Guest post by Melinda from eBay Selling Mom
I was in a jam. I needed to have my living room carpet professionally cleaned, but it was not in our budget.
There was only one thing I could think to do: I had to stick to my guns and stay frugal by using some good ol’ elbow grease, carpet cleaner (I bought it from the Dollar Tree), three large sponges, and a bucket of hot water. Thankfully my living room is not enormous!
I started out by getting the entire carpet wet with very hot water. (If you try this, be sure to wear a pair of rubber gloves so you don’t burn yourself!)
After the carpet was wet, I scrubbed very hard with my carpet cleaner and back and forth motions. Then I went over the carpets again with a sponge and some hot water to make sure the cleaner was pretty much of out the carpet.
I decided that I wanted to make sure the carpet smelled nice and pretty so I sprayed my Homemade Febreeze all over the carpet. (By the way, I actually think my homemade version smells better than real Febreeze!)
Next, I opened all of my windows to bring in the fresh summer air and waited for my carpets to dry.It took about a day for them to dry completely. Once they were dry, I vacuumed up all of the loose dirt and crumbs.
My husband said they looke and smelled better than if they had been done professionally! Even though it was hard work to clean my carpet by hands, it was worth it to save the $150 I would have paid for a professional cleaner.
Melinda is a stay-at-home mom to three beautiful children: Madeline, Micah, and Benjamin. She’s married to her wonderful husband Matthew. In her spare time, she enjoys blogging at eBay Selling Mom.
Rachel says
Just got an email from Newegg.com; they’re having a weekend sale and I noticed there’s a carpet cleaner there for $139.99 (normally $199.99) with this code: EMCYTZT806
The model is the “HOOVER F5914900 SteamVac With Clean Surge” & the deal is good through Sunday night.
I haven’t used this model but with some of the prices people have mentioned for renting a Rug Doctor, you can buy something like this to keep for the price of 2 or 3 rentals. My parents used to have a Bissell steam cleaner before they switched to hardwood. My sister now has it and still uses it and it works great.
J. Crews says
Most Lowe’s are carrying the new Bissel Green Machine (or something like that), and the ratings and reviews on it are incredible. I believe the price, where I am, is $15-20. And you used to be able to find $10 off coupons for it as well. I’d rather rent one of those, for around $10, if you can find the coupon, than save $5 and do it by hand. :oO
Hope says
I could never do my whole living room! It’s not very large but I’m sure my arms or knees would give out! Great job!!
I know many have spoken of mold but carpet isn’t made to last forever and I think if you look at the life span of carpet compared to the rate at which it will mold you will find that you’re carpet will outlast its life span before mold appears. Just a thought!
Another great spot treatment is shaving cream!
Hope says
I did some research and found this website: http://www.carpet-rug.org/about-cri/what-is-cri/frequently-asked-questions.cfm
It has a great info page that answers most of the common concerns people have been posting about! Also talks about using water to clean carpets.
Camille says
I tried this with spots on our carpet…. to very little avail. Bravo to your putting in all that hard work!
Karen says
We had to get new carpet in most of our house this year after it flooded in January due to frozen pipes. Fortunately, the insurance covered it all. One lesson we learned from the carpet company is that we have to have our carpets professionally cleaned every 12-18 months or it voids the warranty. We didn’t know that, and I had been steaming and cleaning the carpets myself every month for years. I had bought a cleaner for $100 and *thought* I was saving money doing it myself (the other carpets were white, and we have three boys who track dirt in constantly, vacuuming isn’t enough). Cleaning it yourself will save money short term, but if you have carpet under warranty, make sure to check the terms before you do, as voiding the warranty could be more costly in the long term.
Judy says
I have to agree with the other posters that this is not really the best method. My carpets looked spotless but we had to steam clean them before moving, the amount of soiled water that it extracted was shocking! Without that extraction that dirt/debris is just settling into the carpeting further. By using a steam cleaner you are really getting the carpeting a lot cleaner, and removing allergens! If the cost of a cleaner if too much ask around, I was surprised how many of my friends actually have steam cleaners and are more than willing to let you borrow it 🙂
jen says
I think everyone is just concerned about mold. They are very valid concerns. It could ruin the flooring. But, good job on trying to save your family money!
angi@schneiderpeeps says
Melinda, thanks for sharing a way that you thought outside of the box to do something for your family that needed to be done. I’m always inspired by people who are willing to try something different! I am definately going to have to try the homemade fabreeze recipe.
