The Best Carpet Spot Cleaning Machines

There are just a few carpet spot-cleaner machines on the market, and the highest Amazon.com user ratings go to the Bissell carpet cleaning machines. The units researched have several things in common: they really are spot cleaners, meant to clean very small areas; they lack the rotating-brush and suction power of full--size machines; and, although they can be used to clean upholstery, users find them awkward and cumbersome for this purpose. That said, all three carpet spot cleaners seem to perform well for their intended uses.

With Sixty-four percent of Bissell SpotBot consumer reviews on Amazon.com giving this machine five stars out of five, the Bissell SpotBot takes first place. It boasts "WalkAway" technology that allows the machine to clean carpet stains unattended when it's placed on top of the spot and set to the "set-in stain" option. Users report the SpotBot does an excellent job at removing stains, whether the automatic "set-in staine" setting or the manual setting is used. They note, however, that the automatic setting uses a lot of cleaner and leaves a distinct circle on the carpet where the round scrubbing brush cleans the stain. Some users surmised that the cleaning may have taken some color out of the carpet, but most agreed that the color difference is due to the area surrounding the circle being dirty. "Clean circles" notwithstanding, the Bissell SpotBot reportedly is highly effective at removing stains.

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Products I Like To Clean My Carpets:Febreze Carpet care

Removing Carpet Stains, Naturally

Spending money on commercial deodorizers and cleaning products for your carpets is, for the most part, unnecessary. Just look to your cupboards and refrigerator for these jobs. And if you have small

children or pets,all the more reason to go natural.To remove stains from your carpet, mix 2 cups water to 1 cup lemon juice and pour it into a plastic spray bottle. Spray the stained area liberally and gently scrub with a soft to medium bristled brush. The lemon juice and water mixture is a great deodorizer too. Spray the carpet lightly and allow to dry. Then sprinkle with baking soda and let sit for 30 minutes before vacuuming.

For more stubborn carpet stains, make a paste with 1/4 cup each of borax, salt and vinegar. Rub this paste into carpet and leave for a few hours; vacuum.

Following are solutions for removing specific type stains:


For pet stains, mix 1 teaspoon isopropyl alcohol to 1/2 cup cold water. Use the solution in a spray bottle. Spray onto the stain and blot with a paper towel and allow to dry completely. Repeat if necessary.

To remove gum from your carpet, simply place an ice cube onto the gum until it hardens enough to break off.

For removing glue from your carpet, pour white distilled vinegar on a soft cloth. The glue will rub off easily.

Sprinkle some talc on grease stains in the carpet. Leave alone for a few hours to absorb as much grease as possible. If it is an immediate spill, sprinkle the area liberally with salt and let it sit for awhile, until the grease is absorbed into the salt.

Chocolate and coffee stains can both be cleaned with 1 part vinegar to 2 parts water. Soak a sponge with the mixture and blot until the stain is removed. You may have to repeat this process a few times before getting these stains completely out.

Red wine spills can be removed by first blotting the area with paper towels, followed by covering the area with salt. Let the salt sit until it has turned pink. Next, clean with a sponge that has been dipped in a mixture of 1 part water and 1 part lemon juice.

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Products I Like To Clean My Carpets:Febreze Carpet care

Folex Instant Spot Remover Eradicates Carpet Stains

Carpet accidents happen, especially in households with children and pets. Spills and carpet stains are unavoidable, and carpet cleaners are regularly put to the test. I've tried many different brands of spot remover

on my carpet stains, with disappointing results. The carpet cleaners either didn't completely remove the carpet stains, or if they did, they made my carpet look ratty. When a friend recommended Folex Instant Carpet Spot Remover, I was skeptical. I'd never heard of this carpet stain remover with a funny name, and doubted it would perform any better than the myriad of carpet cleaners I'd already tried.

Boy, was I was wrong! I don't know exactly how Folex Instant Carpet Spot Remover works, or why it outshines the other carpet cleaners I've used. But then, I don't really need to know this; what's important to me is that Folex removes my carpet stains easily and thoroughly. It works amazingly well, therefore I don't question the how or why.

