Carpet Cleaner Rehab

When I talked about decluttering and mentioned my carpet cleaners, I thought I had two, at most maybe three bottles of carpet cleaning related containers.  Apparently I was in denial.

This picture was taken AFTER I finished 2 bottles of carpet cleaner (Spot Shot).

Amazon

And yes I included the bottle of vinegar in my carpet cleaning arsenal.  Time for an intervention.

We bought a Bissel carpet cleaner shortly after we got Bentley.  It's similar to this one:

Amazon

And after getting a second dog, I think our carpet cleaning arsenal exploded.

So rather than get rid of the carpet cleaners (many of the bottles are half empty), I went to town on the rug in our living room!

Disclaimer: This rug sits in our living room just inside the back door to the backyard and is the only piece of carpet in the main living space outside the bedrooms.  In the middle of winter = mud haven.  The rug gets used.  A lot.  And no I didn't take pictures of the before because I was mortified.  Bad blogger.

However, since I had the opportunity to use SO many of these lovely carpet cleaners, I can also provide a mini review!

Best at getting out stains: Spot Shot or Resolve
Spot Shot works best when you have a quick spot that you need to tackle and don't want to break out the whole steam cleaner.
Resolve works well if you have a carpet cleaner to suck up the cleaner because it does foam so much, but took care of stains that the Bissel Tough Stain didn't really touch!

Best smelling: Spot Shot or Woolite Pet Oxygen
Both are clean smelling, but the Woolite smell lingers a little bit longer.

Best for steam cleaner usage: Bissel Fiber Cleansing or Vinegar
I have used the Bissel Fiber Cleansing cleaner for YEARS.  I typically go over the carpet on "Heavy Duty" cleaning, then do a water rinse pass to get the rest of the cleaner out of the carpet.  When I didn't think I had enough of this cleaner left this time, I took a note from another blog (can't remember which) and used vinegar!  I think I should have diluted the vinegar more (maybe a 50/50 mixture?) but it DEFINITELY got the carpet the cleanest (visibly at least).  The vinegar smell lingered a little bit longer, but now (about 4 days after cleaning it) I can no longer smell the vinegar.
When comparing the two, Vinegar also definitely wins in the price department, as Bissell's cleaner is a little expensive.

And if you clean up a spot with any kind of carpet cleaner, ALWAYS vacuum after the spot has dried!


Now, after my carpet cleaning frenzy, I have one bottle of Woolite left! I will not be going out to buy more carpet cleaner until this bottle is gone, because in all actuality, they all work well enough that I don't need 6 bottles of carpet cleaner, and should I need to steam clean in a pinch, I've always got vinegar in my cleaning arsenal!

Another category done!  Now which one to move onto next?

My love affair with vinegar

I think I'm in love.  There really is nothing that vinegar cannot do!  After taking pictures for my last post I was ASHAMED by the white plaque of hard water that was all over the kitchen utensils.

Close-ups of the grossness:

Disgusting. So I did what every person does when faced with a dilemma - I asked my Mom what she suggests. She suggested soaking them in vinegar water, then washing them again in the dishwasher.  Duh! Why didn't I think of that?  Everyone knows my crush on vinegar with laundry - time to start in the kitchen!

About ten minutes after talking to my mom I already had the utensils in the sink, ready for their hot water vinegar bath!

While the utensils enjoyed their soak, I ran the dishwasher with CLR according to the directions on the back of the bottle to tackle the hard water buildup, then ran the dishwasher again through a full cleaning cycle to make sure to get rid of all of the CLR.  (This actually took about 3 hours total with me reminding to restart the dishwasher.)

After their soak, the whole lot looked like a new set of utensils!!! And did I mention it required ZERO scrubbing?!

I ultimately ran them through the dishwasher as a means to start fresh and new, then back to the utensil holder they go!  But not before a quick photo shoot on the counter.

Luke thought I had lost it: "What are you taking pictures of now?"

"Look at how clean the spoons are!" Sheer giddiness and excitement on my part.

How about a closer up?!

One more BEFORE:

AFTER:

I. Love. Vinegar.

AMAZING results from one conversation and about 5 minutes of effort - totally worth it!  Thanks Mom!

Quick Tips: Vinegar and Laundry

 Adding Vinegar to the Wash  Cycle

It may seem counterintuitive, but adding a splash of vinegar to your wash cycle can remove the "oops I forgot I was doing laundry" smell from those clothes that sat too long in the washing machine.  

I have been guilty of this a few times, and tried the vinegar method after seeing it on Pinterest.  I literally added between 1/4 and 1/3 cup of vinegar (I eyeballed it) to my wash cycle in addition to my normal laundry detergent. I can attest - the clothes come out smelling CLEAN!  Absolutely no smell of mildew OR vinegar!