Katie says
I just cleaned my carpets with hot water + 1/2 cup of vinegar. We used to rent the steam cleaners, but figured at $25 a shot, I’d save money by buying my own machine (on clearance and with coupons) and doing it that way.
I was surprised how clean the plain vinegar water got the carpets, and they were dry in only 3-4 hours!
Kelly says
I have to agree with everyone else here. My husband owns a flooring company and as someone said – carpet isn’t made to get saturated! It’s also not meant to have a bristled brush scrubbing on it. The problem with most carpet shampoos/cleaners is the pH level and the ‘film’ they leave behind on the carpet fibers which actually attract more dirt to the same spot. This is why stains often look like they ‘re-appear’ a few days/weeks after spot treatments. Pre-treatment/stain removal should be pH balanced and general cleaning should be steam only. A really good professional steam cleaning should not leave the carpet feeling wet. You should be able to walk on it almost immediately. For home steamers (and we have one of those too), the suction is not as powerful so it’s best to open windows and turn on fans to completely dry the area as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, this is one frugal project that will cause more harm than good and cost a lot more down the line.
Johnlyn says
Great job working so hard for your family!!! I know what you mean….when it’s not in the budget it’s simply not in the budget!
Ruth says
I rented a rug doctor from the Dollar General for the day including the attachment and cleaners for $65 and was able to do the upholstery of 1 sofa, 2 loveseats, 3 recliners, the carpeting in the living room, dining room, family room, 2 bedrooms and the stairway. It took about 7 hours with doing all the work myself, including moving the furniture around. I doubt I will have mine done again professionally. It was a good workout, I saved money, and was pleased with the result.
amber says
For a few years I had been wanting to buy a carpet shampoo-er. We could not afford to buy a new one. Then last year while going to yard sales I was able to buy a Hoover for $30. I also would be afraid to let my carpet air dry. Before I had a carpet shampoo-er I would just spot clean areas. If you clean the spot when it first happens it is not that had to get out. After I would clean the area I would get a towel and stand on the area to absorb any excess water.
Christine says
Yuck! I’m afraid this is one way I won’t be saving money. If the water isn’t sucked out it has only one place to go, down deeper into the fibers. Bringing all the dirt with it. Maybe it will look claen for a little while, but it would drive me crazy knowing all the dirt was still there.
KatieBee says
Having dealt with the issues of home carpet cleaning (over-saturation of the carpet is the main problem – most residential models sold do not have enough power to suck all the moisture out), we had to replace our carpet due to mold down to the subfloor. Actually, we replaced twice – the first time we replaced the carpet and pad, not knowing the subfloor had been sufficiently wet – a little more than a year later, when we were all having terrible allergies, we had to replace it all plus the subfloors. Wish I had spent the $150 on a professional cleaning service that guaranteed their work – sometimes being “frugal” doesn’t actually turn out that way.
Laura says
SpotShot works GREAT on getting out those ugly black spots that appear on carpet. I use the spray version because it doesn’t leave an odor. This keeps my carpets looking great in between cleanings.
Lisa says
Don’t you have to scotch-guard it after it’s been cleaned to prevent dirt, etc. from sticking to the clean carpet? That’s what I’ve heard.
Carrie says
Some of the advantages to dry cleaning i.e. Capture:
-Will not remove scotch guard
-Removes mold/mildew/allergens which previous wet cleaning methods have created
-Is not dangerous chemical….it actually physically bonds itself to the stain/dirt and as it sits to dry will pull the dirt into the powder and you vacuum the powder/dirt up
*if you use too much there will be residue you do not need to use much at all.
-Wet cleaning is actually the WORST thing you can do for your carpets/health–ASK ANY ALLERGIST!
