Cheap Ways to Clean Carpets

Maybe you or one of your friends has a carpet cleaner that you can use to clean your carpets, but you still have to buy the carpet cleaning chemicals. The chemicals alone can be the expensive part!

I discovered long ago that I didn't need to spend a lot of money to make my carpets look good. Using a few simple techniques, I could have my carpets looking brand new and only spend a couple of dollars. Since I won a carpet cleaner, that makes it even more affordable. If I didn't, I would simply borrow one rather than rent one. I surely would never pay someone to come clean the carpets for me! Well, okay, maybe if I was poolside with lots of money in the bank, but that's not the case.

Most people rent steam cleaners because they want to deep clean their carpets. That makes sense, but you don't need a steam cleaner to do it. What prevents dirt from coming up from the bottom of the carpet is the fact that the fibers of the carpet become mashed down over time and trap dirt in. The solution? A good vacuum and a push broom.

Vacuum the Carpet
Vacuum your carpet thoroughly. Before using the carpet cleaner, pull the carpet fibers up with the push broom. You can do this by pushing the broom from the front or pulling it from the back. Now, vacuum the carpet again.

Pretreat the Carpet
To clean the carpet, you first need to pretreat it. You can do this with carpet cleaner or some other cleaner, such as vinegar or peroxide. Just be sure to test the cleaner on a sample area to make sure it won't harm the carpet. Most carpet cleaners have a pretreat setting that allows you to use the carpet cleaner to pretreat the carpet. Prepare your soap mixture to pretreat the carpet.

Making the Mixture
Personally, I'm not a fan of buying overpriced chemicals. But, that's me. To save money and still make sure that my carpet gets clean, I simply use laundry detergent. I put the water in first, then add detergent. Otherwise, the water makes the bubbles overflow. Next, I twist the reservoir back and forth to mix up the water and soap.

Raise the Carpet Fibers
After I pretreat the carpet, I go back over it with a push broom to make sure that those fibers are really picked up. This helps the carpet cleaner to do its job even better. Next, I allow the pretreat to work for about thirty minutes.

Clean the Carpet
Use the same method you would use when you are vacuuming to clean your carpets. If you aren't sure if you are doing it right, just consider that you want to go over the carpet in more than one way. If you just keep going in the same direction, you aren't going to get all the dirt up.

Rinse the Carpet
After the carpet is cleaned, go over the carpet with plain water to rinse out any soap that is left in there. Your carpet cleaner will suck up most of the soapy water, but you need to make sure that you get it all out. That's the job of the plain water.

Soften the Carpet
I don't know about you, but I love the feel of soft carpet under my feet. Since I used laundry soap to clean the carpets, it probably won't be too hard for you to figure out how I soften them. You guessed it. Fabric softener! Using fresh water, I add a capful of fabric softener to the reservoir. Then, I go over the carpet just as I did when I cleaned it. After I soften the carpet, I go over it one time with plain water in the carpet cleaner. Allow the carpet to dry and enjoy!