The Best Way to Clean Your Carpets

Ya’ll know I adore the farmhouse look with all the white, cream and neutral tones. However, keeping light color carpets clean is… a challenge.

So, I have a cream carpet in my bedroom… with 3 dogs! Needless to say, my poor carpet take a beating. Yikes!

Below is officially my bedroom rug after 2+ months of puppy abuse. {soooooo gross…}

Wanna know why I’m not afraid of having a cream color rug? It’s because I have found the best way to clean your carpets to keep them looking fresh and clean. Best part… it’s EASY!

{Side Note: Please always test any detergent or solvent on a small area of your carpet first and make sure your area rugs are cleaner friendly before proceeding.}

For this method, you’ll need is a clean mop (not one you’ve used on anything else in your house – only for your carpets), a bucket, some OxiClean, Resolve concentrated detergent, a carpet cleaning machine, and some vinegar.

Most of these ingredients you’ll already have in your household… or at least I did.

I will say I currently have a Rug Doctor Carpet Cleaner. While it’s not my favorite machine I’ve owned, it does its job. (I’ll be making another post on the must have features when purchasing a carpet cleaner for your home… soon!)

Before I do anything, I vacuum the carpets, under them too. Make sure you get as much hair, dirt, and debris up. This makes the cleaning process easier.

Next {this is where the magic happens} you are going to pretreat your rugs. I use 1 scoop OxiClean and 1/4 a cup Resolve in 1 gallon of HOT water.

Mix thoroughly in a clean bucket making sure everything is dissolved. Then, using the clean mop, lightly apply the solution to your rug. I use a mop because I’ve wanted to saturate the carpet. You could use a bristle brush if you wanted to really get in there.

Once you’ve lightly applied the solution to the carpet, leave it. Catch up on some laundry, scrub the bathroom grout, do a quick DVR/Netflix binge… pick your poison! Pretreat for about 30 minutes to an hour total.

We’re already starting to look better! This is after 30 minutes of pretreatment…

When I’m ready, I use my Rug Doctor Carpet Cleaner to scrub in the solution into the rug fibers and then rinse.

I usually do a few passes of scrubbing, then a few passes of pure water and vinegar to rinse any left over detergent out of the carpet. This leaves it fluffy and soft.

I use about 1/4 cup vinegar to 1 gallon of hot water. The vinegar removed the residue from the detergent, which can cause your carpets to attract more dirt and dry stiff and starchy. I highly recommend always performing a vinegar rinse to your carpets after cleaning.

Well there it is… such an improvement right?

Folks, I can really say this will save you so much time and energy. I used to spend 30 minutes each side, going back and forth, wasting expensive detergent! This pretreatment has saved me a ton of supplies as well as time.

Plus, look how clean this carpet is! This is really the best way to clean your carpet.

Now I’m not great at the before and after photos here folks… but I am telling you. My OCD has had me cleaning carpets for years and this way has always provided me the best results.

I wish you all bright and beautiful results! Happy cleaning lovelies.

XOXO,

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I’m Maria, a lover of furry things, coffee and anything creative. This blog is where I love to share affordable home decor ideas, great DIYs, yummy recipes, unique crafts and so much more.

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