How To Clean Carpets Without a Carpet Cleaner

Carpets lose their new appeal fast, and if you have children then you know full well that ‘take off your shoes at the door’ does not compute, and your dog and cat don’t speak English anyway. So what can you do at home about your stained carpet?

Contracted carpet cleaners found in the Yellow Pages are expensive, and at-home carpet cleaners are very good at removing tough stains, but what if you really only need to clean one spot of your carpet and want to do so without a large price tag? Well here is how to clean carpets without a carpet cleaner with cheap ingredients, all that is required is a little bit of elbow grease and scrubbing to reap the benefits.

1. Get a spray bottle or if you don’t own one use a cleaned out window or kitchen cleaner bottle and mix up equal parts of vinegar with water, and then spray on to the affected area. Allow the spray to settle in for around 8 – 10 minutes and take a towel, wet it, and scrub the carpet where you sprayed it.

2. If vinegar and water do not do the full trick, and some dirt still remains, then club soda is a fantastic purchase that works well all on its own. It is important that at no time you soak your carpet with club soda, and to just apply enough so that the area is covered. Leave to fizzle away for 5 – 10 minutes and then dab it dry with a tea towel or strong kitchen roll.

3. Traditionally, another great way to clean stains from carpets is to mix equal parts of salt, borax, and vinegar. This will form into a paste, to which you just rub into the affected area. Once dry, all you need to do vacuum the residue up to leave your carpet as good as new. This method is very effective, but make sure not to overdo it with the vinegar as it stinks.

4. For stains that have just happened and are still wet, the best way to deal with them is to get a clean dishcloth and apply some washing up soap, such as fairy, and then apply water and rub the washing up soap into the dishcloth until it bubbles. Apply the dishcloth to the stain and then scrub.

5. If your carpets look clean but smell a little bit, then to deodorize them all that is needed is some baking soda which you can sprinkle on to the carpet. You can leave it for only 5 minutes for it to make a difference, but I prefer to leave it on for around 15 as it tends to be much more effective. Make sure to vacuum it up afterward!