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If there’s one thing you come to appreciate when you live with kids, it’s a good stain remover – whether it’s a laundry-related product (Napisan and Shout spray are my go-tos) or more of a carpet-based solution (of which I’ve tried a fair few over the years with varying results).

So, I was extremely intrigued by Shark’s StainForce Cordless Spot Cleaner which teams a stainer remover spray – which seems to do a lot of the heavy lifting, to be fair – with a powerful suction tool.

I’d seen a couple of videos on social media where people had spilled red wine on their rugs and then used the device, and it had miraculously cleaned stains without leaving so much as a trace.

It left me thinking surely, surely, there’s some trick of the light going on there and they’d be left with a faint stain?! But I’m happy to say I was wrong.

In a weird twist of fate, the Shark StainForce arrived a few days before my four-year-old accidentally dropped curry on our pale (and very new) living room carpet, leaving a lovely bright orange splat mark on the floor.

As our table is near the window (and away from the main foot traffic in and out of the room), I hadn’t realised the stain was there until the next day, by which time it had thoroughly dried, much to my horror.

Armed with the StainForce and accompanying spray, I took a deep breath and started to work at the dried turmeric-filled blotch with the tool’s bristle brush.

I then sprayed the stain thoroughly, left it for a few minutes, and returned, switching the StainForce tool on and brushing back and forth on the carpet while it sucked up the remainder of the mess.

The orange mark, to my astonishment, vanished.

Obviously after this success I then had to put it to the test on the mother of all stains in another room.

We live in an old house that’s slowly but surely being renovated and one of the ‘untouched’ rooms is still home to carpet from the previous owner – who had lived there for almost a century.

There were black marks on said carpet, which looked like they’d been there decades, so I decided to see if the stain-busting tool would work on them, too.

I wasn’t expecting much to happen, if I’m honest, as the stains were extremely bedded in. But actually, after using the spray and with a bit of scrubbing effort on my part, the marks began to disappear.

The tool is designed for use on carpets, area rugs, stairs, upholstery, and car interiors – but not wool. It’s also worth patch-testing the spray on a hidden bit of carpet or upholstery before you go all in.

The device is really easy to put together and use (the video instructions are super simple), and it’s all handily stored in a caddy so you can carry it from room to room.

Reviewers particularly like using it for cleaning up pet accidents (we have two cats so I’ve already deployed it on cat sick, which it cleaned up effortlessly), as well as food and drink stains.

I’d say the main downside is the cost: it’s an investment at £169.99, but for the peace of mind it offers when a cat or child decides to vom, poo, wee or spill food on your new (or spenny) carpets, it’s worth the money.

Similarly if you’re in rented accommodation and have spills and stains to get up in order to get your hefty deposit back, this spot cleaner is worth a shout.