Folex Instant Carpet Spot Remover is a water-based, non-toxic, non-ionic surfactant. In layman's language, this means that Folex uses water instead of solvents or toxic chemicals to safely wash away carpet stains. Unlike some oil-based carpet cleaners, Folex carpet stain remover is virtually residue free, odor free, non-flammable, and doesn't require rinsing or vacuuming. Non-ionic means that Folex Spot Remover has neither a positive or negative electrical charge, so it won't attract dust and dirt back to the cleaned area. Lastly, the term surfactant means that Folex is an emulsifying agent that breaks up the carpet stains so they can be removed by blotting them with a dry cloth.

Folex Instant Carpet Spot Remover is effective on virtually all carpet stains, including pet accidents, grease, ink, red wine, coffee, blood, rust, food, cosmetics, dirt and more. Folex will even remove old carpet stains, as long as they haven't dyed or bleached the carpet fabric. Unlike many carpet cleaners, Folex Spot Remover doesn't contain oily solvents or leave a soapy residue, so the carpet stains won't come back.

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Products I Like To Clean My Carpets:Febreze Carpet care

Confess Your Carpet Stains: You Could Win Fabulous Prizes

What's that stain on your couch or carpet? Are you too embarrassed to talk about it? Did you cover it up with a blanket or lamp? Well tell your carpet stain stories and you could win a trip to a event with a famous Hollywood Soap star. That's right my klutzy friend, you gotta spill a little to get fabulous prizes!

Spot Shot, a leading carpet stain remover and odor eliminator, is partnering with Soap Opera Digestmagazine and soap star Austin Peck for the Confessions of a Carpet Stain Contest.

"My experience working on soap operas helped to make the Confessions of a Carpet Stain photos and video vignettes entertaining, comical and a little over-the-top"

The Contest, which launches Aug. 24 and runs through Oct. 31, 2010, asks consumers to tell Spot Shot about their most dramatic carpet stain story. One grand-prize winner will receive a trip to a red carpet event with a friend. Spot Shot will also give away a free product coupon and a one-year subscription to Soap Opera Digest to the top five stain story submissions each week during the contest period.

"The Confessions of a Carpet Stain Contest was born from the dramatic carpet stain stories that we all share - whether it is a red wine spill, spaghetti sauce or a pet mess," said Tim Lesmeister, vice president of U.S. marketing for the WD-40 Company, maker of Spot Shot. "By partnering with Soap Opera Digest and Peck, we bring these stain stories to life in a dramatic and fun way while showing how Spot Shot's line of aerosol and trigger products can help remove the drama of stains from your life."

Former "Days of Our Lives" and "As the World Turns" soap star Peck is the spokesman for the Confessions of a Carpet Stain campaign. Peck will confess to his most dramatic carpet stain in the Oct. 19, 2010 Spot Shot advertorial in Soap Opera Digest magazine and on the contest websitewww.spotshot.com/stain-contest. Fans can also watch dramatic stain story video vignettes, starring Peck, on the Stain Fighting Community Facebook page www.facebook.com/stainfightingcommunity.

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Products I Like To Clean My Carpets:Febreze Carpet care

Tips for Getting a House Sold Quickly

I've seen it time and time again- you go to look at a house and the place is full of furniture, knick knacks and piles of laundry. There are crayon marks on the walls, and beneath the crayon is a weird

burnt sienna wall color. This is no way to sell a house. Houses like these get noticed for what you can tell about the occupants- not what you can picture about the house itself.

The key to getting a house sold is to present it in its best light. This means moving a lot of your crap out. Get a storage locker and move furniture that you don't use regularly, as well as large and possibly obnoxious knick knacks into the locker. Storage lockers are cheap, and there will be that much less to move out of the house when the house sells. Clearing out items works on buyers in two ways- it makes the spaces seem bigger, and it makes the house seem a little more neutral.

Neutral is a big buzz word in the real estate world- making your house seem neutral means that the buyer will be able to picture themselves in it. This means neutralizing the paint colors with nice cream, white, or light beige paint, and getting rid of wallpaper and borders.

