More Therapeutic Cleaning
September 7, 2011
Continuing in my efforts to maintain my sanity through painting, cleaning, purging items in my home, I tackled a carpet that has been bothering me.
At the beginning of the summer one of my sons and his friend decided to take apart their skateboards in the middle of this room. No they didn’t use any sort of drop cloth, don’t be silly.
Why they chose the middle of a carpeted room when there is a perfectly empty tiled entryway less than 3 feet away, as well as a two car garage, and a DRIVEWAY, I do not know. And according to their responses when I lost my ever-lovin’ mind on asked them , neither did they.
Nor did they seem to notice all the grease marks that covered the carpet after they were done.
I made a half hearted attempt to clean the carpet, but was unsuccessful. Last week, however, I decided to just put my mind to it and scrub the damn thing.
It came completely clean.
Now I am trying to train the kids to not walk in there. I know. I must just like to hear the sound of my own voice.
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De-lurking to say, my 5 year old son LOVES to take stuff apart and put it back together (much like his Daddy). And he’s really good at it. So when you were talking about skateboard maintenance on carpet, I had a total “I can SO see that happening several years down the road…” moment. LOL Glad it came clean; beautiful carpet
September 7th, 2011 at 10:19 amI have a whole house full of therapy if you want, and it’s in Illinois, where the fall weather has finally hit!
September 7th, 2011 at 10:36 amI always laughingly tell people that my home was a victim of child-abuse because my children abused it. Now finally with an empty nest I’m trying to do some restoration.
September 7th, 2011 at 11:01 amWow, you like hearing the sound of your own voice, too? I knew I couldn’t be the only one! Dear lord, I hope they start listening soon (both of our sets of kids). Carpet looks great though!
September 7th, 2011 at 11:09 amI’m still trying to figure out how to make my cleaning therapeutic.
Kids always do things in the absolute worst spots. Glad your carpet came clean!
September 7th, 2011 at 11:53 am~FringeGirl
I am purging too. I started yesterday. I’m exhausted already. This either means that I am horribly lazy or that I have too much shit. I’m thinking the later since I filled two black construction garbage bags and a box with just trash from one room. And since you are a mom of older kids when does the common sense kick in? Please tell me this wasn’t your eldest son. I’m hoping it kicks in before they move out. I’m still waiting on my eldest, 10, to think on her own. No luck so far.
September 7th, 2011 at 6:14 pmWhat took the grease out? Or should we ask? (Asks the Mom with grease marks on her own rug and a few other spots I have no idea what could have made them, nor do I want to actually know what made them)
September 7th, 2011 at 8:23 pmOur living room was like that when we were growing up. We were allowed in that room on Christmas day and only Christmas day. Otherwise, it was there to be looked at. So completely absurd to me then and even moreso now.
September 8th, 2011 at 7:58 amWow - it looks great. Good luck trying to convince the kids to help you keep it clean. For any future grease emergencies though, my tried & true product for grease removal is a tin of vaseline-like stuff called “Goop” — available at Auto Supply stores, and probably hardware stores. It works on laundry too (great on ink stains!) so I would imagine it’s safe for carpet too. It’s like the equivalent of Magic Eraser for stuff you can’t use Magic Eraser on.
September 8th, 2011 at 10:54 amwhen I moved into my new house I was so excited CLEAN fresh beautiful plush beige carpet in the livingroom and my bedroom…
I should have known better..within 2 days my kids spilled Koolaid on it and the dog thought it would be a great place to go to the washroom… now 2 years later it looks more like a grey splotchy gross science experiment!
I steam clean the damn thing once a week with bleach and soap but nope…it needs to be replaced…
I have “decided” not to replace it until my children are either grown and out of the house or start getting responsible. Its going to be a long 10 years.
September 8th, 2011 at 11:06 amThis happened to me, but with in-line skates. Fortunately, they chose a bedroom. The stains stayed there until the youngest son when off to college. That’s when we finally tore up all the carpet in the house, and laid down tile!
September 8th, 2011 at 2:36 pmChris - You’ve got to share what product actually cleaned that up (besides your sore arm). Thanks!
September 8th, 2011 at 3:53 pmOMG! I can totally relate. I remember a HUGE arguement one time over me asking why there was a soaking wet towel in the floor. I was basically told I needed to stop griping all the time and being a ____. All over asking why a towel was on the floor and if someone planned to pick it up.
I am a crazy woman for wanting to have my home look neat. Right…
Best of luck to you!
September 8th, 2011 at 4:26 pmOne word for you from grungy wall-to-wall carpet owners everywhere: HOW?
September 8th, 2011 at 5:13 pmWould you mind sharing your secret? My husband has used various products on our carpet but I must say that nothing seems to clean to my satisfaction. I am ready to remove the carpet but I am not ready to deal with what lays beneath
Thanks!
September 8th, 2011 at 10:23 pmIt seems you and I are twins separated at birth. http://shannoncolleary.blogspot.com/2011/07/im-german-cleaner.html
That carpet looks f%#king awesome!
September 9th, 2011 at 2:18 pmSeriously. Tell me what you cleaned it with! And Bravo! Know that someone out there thinks you did something awesome, especially since you were cleaning up AFTER SOMEONE ELSE (who should have known better).
September 9th, 2011 at 3:03 pmAnd by the way, when I first clicked on my name, some crazy gospel music site came up. That is not my site! Must see what’s going on…
September 9th, 2011 at 3:05 pmHave you ever posted anywhere about how you family management works? I only have 5 sons and we can barely keep up with laundry and dishes, let alone scrubbing the carpets. Do your kids all have chores, responsibilities? Allowances? I would be interested in knowing any tips, secrets to managing a large household as effectively as you are doing.
September 11th, 2011 at 3:00 pmHOW did you get it looking so fabulous - what did you use/do? I have a main room carpet (beige - a color I would never choose with a house of kids) and just can not get it to look nice. Ah - to have your useful energy - I’d be 50 pounds lighter.
September 12th, 2011 at 11:45 amPLEASE PLEASE tell me what you used to get up the grease! I have a 2yo that smeared PB all over a loveseat and the resulting grease spot is lovely!
Chris says: I just used the Resolve carpet cleaner that comes in a squirt bottle. Not the foaming kind. Though I have nothing against the foaming kind having never bought it. I am surprised as the next person that it actually worked.
September 14th, 2011 at 2:49 pm