-With dry cleaning you do not need to move your furniture you don’t need to keep kids/pets off the carpet for hours….it only takes 30 minutes to dry.
http://www.captureclean.com/
Kris says
Sorry, but this was NOT a good idea. You put hot water on the rug that then soaked downward into sublayers, bringing the dirt with it. You then scrubbed and moved around the dirt which ground it further into the rug. You didn’t suck the dirt UP out of the rug, but only pushed it further down. While your intention was to make the rug LOOK cleaner, it probably is just truly dirty. I agree with the poster, Lara, who recommends just renting a do-it-yourself vacuum from you local home repair store for about $40. It probably something you should work into your budget twice a year. Your time and effort could be better spent elsewhere. Commons sense says that some things are WORTH paying for.
Jessica says
Just to point out that if you get carpets professionally cleaned they often take a day to dry as well. I have severe allergies/asthma and have gotten my carpet cleaned with a day dry time and had no issue. Putting lots of fans on it really does help.
I have to get the steam cleaning though, we cannot use any chemicals on the carpet due to my respiratory issues.
We have hard hardwoods in the past but I just prefer carpet.
Sara S says
It only cost us $29 at the local Lowes to rent a carpet cleaner for 24 hours and the cleaning solution. Well worth it IMO as a time-saver.
RandomCreativity says
I hate carpet – it gets so nasty and is a pain to clean! I can’t think of any reason to want it, especially since we only get a month or two of cold weather here a hard floor is preferable.
I found a carpet cleaner for $80 on black Friday 5 years ago – I don’t think I could stand the carpet in our apartment without it, and it does a much better job than scrubbing it yourself. I am so looking forward to moving into a house with NO carpet next month. 🙂
Joy says
Someone gave me a Hoover SteamVac a few years ago and it was the best gift anyone has ever given me! I have six children, so our carpets can take quite a beating.
Here are my few tips:
Always pretreat – I do this with a carpet cleaning spray and then scrub the area with a stiff brush
To avoid mold/mildew – I go over the carpets first with the cleaning solution, then I go over and over and over again just using the sucking feature. This gets the most amount of moisture out possible. Then I turn the a/c on while it is drying. The a/c helps get more moisture out.
I also will send the kids to bed, then clean the carpets so that they have a whole night to dry w/o little feet walking all over them. When I need to do a bedroom, I do it right before bedtime.
DeAnn says
I used to work in the flooring industry, and carpeting is not made to get washed. Any type of cleaning involving water will cause your carpet to wear out faster- and that includes having it professionally done. That being said….. I have kids and pets and I have rented a Rug Dr. myself- because sometimes you just really need it clean! However, you have to get it dry as soon as possible- put fans on it all day. The best way to clean and protect your carpet is to use a dry cleaner- Capture is expensive, but it works wonders. Or you can use baking soda. Sprinkle it all over your carpet, rub it in with a brush, let it sit for a while (the dirt binds to it, while the soda also absorbs odors). Then vacuum it up.
Andrea says
The dry powders will shorten the life of your vacuum, because the fine grit gets in the motor. It really seems like you can’t win with carpets!
Erin says
Just wanted to mention these dry powders don’t get vacuumed up completely and they end up under the carpet and padding. We replaced our carpet when we moved into this house and was amazed at how much powder was under the carpet padding. we had never used it but the previous owners must have (they had pets and might have been trying to cover up the pet odor)
Tosh says
God Bless You Melinda! Cleaning carpets by hand is hard work.
I own a steam cleaner and have had it for just over five years now. It was well worth the cost and have kept are carpets, including our vehicles and upholstery, looking like new with four boys living in the house. I bought this cleaner for the very reason that it would suck up excess water when spilled. It does a fantastic job, my carpets are dry in less than an hour after cleaning them. I use the resolve carpet cleaner solution but only about a teaspoon per fill up and I use this every other time. So one time I use the cleaner the other time I use just hot water. I know that without cleaning the carpet regularly, three times a year and then spot cleaning, we would have had to buy new carpet by now.
Maegen says
We invested in a Bissell steam cleaner a while back and between our dog and our little boys, it’s definitely been worth it!
If you’re a Kohl’s card holder, you can sometimes get decent deals on them when they’re offering their extra 30% off.
I’m glad it worked out for the author. I have to admit, I’d never be brave enough!
Bethany says
How do you keep it from molding?
ERIKA M says
I agree with so many of the other comments!
1) That leftover water will cause mold, though you might not see it right away.
