New carpet certainly can brighten a home. It looks warm and inviting for a week or two, then kids, company, dogs, TV dinners and things like red wine take their toll. Soon your new carpet looks like a military drop zone. Don't fret, here are a few carpet-cleaning tips. For chewing gum, put ice cubes in a plastic bag and freeze the gum in the carpet. When it's hard, scrape it with a butter knife. For greasy stuff like lipstick, blot up the excess, then use dry-cleaning fluid. For pet stains, blot any excess with paper towels, and then use a mixture of laundry detergent, ammonia and white vinegar. For shoe polish and ink stains, dab with paint thinner. For fruit juice and soft drink spills, mix 1 teaspoon of both laundry detergent and white vinegar in 1 quart of warm water, and sponge well. For burns, trim off fibers, and, if needed, glue in some extras from the edges. And that's the On The House tip for today.