- Baby your carpet
Cooking fumes, cigarette smoke and other smells cling to carpets and make a whole house smell musty. To freshen up, spread a liberal coat of baby powder over the carpet using a flour sifter. Leave the powder in place for a few hours or overnight, and then vacuum it up. Bicarbonate of soda will do the same job; with a darker carpet you may want to throw in a bit of ground cinnamon or nutmeg to sweeten the smell.
- Steam away furniture footprints
Whenever you move a piece of furniture indents remain in the carpet, but you can spruce up the crushed fibres using an iron and a fork. Put the iron onto the steam setting and hold it about 0.5cm above the carpet, then fluff out the steamed fibres with the tines of the fork. (Take added care not to melt man-made fibres.)
- Inexpensive homemade carpet cleaner
Mix 1 part white vinegar to 10 parts hot water or, alternately, 1/2 cup (125ml) household ammonia in 2 cups (500ml) hot water. Use it either in a carpet-cleaning machine or apply with a scrubbing brush and elbow grease. Rinse the cleaned carpet with a damp cloth. To help to dissipate any lingering odours, open the windows and, if necessary, place an oscillating fan in the room.
- Clean up paint spills with vinegar
Don’t waste time crying over spilt paint on your carpet. Instead, spring into action before it sets: mix 1-1/2 teaspoons vinegar and 1-1/2 teaspoons laundry detergent into 2 cups (500ml) warm water. Now sponge away the paint (a task that takes time and a lot of elbow grease) and rinse with cold water. If you’re lucky, what might have been an unwelcome — and permanent — decorating touch will be gone. It’s certainly worth a try.
- Beat a rug
Dust and pet dander collect daily on (and in) the fibres of rugs, so shake them out the old-fashioned way to get rid of it: hang the rug over a rail or taut clothes line and beat it with a tennis racquet or a cricket bat.
- Flip an expensive rug
Has your beloved but incontinent dog relieved himself on the priceless Peshawar rug that you inherited from Aunty Anne? There’s no need to find a new home for the dog. Scoop up the mess, turn the rug over, place a bucket under the offending spot and pour water — repeatedly — through the underside of the stain and into the bucket until the spot is gone. This will clean the delicate fibres without the need for scrubbing.
- The brilliance of baby wipes
Yet another great use for mild baby wipes is as a simple carpet stain cleaner. Blot up a spill with a damp (but not soaking wet) baby wipe. This will lift out the stain before it sets.
- Shaving cream to the rescue
To clean a stain that hasn’t yet set, squirt non-gel shaving cream directly onto the stain and wipe clean with a damp rag or sponge.
- Soda water with a twist
Every waitress and barman knows how reliable a stain remover soda water can be. To use it on a stained carpet, pour it onto the stain, leave it for 3 minutes and then dab it up with a paper towel or sponge.
Credit : Reader’s Digest
Picture Credit: Google