2) If you are going to do it yourself, rent one from Home Depot-$18 for 4 hours.
3) If you rent, sanitize and clean the brush and bucket before you use it on your own home!
4) If you don’t rent one, invest in a shop vac which can also suck up excess water.
5) Vinegar will clean and disinfect great but you still shouldn’t leave your carpets/floors wet.
I really commend the writer of this post, I think she did what she thought was best, and maybe feels others are attacking her, but really, saving money can hurt you here.
Liz@learninglifewithliz says
I was afraid of that too that the writer may think she’s being attacked for this. I wouldn’t have known any of this information if she didn’t post this article though! She may have saved a ton of people from doing similar methods. We all have to learn somewhere. 🙂 So by writing this post, she probably saved people lots of money…which is the reason for this site! I am very happy she wrote this post and we can all learn from it.
Cheryl Weber says
Congrats for at least trying to get the job done and save your family some hard cold cash doing it. I guess as seen there are some reasons that this method may not be the very best, but I doubt one time will make or break you. Especially doing it in the summer months.. I have gone away from water al together. My house is mostly hard wood, but, I have a couple of very large area rugs..One is cream.. I prefer the dry cleaners. Resolve makes a good one, available most anywhere..you shake it on and let dry, I like to dry overnight, then vacume up. It really pulls spots and odor..Unlike water, the sposts don’t seem to come back so quickly. Each can is about 8.00 and a 12×15 rug takes 2 cans and about 30 minutes of scrub time. Last time I ran out at the end and grabbed some baking soda..I was suprised it really helped as well..Hope this helps someone who is deciding on what to use. The other really nice thing about this is, by keeping it on hand you can spot clean any time you want with little to no effort..It never turns into a big JOB!!!
Pamela says
In the past I’ve paid a nationally well known company to come in and steam clean my carpets and I have to say that the carpet didn’t look any better than when I rented a machine and did them myself. One tip to save money is to NOT buy the expensive shampoos they try to sell you to put in the rental cleaners, just add Pine-Sol or Mr. Clean to the hot water and trust me, your carpet will come out very clean and deodarized in one step!
melody says
I have to agree with some others that this method is almost certain to cause mildew in the carpet pad. There simply is no way to get it dry enough fast enough. Just imagine water damage in the house with the water sitting on the carpet for that period of time. A family would want to have it professionally cleaned and dried! I’m not trying to be a bummer here and I compliment the author on her hard work and ingenuity! I’m speaking as someone who has very bad allergic response to molds. We were first advised by the allergist not to carpets at all and if we do, to never have them cleaned by traditional wet methods but only the companies that basically dry clean your carpets, like ChemDry. Even a person doesn’t have allergies, mold still causes negative reactions in many people.
Amanda says
I cleaned my carpets last week by borrowing my boss’s steam cleaner. I just had to buy the solution for it and clean it when I was done! And I love how clean my house is now!
Carrie says
I work in the carpet care industry and would like to give my two cents worth. I think renting “Rug Doctors” or any other type machine is not the most sanitary option. After the Atlanta Flood a few years back people were looking desperately for a rental to clean up all their flood water (much of the flood water was sewage) and when you think about it you never have any idea what the renter before you used the machine to clean up. I doubt that the employees of the supermarket where you rent the machine deep clean/sterilize the machine before renting it out again. My husband is very allergic to cats and I can’t imagine having a machine which had previously been used by a cat-owner combing though my carpet strands. The other comments re: leaving cleaning residue behind and wet cleaning creating mold/mildew are very valid points. The way I clean my carpets is using a dry carpet method i.e capture from home depot and either a hand brush or renting an orbiter machine. This way you do not leave cleaning product residue or water remnants in the carpet. I am able to clean my carpet as often as needed (which is often with two toddlers) and have been able to get out all kinds of terrible stains.
Laura says
Carrie is right. 🙂 gonna be buying one of these from you soon, girl. 🙂
Laura says
I’ve never heard of this. Thanks!
Jenny says
does this Capture stuff leave a residue? I don’t want to feel like there is anything on the carpet.
Thanks!