There are a lot of real estate agents who also like a home to be staged, which is just moving stuff around to make the most of the space and present a pleasant look to a room. Practice walking into rooms and noticing what your first impression is. If your first impression is the mountain of toys you see, move the toys to a different part of the room and put a flower vase where they used to be. First impressions are very, very important.

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Products I Like To Clean My Carpets:Febreze Carpet care

How to Get the Cigarette Smoke Smell Out of Your Life

If you're a non-smoker, but have happened across a smoker's furniture, house or car, you can pick up on that smell right away. Don't despair; there are some things you can do to try to get that smoke smell out of your inheritance. The lighter the smell, the easier it will be to get out.

Furniture:You can try various sprays like Febreeze, but quite honestly you'll wind up with a couch smelling like smoke mixed with flowers. It's worth a shot if you want to give it a try. More realistically, you can rub down your furniture with baking soda to neutralize the odors. Let it sit for a while, and then vacuum up. Or, you could invest in having it steam cleaned, either with your own machine or professionally.

Carpets:
Rent a carpet shampooer, this is your best chance to get the smell out. Apply baking soda liberally to the carpet, let it set and then shampoo. It might take you a few pass-overs to get the smell out.

Walls:
Mix a cup of vinegar with two cups warm water, add a scoop of baking powder and wash. You will have a fizzly, bubbly mixture, but it helps to break up the "scum" that has built up on the walls. You might have to use a little extra elbow grease.

If all else fails, paint. Make sure you do the best cleaning job you can, and if it doesn't come off, you'll have no choice but to paint.

Car:
Use the vinegar, water, and baking soda mix and rub down your windows and anything plastic or metal. Treat your fabric seats in the same way you would treat your furniture. It's best if you can let the baking soda sit overnight on your seats, and then vacuum up the next day.

You can leave a bowl of vinegar on the front seat and run the heat with all the windows closed for roughly an hour. I honestly haven't tried this trick. The vinegar smell dissipates fairly quickly, so it might be worth a try.

Try leaving a bag of charcoal in the car overnight, it will absorb the smells leftover.

If all else fails, you might have to cut your losses. Some cigarette smoke can be fairly easy to remove, but if you're dealing with a heavy smoker, it can get difficult. Do your best, but be prepared for the worst.

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Products I Like To Clean My Carpets:Febreze Carpet care

Refurbish Old Carpet with Carpet Dye

It was exciting when you picked your favorite carpet and spent thousands of dollars having the carpet installed. Now, your carpet looks older than the house. Stains, bleached spots, fades, and dingy high traffic areas can't be removed by cleaning. Before you rip out your carpet consider refurbishing it yourself using carpet dye. Ugly carpet is an embarrassment. Carpet that needs to be replaced also reduces the value of your home. Replacing the carpet, which is probably still under warranty for wear and tear, will cost thousands of dollars. Carpet dye may be the better answer to refurbishing the carpet in your home. Carpet dye can make your carpet look like new. If you are still hesitant, think about it. All carpet is dyed in the first place. It takes place during manufacturing. Color restoration is accomplished by dying the carpet again. If you are too timid to try dying your carpet on your own, there are professional carpet dying services that will help you refurbish your carpet for less than half the cost of replacing the carpet. If you want to refurbish your carpet on your own, there are plenty of materials available to help make your carpet dyeing project a success.

Know Your Carpet Fiber

Refurbishing your carpet with dye first requires that you know what your carpet is made of. You need to know if the nap is wool, nylon, or another synthetic fiber. You also need to know if your carpet is stain resistant. All of these factors will influence what type of carpet dye you use, whether your carpet will accept the dye, and how to best apply carpet dye.

If you are not sure, have a professional identify the composition of your carpet fibers or order a carpet fiber identification kit online for around $20.

If you mention carpet dyeing to your professional carpet cleaner or carpet retailer be prepared for a tirade on the evils of carpet dye. Remember, they want to sell you new carpet or a cleaning job. Don't get sucked into their trap. You are going to save money by doing this carpet refurbishing project on your own.

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Products I Like To Clean My Carpets:Febreze Carpet care