ED. Ms. Heyduke pens today’s blog!
Just as in our sticks and bricks home, Springtime gives me the urge to clean. As careful as we are with the carpet by protecting it with rugs, taking off shoes before entering and regular thorough vacuuming, the carpet still was looking dingy to me. I also really wanted all the throw rugs, cleaned as well as the RV valances, curtains and upholstery. While we were at it, we could also do the interior of the car. I was on a roll…
I suggested buying a brand new portable steam cleaner, but with our rule about acquisitions being that to get something we’d have to get rid of 
something; I found I just could not part with anything. This left the dilemma of what to use. John researched the various rental options as well as inquiring about a professional coming to our site and doing it all for us. The bids we got for the carpet alone ranged from $99 and up! Therefore, economically, it proved better to put in the work and do it ourselves. We decided on the Rug Doctor that we could rent from our local grocery store. With a coupon, the machine and the upholstery attachments came to $27.50 plus tax. We were allowed 24 hours from 11am to 11am the following day.
Since my bout with cancer, I am all about green cleaning so I read about using white vinegar and water in the machine. Vinegar loosens the dirt without the use of chemicals and doesn’t leave a soapy residue behind. Man, did it work like a charm! It was alarming to see the color of the water in the holding tank after completing the living area. We decided to do the living area many times and the bedroom area three times. Next were the couch, the throw rugs and car mats.
The next morning before returning the machine we did the car seats and the drapes. I wouldn’t say the drapes came out totally clean (those pesky condensation stains on the inside lining), but the drapes did look better. John said to consider them as “refreshed”. I liked that! I must say John really did most of the work so I need not have any bright ideas for projects for a while, I think (smile).
It’s great to get these things done during our month-long stay in Texas. Now we can devote ourselves to planning our adventure out west……
Good to know that vinegar is so effective in that application.
ReplyDeleteFor cleaning, we keep castile soap, baking soda, vinegar, and dish soap (I'm working on ditching that). For some reason, in a house I couldn't get rid of those specialized poisons, but now it's easy to maintain with simple, safe ingredients.
Tell me about castile soap!
DeleteThey had a short segment on the news the other night, interviewing the head housekeeper at the Ritz for tips on green cleaning. They use a lot of vinegar and water, with a little lemon juice for that nice clean smell for windows. And for the rugs ... sprinkle baking soda on the rugs, wait five minutes, and vacuum. Will try it out the next time we have occasion to do a deep clean.
ReplyDeleteLet me know how the baking soda does!
DeleteOh man do we need to do our carpets! Did the vinegar leave any telltale odors?
ReplyDeleteNo odor because it is diluted 1/3 cup vinegar to 1 quart hot water :)
DeleteI love the smell right after we clean the RV. So clean. I like the green cleaning idea. I am going to use it the next time we clean the rug. Thanks for the suggestion. ~wheresweaver
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip on the vinegar. I'm going to try it soon. Our carpet is definitely in need and I hate those shampoos. It seems you can never get it all out. I use vinegar for other cleaning but it never occurred to me to put it in the carpet cleaner machine. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteDitto on wanting to try vinegar for rug cleaning. The color of our RV carpet is depressing. It doesn't seem soiled, it was cleaned after our last service work, but it is ugly.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the the carpet cleaner. Last time I shampooed in the house, it felt tacky afterwards and just seemed to collect twice as much dirt. I use Simple Green alot and like that product. Don't know if it qualifies as 'natural' but it works good lol!!
ReplyDeleteWe are waiting to get back to Iowa but then we are going to clean out everything including closets drawers and cupboards. After 2 years on the road I feel a major purge is needed and a cleaning stem to stern. :) Glad you got so much done.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on all the cleaning. I really need to do that to our carpets and upholstery and appreciate your tips and those of other commenters. We have a very small "rug doctor" type thing that we can do the hot water and vinegar with. It's worth carrying for us since we have only small areas of carpet. It's so nice to have it handy and it's so small it really doesn't take up much basement space.
ReplyDeleteSherry
www.directionofourdreams.blogspot.com
I just read on an RV list the other day that they used Hydrogen Peroxide to take water stains off their curtains! Hmmmmmmm might be worth a try?
ReplyDelete~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Karen and Steve
(Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
Cleaning and cleaning, never seems to end, but hey we do have the time.
ReplyDeleteI also bet Oxyclean will take those water stains off the curtains...I may give it a try.
ReplyDeleteWe bought a small (cheap) rug shampooer because we figured 2-3 rentals would pay for it. We always seemed to track dirt into the living room area. Now we only have carpet in the bedroom and it will be gone, so I'm just going to sell the shampooer. I always used rug shampoo but then did it again with just water to get out the residue from the shampoo. Never tried vinegar.
Thanks for the great cleaning tips. I feel the same way in the spring. We are anxious to hear your itinerary for traveling in the West.
ReplyDeleteYeah, vinegar can remove even the toughest stains. It’s just the odor which hinders some people from making use of its effectiveness. It’s perfect for spring cleaning, actually. Speaking of which, a few months from now and you have to do that again. If you use the same trick, I think things will be fine. ;] just avoid scrubbing too hard ‘cos it will only cause the stain to spread.
ReplyDeleteI sorta knew it wasn't going to work after I mixed it. Seems to me grout cleaner should be thicker. It really didn't do anything on the grout, maybe a little, but I still had to scrub it with a brush. Not what I wanted. I wanted instant spray on wipe off. Is that possible?
ReplyDeleteRug Cleaning Brisbane | Rug Cleaning Sunshine Coast