Carrie says
If you use too much…yes. You need to sprinkle it lightly not like heavy snowfall. It’s really awesome stuff.
http://www.captureclean.com/
Kathy says
I used the Oxyclean recipe I found on this site and I cannot believe how well it cleaned my carpets! We have an older dog who has started to have accidents and I did not think anything would ever get out the stains. I tried carpet cleaner after carpet cleaner and nothing worked until I found the homemade Oxy solution. Thank you Money Saving Mom!
beingjennifer says
Can you link to the Oxy recipe?
Michelle Rayburn says
I was able to get a Hoover steam cleaner vac at a yard sale for $15. I just did my carpets and it’s so nice to have them clean!
Amy says
You can rent carpet cleaning machines at the Home Depot or Lowes for about $20.00 a day here.
CouponFrugality says
Cool!! Before my clearance shampooer find at Walmart (Bissell Reg. $300 marked down to $75) I used to rent a shampooer from a local vacuum repair shop, it cost $30. I used a homemade paste, from nothing more than vinegar, baking soda and water to treat stains. I would put water and vinegar as the “soap” in the machine. Of course, while the carpet is damp it smelled like vinegar, but after it dried no smell was left. Clean carpets and no soap residue anywhere. Works like a charm!!
Lindsay says
I agree this could really do more harm than good. There is no way you could get all that water and soap out and that is going to cause mold and more build up on the carpet from the soap. 3 years ago we did a lot of research and invested in a Hoover Steam Vac for $150 from Amazon (free shipping!) and has paid for itself 20 times over. With 3 kids, a dog, and 2 cats we always have messes. I can’t imagine what our carpet would look like without it. I just steam cleaned our whole house a few weeks ago before my daughter birthday in about 3 hours. It would have cost $300-$400 professionally and it looks fantastic!! It’s well worth the investment if you have kids and carpet!
Margaret says
I’ve rented the carpet cleaner from Home Depot twice now. It’s great and only costs $18 for 4 hours (or $25 for the whole day).
I was able to shampoo the entire house (in less than 4 hours) before we moved out of our rental and I really think it helped us get all our deposit back. I rented it again to do my mom’s whole house and a rug that had been in storage (again, in less than 4 hours).
I’ve never paid for a professional cleaner and I don’t plan on it. 🙂
Amanda says
Our local landfill has a swap shop for household chemicals that you can bring in and also take as needed free of charge. This is a good thing to look into for carpet cleaner.
Becky says
When we bought our house the carpets were aweful! A friend of ours paid for the carpets to be cleaned, as a gift. But even after that they weren’t much better. In desperation, my husband decided to pull up a corner, to see what was underneath. We were seriously considering painting the concrete! Instead of concrete, there were lovely old hardwood floors! We couldn’t believe someone covered them up! They required a little cleaning, and there is one water damaged area, but much better than that nasty carpet! So my advice now is if you live in an older home, pull up the carpets! You just never know!
Amy K says
I was going to comment that a wet/dry shop vac should be used to remove excess water. I would worry about water soaking into the carpet. we recently had a roof leak after a huge down pour,and it seeped into the carpet causing mold in less than a week!
Another idea is to borrow or buy a used (or find one on freecycle) steam cleaner. The cost of that used over and over will be less than professional cleanings over time.
Kellie says
I rent the Rug Doctor at Bilo for about $26. Sometimes the cost can be cut in half if you have a friend or family that need to share when you rent it. I do not buy the cleaner they try to sell to you, I just mix a tad of soap with hot water and a little vinegar, works well.
Lindsay says
Having allergies/asthma in our home I would also be leary of not sucking that water up out of the carpet. We used to rent a Rug Doctor a couple of times a year and split it with our neighbor. You get the machine for a whole day so that is plenty of time to get one house completely cleaned in the morning and get it over to the neighbor’s house for the afternoon. It only ends up costing around $20 a house this way.
Tawra Kellam says
I couldn’t see the other comments so maybe this was mentioned but you can use a shopvac to get all the water out of the carpet. It works like a charm!
