Carpet Stain Remover

Oh, carpet stains. They are so much like laundry...you are never really finished with either. So when I happened to come across this article I was intrigued. Could removing carpet stains really be so simple and so cheap? Just one part ammonia, one part water, and steam the stain out?

In the past I've been a sucker for carpet sprays. Like RESOLVE for example. A 22 oz. bottle of RESOLVE costs about $4.23. Now put this into perspective. One gallon = 128 oz.

That means that one gallon of RESOLVE would cost $24.61!

Amazing.

In contrast one gallon of this homemade stain remover costs about $1.50 to make.

That's a 94% savings folks. But does it work? Well, let me show you how it worked for us. In the spring someone walked right into the house with muddy feet and left a few lovely dirt stains.

Jillee really did a great job explaining this process, so it was simple to follow.

1. Mix one part ammonia with one part hot water. I mixed one cup of each when I tried this.
2. Apply mixture to the stain. You DO want to give the stain a pretty good soak, so don't be too shy about wetting the stain.
3. Place a clean white towel (I used old baby burp cloths) over top the wetted stain.
4. Iron over the towel on the STEAM setting. This is what I saw after just ONE time ironing over the stain.
   
5. Repeat the process as desired.

A couple of notes:

• Your house will smell like ammonia for a few hours, there's no getting around it.
• If you have shag carpet iron in BOTH directions, otherwise you will only clean one side of the carpet fibers.
• This same process also lifted a red piece of salt water taffy that had been ground into my carpet!
• This creates ammonia gas (because you are evaporating the liquid ammonia), so keep the windows open and be careful about how much ammonia you are ironing up at a time.

Now, let's be honest. You can still see some of the stain in the AFTER picture, right? That's because the whole carpet really does need a professional cleaning. In fact, after I finished just this spot it was obvious how dirty my carpet really is. I mean look how CLEAN the carpet is right there in the middle of the old stain!

To sum things up, this process is amazing! It will certainly come in handy for spilled drinks, potty-training accidents, muddy footprints, and sticky food that gets caught in the carpet. I'm so grateful I came across this cleaning recipe!

$0.44 Couch Clean Up

My kids make a HUGE mess of our couches. We knew that would be the case and that's why we chose Microfiber upholstery. And it really is true...it's easy to clean--IF you catch the spill right away. Other wise you can run a cloth over the mess, but you can almost never get it completely clean.

And then there are the smells!

We use to rent a Rug Doctor each spring to clean our upholstery, but I recently tried something new and I love it even more.

All you need is:

• A good vacuum
• Baking Soda--likely the only thing you need to buy! And I got mine for $0.44 the other day.
• Water
• A washing machine and detergent

Step 1: Vacuum all the loose dirt off your cushions and frame
Step 2: Unzip the cusion covers and remove them. (Our seat cushions are foam, but our back cushions are filled with stuffing, so we used garbage bags to hold the stuffing while we cleaned).
Step 3: Throw your cushion covers into the washing machine (first make sure the dye in your fabric won't run). This is suppose to work for all microfiber material.

Step 4: While your upholstery is in the washing machine, use a damp cloth to clean the parts of your frame that can't go into the washing machine.
Step 5: Make sure that the couch is still damp...take a handful of baking soda and rub it all over the damp part of the couch.
Step 6: Trust me on this. Make a huge mess! Rub the baking soda into the fabric. It should make a flaky paste.
Step 7: Walk away. Leave the couch alone until the baking soda dries. We let ours sit overnight.

Step 8: While the soda is drying remove the upholstery from the washing machine and let it air dry. We like to use our dining room chairs for this.
Step 9: Vacuum the baking soda up, put the cushions back together, and reassemble your couch.
Step 10: Enjoy an odor-free, soft, and clean place to sit!