When we got our townhouse in Massachusetts, the carpets were riddled with dirt & grime. I was pregnant with our son at the time, and the carpets were so disgusting that I refused to even take my shoes off, for fear of how filthy my socks would get from our carpet. The house had been owned previously by a rental company and, let’s face it, many renters do not care about keeping a home nice that doesn’t technically belong to them.
When my in-laws saw how horrible the carpets were, they offered to purchase a small steam cleaner for our new place. They took us to Target and invested in a small Bissell Steam Cleaner for our new home and some bottles of cleaner for us to deep clean the carpet.
Despite our best efforts, we ended up having to replace the carpet throughout the entire house and then two years later, we moved here.
The Bissell Steam Cleaner has been sitting in the basement the whole time we have lived here despite having some carpet in this house. Other projects have come before deep-cleaning carpets, but the other day as I was vacuuming, I realized that one of the reasons I do not like our lower level carpet is because the carpet doesn’t seem clean to me.
A light bulb went off and I ran downstairs to grab the steamer and cleaners. I poured the cleaner into the steamer and started steaming our playroom. The water that I dumped out was a murky gray and I made my husband come in and look at all the yuckiness I was able to suck up. After all, isn’t that what husbands are supposed to do? What is being married all about, if not for the fact that we can witness the grossness together?
After steaming those floors and feeling the pride in how clean they were, I was ready to steam all the other carpets and rugs in our home. Unfortunately, the cleaner had run out so I would have to invest in some more of the carpet cleaner… Or would I?
I ran downstairs and started searching on the internet to try and find if there were any alternatives to the pricey carpet cleaners. Sure enough, I came up with several recommendations from the commercial carpet cleaning companies.
If you do not want to buy the cleaners, simply fill the tank with the hottest tap water possible and throw in a cup (or two for a large tank) of white vinegar. Begin steaming as you did with the commercial cleaners and stand back in amazement as you notice that this inexpensive solution works just as well as the pricey cleaner.
My main concern with the vinegar was that it would make our carpets smell like vinegar. I need not worry though because vinegar has great odor neutralizing properties , so after about an hour my carpets smelled fresh and they no longer harbored the bad smells or the vinegar smell.
Now that I know how cheap it is to do this, I am more motivated than ever to keeping our carpets fresh and clean.
What are some of your favorite homemade remedies for cleaning items in your home?
Thanks for the vinegar tip, Amy. I’ve had good results using diluted vinegar as a spot cleaner, but never thought to use it in the machine.
We have one of these machines too (and come to think of it, we REALLY need to use it!)
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I’m glad to see this post! We really, really need to clean our carpets, and I’ve been debating spending money to rent a cleaner. Maybe I’ll take a look at the machine you mentioned. With little kids (and potty training!) they need it more than a few times a year!
My mom uses white vinegar for lots of things. Throw a cup in the rinse cycle of your washer and it is a great softener as well as removing the rest of the detergent from your clothes (she does a lot of volunteer work making preemie clothes for hospitals), she also uses it to rinse the windows – no streaking!
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I live in an apartment and we love owning a carpet steamer. We bought it when our dog was a puppy, for his accidents, and we have been hooked ever since.
We have used hot tap water because I was told that if you don’t remove all of the cleaner than it has a tendency to attract more dirt. I don’t know how true this is but I think adding a little vinegar would be perfect!
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I use cut lemons and baking soda for cleaning. (such as cleaning the stovetop) It’s cheap and smells nice too!
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I think I need one of those!
Oh and you can always add a few drops of essential oil (lavendar is my favorite) to any homemade cleaning solution. It has natural antibacterial properties and it smells great!
Baking soda is a great mild abrasive for cleaning all sorts of things.
I also use distilled vinegar in my rinse cycle instead of fabric softener.
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Interesting article about utilizing domestic carpet cleaning machines.
It’s good to see there are hygienic methods people can use at home without blowing hundreds of dollars hiring a carpet cleaner when the young one spills something.
Keep up the good work I say.
Mark Briody
Author
The Carpet Cleaning Consumer Guide
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I have a Hoover Spin Scrub Steam Vac that works wonders. I use a product called Folex and it is truely amazing! I also add about 1/2 cap of Downey in the water, it leaves your house smelling fresh for weeks.
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I have started using vinegar for everything!
I still have a stockpile of cleaning supplies but after I use them all, I will no longer buy any more commercial cleaning supplies!
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Amy Reply:
March 10th, 2011 at 8:04 pm
I agree, Amy, there is so much we can do with vinegar, baking soda, and other items out of the pantry. I am learning to rely less and less on commercial cleaners. Thanks so much for your comment!
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Just an FYI:
Vinegar is the only thing that will get cat pee out of your furniture too. It may take 2-3 times, but it does work!
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Amy Reply:
March 10th, 2011 at 8:04 pm
FABULOUS tip, Kimberly! Thank you so much for sharing!
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Ahh, Vinegar! Is there anything it CAN’T do!?
I assume that this will only work if you have a steam cleaner. But perhaps investing in that up front will pay off if you can use a much cheaper cleaning solution, with the same results as with the expensive cleaners.
I also like the tip about pouring a little fabric softener in there, for a more refreshing freshness.
)
Thanks for sharing!!
P.S. If anyone is looking to purchase a steam cleaner, Target frequently has them on sale, with a high value giftcard incentive attached, usually at least $20 – 50. (Think of all the vinegar you could buy with fifty bucks!)
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Amy Reply:
March 10th, 2011 at 8:03 pm
That is exactly how I feel about it too- vinegar is the cure all my cleaning needs! I love your tips on how to get the steam cleaners for less. Our steam cleaner was a gift from our in law’s and we absolutely loved using it especially when we lived in an apartment where the carpet was much more questionable
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I’ve just started using a vinegar and water mix to clean my laminate wood floors. I still use my Swiffer to mop it up, but now I spray a water & vinegar mix from a spray bottle instead of using the Swiffer cleaner. No overpowering “Swiffer” odor anymore, and the floors look better when I use this inexpensive solution!
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Amy Reply:
March 10th, 2011 at 7:54 pm
I love this idea, Joanna! I am working on some reusable Swiffer covers too to share for our spring cleaning round-up!
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