Also, if you live in a place like Kansas where it’s very humid after you shop vac it out you will want to take towels, lay them on the carpet and then walk all over them to get as much water out as possible. Otherwise your carpet will mildew. Then be sure to set up as many fans as possible!
sherri says
we have a room-size area rug in our den. With two toddlers, there are juice spots that attract dirt especially in the areas they play. We are working on only drinking in the kitchen, but until then, we use woolite spray ($5 per can, but works wonderful) and a terry towel periodically to “spot clean” those specific areas. Borrowing a steam cleaner is an option for us too which is nice but VERY time consuming and inconvenient to have wet floors. I am sure there are some wonderful natural cleaners (vinegar, baking soda, etc.) that would do wonders on a carpeted area. I do love hardwood flooring but can’t imagine only having that for children (unless allergies or asthma are involved).
Enjoyed the article, will probably try the homemade febreeze, but would probably be on the lookout for a good groupon for a cleaning if I could squeeze it in the budget 😉 as opposed to this method. I do like the idea of doing something yourself to save money…. like ironing clothes as opposed to the cleaners.
Becky says
We have both cats and children. We invested early in a Green Machine spot cleaner for our rugs. It has paid for itself many times over in how long our rugs last!
Kristine says
I have a Green Machine cleaner, too, and I love it. We used to have a bigger steam cleaner, but it was stolen from a storage unit after we moved. The place we’re living in now doesn’t have a lot of carpet anyway (just in the living room and on the stairs), so the Green Machine works well for our needs.
Heather says
We have all hardwood/laminate/tile flooring and our 4 kids haven’t seemed to mind a bit. Makes for tough knees! Have a rug in each bedroom and the living room. Got rid of the rug in the family room because it was too nasty – so glad I did. Nobody has missed it. I can’t imagine the stress of carpet.
Sara@Save Money, Live Joyfully says
We have no carpet in our house. I love my wood and tile. We have a 3 year old and a little one on the way, and we have haven’t had any problems. We just buy soft rugs for the children’s areas 🙂
sherri says
We did carpet in bedrooms but hardwood throughout the rest of the house with the large rug in the den. I think that hardwood is a great INVESTMENT, just because it doesn’t wear in high traffic areas like carpet. The rugs help the “echo” factor too, lol.
Laura says
I have porcelain tile in my entry and am not a fan. It is very slippery when wet and a big chip broke off when I dropped some canned food on it. : (
Andrea says
Not all tile is slippery; some are worse than others.
Laura says
A lot of people seem to like tile, so I figured there had to better varieties out there. Ours has a slick coating on the top. It is probably ceramic, not porcelin.
danielle says
i borrow my MIL’s carpet cleaner she got for 80 bucks…it is not the best but if i scrub at the major problem areas it comes out great and then it pulls the excess water out of the carpet…which i think is very important. I don’t think i will be doing it this way. I think around Christmas i am going to buy a carpet cleaner from Kohls with a 30% off coupon and it shouldn’t cost too much maybe the cost of one professional cleaning
Jess says
Our Target has the Bissell Pro Heat Pet version on clearance right now it was under 150. I’m not sure how I happened to notice that since I have one already and am not looking for a new one!
Danielle says
Oh thanks I will have to check this out!
Lara says
I rented a carpet cleaner from Lowes… with the coupon I had, it was only 40. Ok.. more than the cleaner from the dollar store, and water.. but my carpets were clean, and dry in an afternoon! I did ‘spluge’ on the extra duty cleaner too… (included in price above), and I was super happy with the results! The cleaner didn’t put out much water on the carpet, only enough to get it wet enough to clean. So worth the cost! And it didn’t take me long. I actually got all the carpets done in an afternoon! (Living room, and 4 bedrooms, and hall!!!!)
Elias says
Thanks. You answered my question. 🙂 I swear, I feel like a whole new person when my carpets are cleaned. Ha!
Emily says
We rent a Rug Doctor twice a year to clean our carpets. It runs us around 50 to 65 dollars, depending on the soap and extra attachments we need. But I’d rather work that into the yearly budget than scrub on my hands and knees and risk mold.
