Steam Cleaning

With Thanksgiving coming up this week, I am trying to get the house ready for guests.  I would normally head to our local grocery store and try to find the $8 bottle of Resolve carpet cleaner with OxyClean.  With two dogs, and a husband, this always looked like the best brand to clean my carpets, and it had OxyClean (I saw commercials on what it can do for clothes, so it must be good for my carpet too right?).

Well, with Urban Homesteading, I was looking for a way to get my carpets cleaned, hopefully using chemical free products and a way not to buy the $8 bottle (which would be enough to clean my living room, but not any of the bedrooms or basement).  After Googling a whole bunch of remedies, I busted out the steam cleaner and started.

 The first time I used hot water and  a Tablespoon of Gain powder detergent.  I am still using store bought detergent until we run out, then I will make my own.  But no sense wasting something I have already paid for.  Man oh Man did it work great!!  The water was black, kinda disgusting considering I just steam cleaned a month and a half ago.

I let it dry and the second time I went over it again with the same mixture of water and Gain.  The water was brown but still seemed to get my carpets clean.

I let it dry and went over it a third time with a mixture of white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide.  I figured going over it a third time will make sure that I get up any residue left from the detergent, used vinegar to deodorize the carpets, and the hydrogen peroxide to help with any stains.  I used 2/3 cup of each with hot water.  The water came out tan after I steam cleaned.  The carpets look great, I think they are better than when I use the store bought stuff!

It may not seem like much, but I am quite proud that I looked up my own concoction for the steam cleaner rather than wasting gas running to the store to buy an $8 bottle of cleaning solution