How to Remove Stains from Carpet
If you have been keeping up with my posts then you know I have been taking a little break and living in the slow lane for awhile to enjoy summer downtime. I have been puttering around, reading, doing small projects, organizing and even cleaning around the house.
I’m not obsessive about cleaning and I’ve learned ways of keeping my house neat and clean in a simple, stress-free way. I follow the “clean-as-you-go” method. :-)
The basic idea is that, instead of waiting for the house to get really dirty and then having to spend a lot of time cleaning it, I just clean a little bit at a time.
For instance, when I see spots on the bathroom mirror when I am brushing my teeth, I reach under the cabinet with my free hand and spray window cleaner on the mirror and wipe with a paper towel. Check…check… Teeth brushed and mirror clean.
Or when I am making dinner and standing at the stove waiting for water to boil, I may grab a mop and clean the floor. Two things that I really don’t enjoy… cooking and cleaning are done in one shot. :-)
I never take a whole day to clean… like EVER in my life.
A week after we got back from vacation and I was working out on my Pilates Reformer in a room I have rarely posted about, I saw a new stain on the carpet in the room and made a mental note to bring up the Spot Shot ® Pet Instant Carpet Stain & Odor Eliminator the next time I came upstairs.
In my previous house, I created a “Fitness Room” just for working out in. In the lake house, I don’t have this room anymore, but in its place is this multi-purpose room with wall-to-wall carpeting.
We call it the “pool room”, since the pool/ping-pong table takes up a large part of the room, but it really is a throw-all room with our fitness equipment as well as other junk we don’t know what to do with, but want to keep, hence why I consider it a bonus or multi-purpose room.
The previous owners left the pool table that turns into a ping pong table. I wasn’t so sure I wanted it, Ed did. After living here for a year and a half, I am glad we kept it as it has gotten plenty of use when we have family and friends over.
I haven’t done much to this room, except give it a doorway curtain made using paint chips since the room lacks a real door. I posted about this over on My Colortopia.
It is the darkest room in the house as it is on the side of the house where a row of trees keeps the doors and window in the shade most of the day.
The room is organized and usable, but I would like to make it over soon. There are two closets with louvered doors that I will eventually paint.
I use one of the closets as a place to store my crafting and creative supplies. The other is filled with boxes of family photos and luggage.
The walls are covered with dark 1970’s paneling that the previous owner painted white at some point. I removed the heavy draperies and rods, but haven’t done much else to the room besides place stuff in it and clean the ceiling fans and carpet.
The carpet is neutral and in good shape, except for a few stains of unknown origin that happen from time to time.
Like this one. I have always used Spot Shot ® Pet Instant Carpet Stain & Odor Eliminator to eliminate carpet stains and spots. Even though I don’t have pets anymore, I found I like the formula for pets. It is non-toxic and I like the smell. If you are using it for pet messes, it does remove that odor, too.
When using Spot Shot products, I have a little trick I thought I would share with you so that once you get the stain out, the carpet looks like new and not like it has just been dampened.
- Shake the can well and then spray Spot Shot Pet or the original Spot Shot over the stain, but spray lightly as you don’t need to saturate the stain. Let it sit for about 60 seconds.
2. Use a white absorbent cloth, I use an old white washcloth to blot and absorb the stain.
3. If stain is not gone, repeat steps 1- 2. If stain is gone, blot over the area with cool water on a sponge or rag. You want to make sure you remove all the cleaner from the carpet.
After stain is gone, here is my favorite carpet stain removal TIP: Use a plastic fork to fluff the wet carpet strands back to standing position.
This way the strands will dry straight up. No smooshed area where you rubbed to remove the stain that can look as bad as a stain can.. and shouts out to anyone entering the room… “Hey, look here… where there was once a stain”. :-)
To keep up with my “clean-as-I-go” house cleaning method, I took on a few other stains as I headed back downstairs along the hallway section of carpet…
…following the same carpet stain removal steps.
I really should keep a can of Spot Shot Pet upstairs since it is where most of the carpet is in the house and will make my “clean-as-I-go” method even easier. :-)
Now I only wish I had a “paint-as-I-go” method that would make getting the “pool room” made over as easily as it is to clean.
Do you use the “clean-as-you-go” method to clean your house or do you like to schedule a time to clean it from top to bottom?
This post is sponsored by Spot Shot ® Instant Carpet Stain Remover. All ideas, thoughts and opinions shared are my own.