Nancy says
The rug doctor can leave carpets just as wet and mold prone. Any water based system has this potential,
Liz@learninglifewithliz says
For the price you pay per year, ($100-$130) you could probably buy a carpet cleaner and it would pay for itself after a couple of uses. Plus you don’t have to pick the big thing up from the store and lug it back and forth. I had a rug dr. spill in my car once..(The people at the store forget to empty it from the previous customers!) Not fun..lol 🙂
Elias says
We have the luxury of being related to someone who owns a professional carpet cleaner but I wanted to add that we find it is better to clean every other time with just water in the machine. When we use soap over and over, it just attracts more dirt. Also, I was curious as to how much it would cost to rent one from a local home improvement store. It might be worth paying a bit more to have everything sucked up. This post might be a good idea for in between cleanings?
Jill says
You can also use a cheaper shop-vac to suck up the water. I did this on my stairs. We have a steam cleaner, but the attachment on it is a joke. I find it easier to do it by hand, but I use very little water and vacuum it up with the shop-vac.
Keiva H. says
Although this is an excellent solution, it is only temporary! You may have actually done more harm then good! I know from experience! The problem is the water under the carpet trapped in the padding that causes mold and in addition, in a few months those stains will come back. I only use a carpet cleaner that actually cleans just like a dry cleaner would clean your clothes, it has done wonders for our carpet even though it has cost us $100 a pop! We do intend(pray fervently) to sell our house so that influences this decision.
jennifer says
For us, it was well worth the expense of buying a Hoover steam-cleaning machine. 3 cats, 1 boy and now a dog…and now we are in a rental that only has carpet in the upstairs and back porch. Still comes in handy though!
When we sold our home, we did hire the professionals to do the carpets. I wasn’t going to tackle the stairs myself.
Rae says
yes I have a home cleaner too and boy does it come in handy with my three year old who can make a stain in the air!
natalie says
I bought one too, on sale and paid for with some Kohls cash so it ended up being about $70 (for $200/version) and it’s been well worth the expense!
Brynn says
Yes, I love this author’s tenacity at saving money and doing the work herself, but having a child with Cystic Fibrosis I can tell you, water that is not contained and dried WILL cause mold and mildew. If the carpet gets very wet and is not dried quickly, it WILL go through to the carpet pad and subflooring. We are in the process of switching over all of our flooring to hardwood (oh the expense!! I wish we could have done it all already in the 8 yrs since we’ve had our house but it is costly!) and recently in our master bedroom we had a water spill and when we took up the seemingly dry as a bone carpet, the carpet pad and subflooring were soaked. I don’t mean to be a downer, just trying to help if there is a family with any kind of allergies or asthma, please be careful.
chelsea says
We used to borrow a carpet cleaner from someone when we needed to clean our carpets, but now that we have hardwoods, they are a dream to clean! They are 40 years old and original to the house, but I would take them over carpet any day. We had to pull up carpet in a corner of our old house when we were selling and oh. my. goodness. The pad and subflooring were disgusting. That was convincing enough for me to know hard floors are the way to go!
Becky says
Chelsea–how do you clean your floors? We just moved into a house about the same age, with two stories of wood floors. I’m thrilled from an allergy perspective, but have been struggling with how to keep them clean. My vacuum just blows the dirt around. Sweeping gets the gritty stuff, but they still have dirt–especially in the dining room. Any suggestions?
Johnlyn says
A Dust mop works great at doing a big job quick, but doesn’t get really close to the mop boards.
I clean my hardwoods with a splash of vinegar in a bowl of hot water…then wring out my mop really well. You only want a damp mop!
I think flylady sells a dust mop, but I’m not sure. I just picked up a cheapie one at Walmart, but wish I would have gone to a Home store and bought a real nice one.
Emily says
A steam mop! I bought the Haun Slim and Light from Amazon and I love it. The Haun is great because it uses steam to clean instead of chemicals. It also runs at a constant 212 degrees so it sanitizes as well.
Jessica Y says
I have been looking at that particular mop. My big problem is a cloudy film that any type of cleaning leaves on my wood veneer floors. Have you noticed any problem with this. And how does the carpet glide work? Thanks.
Emily says
@Jessica Y
I love my Haun steam mop. I do not notice a cloudy film and when I mop it dries quickly. The carpet glide is just an attachment that snaps on and allows the steam mop to glide over carpet easily. It does not require you to use a mopping pad, so the steam directly touches the carpet. I steam the bedroom carpets and rugs with it after I vaccum and the rooms just smell fresher. I love the mop! 🙂
Barbara says
I have hardwood and laminate in my house and I recently bought a Shark Steam mop. I love it!! I can mop and sanitize my floors with NO cleaners!!! I never liked using chemicals on our floors and this was a fantastic solution! It does beautifully on hard wood, laminate and vinyl.
