void your own warranty with them, if you attempt spot cleaning on your own. So, console with the manufacturer of what it is that you are working on first.

If thats impossible, you may want to contact a professional cleaner in your area.