6 Carpet Cleaning Hacks To Try Right Now

Keeping your carpet clean might seem like a challenge at the best of times.

Your carpet has to do a lot between the dog, kids, and a full glass of red wine. But most of us cannot afford to replace our carpets regularly. Follow our carpet cleaning hacks to make them last as long as possible.

What Are the Worst Offenders of Carpet Stains?

Your carpet is typically the first thing your feet touch when you enter the door. Even if you have a ‘shoes off’ policy, mud and dirt can easily make their way into the home. You inevitably drop something that will produce a big, ghastly-looking stain.

Some of the worst staining offenders are usually substances you’ll find around your home, such as:

• Red wine and grape juice (or anything grape-based).

• Coffee.

• Makeup (namely, lipstick and wax-based products).

• Anything tomato-based, including ketchup, tomato soup, and tomato paste.

• Bleach.

• Pet urine.

Carpet Cleaning Tips

So, how do you keep your carpets looking pristine? A weekly run around with the vacuum often isn’t enough. Here are a few professional carpet cleaning hacks to ensure your carpet looks as good as new.

1. Use a Lint Roller for pet Hair

Pet owners may love their furry friends but continually vacuuming pet hair is far less enjoyable. Worse still, you might find your regular vacuum schedule cannot keep on top of all the hair your dog or cat sheds. Vacuuming your carpet often doesn’t pick up all the pet hair.

Fortunately, lint rollers are excellent tools for cleaning your carpet. This hack also works for upholstery cleaning. Depending on the carpet type, it could take as little as five minutes. Purchase a lint roller and put in a bit of elbow grease to get your carpet looking as good as new.

Lint rollers will also pick up mud, crumbs, and dirt the vacuum cleaner misses.

2. Create Your own Carpet Cleaning Solution

Skip the expensive commercial carpet cleaning stain remover. You can easily create carpet cleaners with everyday items you find around the house. You can use a mix of white vinegar and water for most stains. You might also mix hydrogen peroxide for extra strength.

Some other household substances that work as excellent carpet cleaners:

• Shaving cream can dissolve dirt patches on lighter carpets. Rub shaving cream into the stain and let it sit. Afterward, the carpet will feel soft to the touch and fluffier.

• Let baking soda absorb smells and stains. Sprinkle baking soda over a stain and let it sit overnight before vacuuming it in the morning. It’s particularly good for oil stains.

• Use rubbing alcohol to remove nail varnish. Rubbing alcohol isn't strong enough to bleach your carpets but can dissolve nail varnish. Wait until the varnish is dry and chip at it with a putty knife before blotting it with rubbing alcohol. 

• Lay salt on red wine stains to absorb the color before it leaves an unsightly stain on the pristine carpet. 

• Add liquid dish soap to your homemade carpet cleaners to eliminate most stains if you don’t have any white vinegar. 

Beware of using hot or warm water on some spills, as they can worsen the stain. If all else fails, you could also try carpet recycling — the process of turning old unwanted carpet and using it for other uses, for example, mats or knee cushions.

3. Removing Carpet Odors

Older carpets might look clean but have a suspicious smell. Years of pets and children treating your carpets poorly might make them a bit odorous. Even smoking can make your carpets smell bad. 

Unlike rug cleaning, you can’t just throw your carpets in the washing machine. Fortunately, odor removal to save your carpet is relatively simple.

Try placing bowels of baking soda or charcoal bags around your home overnight to soak up the smells. You may need to sprinkle the baking soda directly on the carpet. Leave the charcoal bags for longer to get rid of more stubborn odors. 

Alternatively, you can make a deodorizer by mixing a few drops of essential oil with baking soda. Spray the mix on your carpets, leave for five minutes, and vacuum it up for fresh-smelling carpets.

4. Using an Iron for Stain Removal

Got more stubborn carpet stains? If the stain persists once you have blotted the liquid and applied the stain remover, try using this cleaning hack. Place a towel over the stained area and apply a heated iron. The pressure and the heat should transfer the stain into the towel.

5. Always Blot, Never rub

While your instinct may be to take a freshly spilled substance with a towel and thoroughly rub it away, rubbing is the worst possible thing you can do to get rid of a stain. This applies to wood floor cleaning and floor stripping too. Use paper towels to blot the area. Using white towels or cloths is best to prevent further color transference. 

6. Re-fluffing Furniture Dents in Carpet

There are several ways to bring carpet fibre back to life. With foot traffic and furniture dents wearing away at your carpet, the fibres flatten and look worn. Here are a few ways to re-fluff carpet:

• Mix equal parts vinegar and water and let it soak into the carpet. Use a spoon to loosen the fibres and return them to an upright position.

• Place an ice cube (or several) on the affected area. Let the ice melt and blot up excess water. Then, re-fluff the fibres with your hand once the carpet is almost dry.

How to Deal With Different Spills?

Generally speaking, a vinegar and water mix removes stains. However, different stains require different approaches. Here are our commercial cleaning tips for the most common spills and stains. 

• Sugar-based spills: Spray the area with warm (not hot) water and blot. 

• Dairy-based spills: Mix a cup of warm water with dish detergent and blot. 

• Coffee stains: Use a vinegar and water solution for cleaning carpets of coffee stains.

• Pet stain: Dilute an alkaline dishwashing detergent to eliminate a urine stain.

• Wine spills: Mix vinegar and a lukewarm water cleaning solution to remove wine stains.

Summing up

Deep cleaning carpets and getting rid of stains requires acting quickly. While getting rid of older stains is possible, it’s far easier if you work immediately. A trusty vinegar, detergent, and water mix are best in most cases to clean stains. Use our top hacks to get your carpet looking as good as new.