Barbara says
Oh, and I also love using it on the tile in our bathrooms!
Addie says
When we purchased our home we removed all the old carpet before moving in. I would rather have nothing on the floors than dusty dirty moldy carpet. We replaced the carpet with an inexpensive wood floor. I buy rugs that I can wash. My good friend is a clean freak, she cleaned her carpet every month. When they replaced the carpet in their home the underside and pad was almost solid mold.
jessica says
@ Brynn, is it possible for you to do anything besides Hardwood??
A friend of mine son in law re did her Kitchen floors with something that looks hard wood but isn’t and it’s beautiful and cost slightly less… could that be an optoin for u??
robyn says
there’s a laminate or a plank vinyl flooring. looks like hand-scrapped wood but is vinyl planks. looks great and is super easy to clean but it is vinyl and if you’re in a humid area you’ll probably have to replace after 2-3 years since vinyl has a tendency to curl.
Sarah says
Vinyl out-gases a lot. I would not use it if I could help it. Hardwood, bamboo, cork or good old linoleum are all stuff you could consider.
Joy says
I highly recommend Pergo, esp. if you have young kids. Looks like wood, but much easier to take care of and just as beautiful.
analisa says
If you mix your cleaner with a little bit of vinegar it helps with the foam and excess soap residue!
jessica says
vinegar and water solution is also used by professionals to prevent mold… I.e when my house flooded they came in sprayed w vinegar and put fans on to let it dry … so this may help in the future to prevent mold if u do this again
natalie says
Vinegar is also a great odor remover and acidic enough that it kills quite a bit of germs.
peever says
Agreed. I was told by my carpet cleaner guy to just use a vinegar and water solution on the carpet. He said 9 parts water to 1 part vinegar. We have a hairball prone cat so that’s what I use to clean up all his messes. Works great.
Melinda says
Thanks, that’s a great tip 🙂
Joanne says
Nice Job!
melly_mat says
hmmm… what is your fabreeze recipe?
Crystal says
It’s linked in the post.
julie says
Just anFYI – my carpet guy told my to use store bought carpet cleaners sparingly (or rinse well) because any cleaner that is left on the carpet will attract more dirt, so down the road it will look even dirtier.
Dame says
This! Its why when I use my carpet cleaner I go over it unless the water I pull up is no longer sudsy and THEN I do it again just for good measure. All that soap left in the carpet fibers is really going to waste money, not save it.
Sorry Melinda, but this is one of these money savers that is really not. Its better to rent a rug doctor ($25 a day here) or a friend’s carpet cleaner. Better for the life of the rug.
Liz@learninglifewithliz says
I was thinking the same thing about the rug dr. It would definitely take less time. But I think Melinda’s method would be good for spot cleaning. 🙂
Melinda says
Believe me I did want to get a professionally carpet cleaner, but I was in a time crunch and it was not in the budget. The cheapest I could find to rent one near us was 50.00 per day and the solution was anouther 20.00. In the article I did not mention that we rent this house so I have considered putting in a request for the owners to pay for the cleaning, especially since we have 2 toddlers and a baby. It’s not easy keeping this carpet cleaned and it has not been professionally cleaned since we moved in over one year ago.
angel says
We have a carpet cleaner (it’s served us well 6 years now) and I just use boiling water in it, never any soap and it becomes just as clean as with the professionals do it!
Raine says
That’s true, but even many of the shampoos the professionals use do the same thing. One way to avoid it, or to remove the cleaner residue, is to shampoo with hot water and white vinegar, or at least use that as a final rinse after using the cleaner.
Some people use milder solutions, but I use about 1/3 vinegar to 2/3 hot water, because it cleans, deodorizes, and helps prevent mold growth. We have 2 large indoor dogs and this has been a lifesaver.
Sandy says
Just an FYI, if you don’t remove excess water it can cause mold.
Melinda says
Sandy that you for letting me know about that. I think I did get the carpet well dried out, but I do see how that could be an issue. My children’s health is more important that money.