When you become a parent, you enter into a world of chaos and excitement, as well as a lot of dirt. And constant spilling, splashing and dropping of beverages onto laps, paint onto floors, mud onto carpets...
From the moment you welcome your firstborn, stains you never knew about become commonplace, from leaking breast milk to baby vomit. And let's not forget everything we find in dirty nappies - protein stains, from baby dribble to poo, are especially difficult to remove (they should be soaked in cold water, not hot, immediately).
However, as unpleasant as blood, poo and juice stains are, research from a carpet cleaning company in 2012 found that the toughest stain to remove is from fizzy orange drink, Irn Bru, because of the many colourants that go into the beverage.
Everyone has their go-to method of tough stain removal, whether it's combining oxi action powders like Vanish and Napisan when washing laundry or using an eco-friendly device like Kärcher's chemical-free all-in-one steam cleaner to take floor surfaces from squalid to sparkling.
One thing to avoid? Never rub a stain - it could change the stain and damage the material you're rubbing. It is OK to absorb a stain by dabbing at it with a white cloth, however. Also, beware of old wives' tales like pouring white wine over red to clean it - this can help to set the stain, ultimately making it worse.
We chatted to DIY expert and mum Jo Behari about her top 10 hacks for removing the most stubborn of stains, like chocolate and crayons, which all too often find themselves all over our children's clothes (and our own!)...