5 Carpet Cleaning Hacks
From pets to kids to general foot traffic, your carpet sees a lot of action. While many carpets are built to last, even the best of them will eventually start to get dirty. Chances are that you don’t just have a magic wand on hand to take care of this, and you don’t want to shell out the money for a professional to come in. That is where we come in. This article is going to go over 5 carpet cleaning hacks that everyone should know to keep their home looking fresh and clean!
- Lint rollers and squeegees: These little tools are good for more than just their intended uses. If you live in a house with pets or kids, you may feel like just vacuuming isn’t getting the job done. Lint rollers (the extra sticky kind) and squeegees can be used to pull out those pet hairs and kiddo food crumbs from deep in the carpet, leaving a much cleaner surface. It takes a little elbow grease, but it is so worth the effort.
- Stain removal: The bane of the existence of any carpet owner, stains can make your rug look old and beat up. Well, we’ve got a little hack that should help with those! To start, you’ll want to vacuum the area to get rid of any particles, then you’ll want to treat the stains with a mixture of 3 parts water and 1 part vinegar. Let it settle into the stained area for at least 5 minutes. You’ll then take a towel and place it over the stain and use a heated iron to go over the top. This will basically act like a reverse temporary tattoo and pull the stain up and onto the towel and off the carpet.
- Smelly carpet cleaning hacks: If your home is shared with pets, this is especially common. The fix? A little sprinkle of baking soda! Sprinkle baking soda across your entire carpet and let it sit for a couple of hours (pets can go play in another room or outside while this works). When time is up, vacuum it all up and voila! If the odor is stronger than the baking soda, there’s a next-level step you can try. Mix baking soda, borax, and lavender essential oil together, then sprinkle that mixture the same way you would have with just the baking soda. The borax will kill off any hidden bacteria or microbes causing odors, and lavender will leave the room smelling nice.
- Solid spills: Dropped some food on your nice carpet? Don’t panic! Your first instinct might be to grab a paper towel to scoop it all up, but that runs the risk of pushing those items deeper into the carpet. What you should try to do is use a putty knife and a dustpan. Sounds odd, we know, but it works. Use the putty knife to scoop under and scrape the solid stuff into the dustpan. Then you can treat any staining left.
- Liquid spills: Oh, good heavens! Not the merlot on the cream carpet! If you have a party foul, or a liquid spill of any nature, on the carpet then take these steps ASAP for best results. Start with a wet/dry vacuum directly over the stain for a few seconds, then apply a cleaning solution of ¼ tsp of dish soap and 1 c water. Spray that onto the stained area and let it soak for a few minutes, then take a clean cloth and gently dab the area. Remember to work from the outside in. Then repeat this process using water until the stain is gone!
While there are plenty of other neat carpet cleaning hacks out there, these are a few of our favorites that are simple and effective.
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