Carpet Cleaning Tips You Should Know

Carpet can make a room cozy, soft, and comfortable as well as adding ambience and beauty to your living spaces. There are tons of benefits to having carpet, including keeping your toes from freezing to death on a cold winter night and being perfect for sleepovers, tea parties, and playing army! Especially when you have children, you might notice your carpet being a little dingy, spotty, or just plain dirty. Here are some great carpet-cleaning tips to help you keep your carpet beautiful!

• When a spot appears on the floor due to a spilled drink, a dropped popsicle, or something similar, there is a bit of carpet first aid to remember. The first thing you want to do is flood the area with water. Pour a full glass right on the fresh stain and then blot it with a dry cloth. Blot enough to remove the excess water. For most stains, this will knock them out immediately. However, some stubborn stains may linger, so flood the area again with water and blot it out. This is a great way of removing stains before they are set-in, and this will keep your carpet beautiful for a long time.

• Every once in a while, carpet may need to be shampooed. This will lengthen the life of the carpet and restore it to its original beauty. When you shampoo your carpet, you probably use a standard shampoo that you like. It's important to shampoo the carpet properly in order to get it truly clean. After using the recommended amount of cleaner for your shampooer, you run through t

e entire room, cleaning. Then, you should dump your dirty water and refill it with clean water. It is important to go back over the carpet with clean water in the shampooer in order to rinse the cleaner out of the carpet. If you don't, the carpet will actually attract dirt from shoes and other places. Rinsing the carpet with water is a great way to keep the carpet clean after shampooing it.

• For stains that have set in, use your favorite spot cleaner to clean them. Simply dab it onto the carpet and then use a damp cloth to rub it into the spot in a circular motion. Allow that to sit for about 15 minutes or so, and then use a clean, slightly damp cloth to blot the spot out. Once the spot is removed, use a bit of clean water to flush the carpet in order to remove the cleaner. You can use a dry towel to blot up the clean water. Make sure that no one walks near the spot until the carpet is completely dry!

• The best kind of vacuum cleaners are the kinds with no beater bar. This is because the beater bar wears your carpet out very quickly. Considering how often we vacuum the floor, you can see how easy it will be to wear out the carpet. The beater bar stresses the fibers of the carpet in order to fluff it back up. If you want to lengthen your carpet's life, use a vacuum that uses pure suction power to clean.

These tips will help you keep your carpet clean and tidy!

Kristi Patrice Carter is a housecleaning maniac and the proud author of Super Woman Doesn't Live Here Any More: The Ultimate 2 Week Plan for Getting Your Family to Help With Housework." For ordering information and information on Daily Housecleaning Schedule, please visit http://www.dailyhousecleaningschedule.com