Hello and welcome back to Declutter Fast.
I received a great question: "Mimi what’s the best way to clean a wall-to-wall carpet?"
Here's what I personally recommend when it comes to carpets, both regular cleaning and STAIN cleaning, including how to clean the carpet in your CAR.
Older homes had wonderful wood floors. And often enormous rugs covering a lot of the floor, too.
(Plenty of homes still have one or both, of course.)
Then SOMEONE got a notion in his head to extend the rug wall to wall. (A whole new industry sprung up.)
Okay, carpeted rooms are nice in a lot of ways. As long as they stay really clean.
Is that ever totally possible? I doubt it, but we can pretend!
They can be as clean as they can be. Let's put it that way. They do collect dust, and it's tougher to remove dust from a stationary carpet than from a bare floor or a removable rug.
A clean carpet feels clean and fresh under your bare feet.
A carpet that needs attention feels different. "You just know" that you need to get to it and do something.
SOOOO... to keep your carpet clean, you have to be vigilant. As in - the vacuum cleaner.
Vacuum once as week. If you're really committed, or perhaps ready to be committed, then twice a week!
(If you're that industrious, I admire you!)
Do not let this go a long time - because DUST is real.
Now that's just maintenance. It takes MORE than that. And that means getting something on those fibers to CLEAN them from time to time!! Because vacuuming can only take you so far if you don't do MORE.
Do you really need steam cleaners or carpet shampoos, or guys sweating all over your house who care far less about what's under your feet than you do??
You really only need ONE thing to clean your carpet. And that's 3% Hydrogen Peroxide. It comes in a brown bottle and costs almost nothing. You'll find it in every store that carries rubbing alcohol, bandages, and the like. It's there, trust me.
Now here comes the tough part. You have to get on your knees for this one. That's a lot of square footage to travel on your knees. But you only have to do this twice a year.
Take a clean terrycloth rag. Soak the rag in straight 3% hydrogen peroxide from the bottle. This is NOT chlorine bleach and it does not remove color. HOWEVER, for any fine delicate rug, don't take any chances, DO test this first, JUST IN CASE.
Wring out the rag into a clean bowl. You will use the excess.
The rag should not be dripping wet, but it should be decidedly wet.
Take the rag and press it to the carpet. Go around the room working on one square foot at a time.
Press it to the carpet several times for each section. This will both clean the carpet without getting it too wet (you don't want that unless you have an actual stain) and it will remove any excess stuck-on dust or any other offenses you can't see that are actually there under your feet, day after day!
After your rag begins to look less than perfectly clean, take the rag to the sink and run plenty of water over it to get all the dirt out. You can even use a small amount of dish detergent to clean it, then rinse out all the soap! Then wring out the rag till it's almost dry.
Then cover the rag again with hydrogen peroxide (from the bowl and from the brown bottle as needed).
Again, wring out the rag until it's only wet, not soaking wet, and get thee back to work!
You don't have to do the entire room in one day. But you do have to remember where you left off! So mark your area somehow, to remind yourself.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
NOW - about real stains.
Hydrogen peroxide to the rescue again! This stuff works wonders.
THIS time, you want your rag to be more full of the liquid, for sure.
Apply the rag to the stain and press it gently.
Then wait one minute. This gives the hydrogen peroxide a chance to work.
If the stain is hardened, you may need to wait a little longer, but not much longer.
Then your job is to press the rag gently into the stain, repeatedly, and watch the stain begin to lift.
Clean your rag with water if needed, then wring it out and apply more hydrogen peroxide, and REPEAT the whole process until the stain is gone.
Once the stain is gone, get a clean, dry towel and press it into the carpet to absorb as much wetness as possible, until the carpet is almost dry.
Don't overdo getting your carpet wet. Under that carpet is padding, and you don't want the padding to stay wet - that's not good. It will sour on you and do some damage.
It's true that some stains go down to that padding, and those are different.
You may have to clean the padding too. That means taking the carpet off from the wall in that area - not fun at all. You will have to make sure the padding is completely dry before you put things back together again! Padding stains may require a professional, or just a complete replacement of your carpet - but maybe you can DIY even this.
But if a professional is not needed, then read on:
If a stain is really tough, I have been known to just apply hydrogen peroxide directly to the stain FIRST. Then wait a minute or two.
Hydrogen peroxide will evaporate well on its own - as long as you give it plenty of help with your dry towel!
* * * * * * * * * * * *
CARS!
Now for the real miracle and the real fun.
Let's face it, some cars have a carpet that is more stain than not!
That's expecially true if you let kids eat in your car... or if you do that often.
Things do spill, despite our best efforts.
But never fear, because this is where Hydrogen Peroxide is EPIC, and works real wonders.
The beauty is, there is NO padding under your car's carpet. It just covers a hard surface.
AND hydrogen peroxide dries fast, especially if you leave the windows open and let the sunlight in - which you absolutely MUST do after cleaning the carpet in your car.
You will love the results from this, whether you want your car to look better than it has for a long time, or whether you're getting your car ready to sell.
Now this time, you can be liberal in applying the hydrogen peroxide.
If you're lucky, your bottle has a small hole at the top, so the substance comes out more precisely where you want it to go.
So IF YOU HAVE A STAIN ON YOUR CAR CARPET, then pour the hydrogen peroxide directly on the stain and don't be shy. Be generous and don't worry, it's going to dry quickly.
FIRST, let the liquid sit on the stain for one or two minutes.
Then get your clean terrycloth rag (COTTON please, not synthetic) and press on the stained area gently. And keep pressing. Watch the stain magically get better and disappear. You may have to repeat this, but it WILL happen.
After you're finished, get a dry towel to absorb the liquid as much as you can (press the towel into the carpet), and then open the windows and let your car sit in the sun for a day or more. (Feel free to close the windows at nighttime.) Obviously, it's best not to do this when it's rainy.
Voila, you have a super clean carpet, and it cost you nothing but a couple of dollars and your time and effort.
And that's my method which I have used for decades to get rid of dirt and stains on carpet.
I hope you find that this works for you, too!
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Here's to the joy of order in your life.
With love,
Mimi Tanner
Author of Declutter Fast: How To Get Your Home In Order Almost Immediately
P.S. From an owner of Declutter Fast:
Dear Mimi, I got Declutter Fast a while ago. I found it fantastic and it worked brilliantly when I was moving out while renovating my house.
I decluttered and gave away to friends, charity shops, and dumped what I couldn't recycle.
I'll be moving back into my home soon and want to declutter what I brought with me when I moved out. I couldn't believe how much I got rid of and I never thought I would or could do it.
I would recommend Declutter Fast as I was a really bad hoarder for years and everything had an attachment and I got panic and anxiety attacks just thinking about giving something away.
I overcame it all because of your Declutter Fast program.
- C. C.
By the way: Did you know that I write a legendary email column for women? It's called "With Love" and it's all about your love life.
You can sign up for that column at
With Love Mimi Tanner.
I hope to see you there.
Declutter Fast is the original online program on how to declutter. Declutter Fast has helped and inspired tens of thousands of people to declutter their homes since 2006.
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