Carpet shampooer - What a money saver!!!!!!!!
A few years ago, I was not very happy when at midnight DH had to go to Wal-Mart and spend money on a carpet shampooer due to a bad upchuck accident in the bedroom by our house guest and a very bad experience with a local Chinese restaurant that I won’t mention since Karen loves to eat there when she comes to town <wink>. But I have found that it has saved me from so many bad accidents that I have to share the latest one.
When your kids are quiet, you need to run and find out what they are doing. The other night, my beautiful Turkey Butt decided that the carpet under the dining room needed a bath so she got the full bottle of soap from her bathroom and DUMPED the entire bottle under my dining room table. Needless to day, I just wanted to cry. But I didn’t. However, it took 3 full containers of suds to get only part of the soap out of the carpet. But if I hadn’t had the carpet shampooer, I would have had a ruined dining room floor. And if you knew my DH at all, you would know that this was a major thing. Oh well, we must love our kids even though when you ask, they say they knew they were going to get punished for doing whatever they decided to go ahead and do. That was the worst part. She didn’t even care that she was going to get in trouble.
Tags: carpet, money saver, shampooRelated Stories
POSTED IN: cleaning, money saving idea, odds and ends
16 opinions for Carpet shampooer - What a money saver!!!!!!!!
Karen
Feb 14, 2008 at 12:13 pm
The Nasty isn’t all that great anymore, is it? I don’t think we’ll be eating there again. It’s been bad the last 2 times we’ve eaten there.
Oh well. We love our carpet shampooer too. We bought it b/c hubby tracked grease through the house. Surprisingly, it got up the grease. Since then, it has cleaned up poo and pee, as well as many other things. A shampooer is a great investment.
kellys
Feb 14, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I totally agree. Obviously.
Leslie
Feb 14, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I *love* my carpet shampooer! I got my first one at my last house where the entire floor was wall-to-wall beige carpet and we had 2 cats and a dog… and then a kid! We got one of the lower-end Hoovers with the straight-across-the-front brushes and it worked just fine. When we moved to our new house with VERY PLUSH wall-to-wall light green carpet (with 2 cats and a dog and a kid), I tried the old Hoover and ended up with lots of water in the carpet and very little in the return reservoir. We have since splurged on the Hoover Dual V spin scrub model from Costo and I LOVE IT!!! If I had the time (and nobody needing to walk on the floors), I’d shampoo every week. Everything looks and SMELLS so clean after a good carpet deep-cleaning!
Have you tried using VERY HOT vinegar water yet? I am amazed at how bright and clean vinegar water makes the carpet look! Once the icky vinegar smell fades, you are left with really nice carpets. I have gotten to the point where I’ll only use special carpet cleaner to spot-treat really bad stains. Other than that, it’s vinegar water to the rescue!
Karen
Feb 14, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I’ve used vinegar water before, but it wouldn’t get up stains, just dirt. I try not to shampoo too often b/c I have such bad allergies. Our shampooer does a terrific job at getting the water out of the carpet, but I’m still a bit scared of mold growing in the padding. If I had my way, we would have hardwood floors. Unfortunately, this house came with carpet. :( Our house in VA had hardwood and I loved, loved, loved it!
kellys
Feb 14, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I will definitely try the vinegar water. We had a professional come out and clean the living room a few months ago for almost $200. Granted, my living room is a little larger than most but it still pained me to write the check. Anyway, he told us that the more water you put on the backing of your carpet, the greater the chance that your carpet will come unraveled. So now I am paranoid to use my shampooer for over all treament but sometimes you need to do an overall cleaning. I like to do the main traffic areas twice a year. The next time, I will use the vinegar trick. I just love vinegar.
mom_of_14
Feb 14, 2008 at 7:34 pm
i know exactly how you felt!!! when my twin girls were two (now 3) someone left the laundry room door open and they took my very large “shout” refill bottle, poured it on their bedroom carpet and pretended they were swimming in it. what a mess! i used the carpet steamer/shampooer but thought those suds were never going to end…on either the carpet or the slippery kids!!!!!!!! good thing was, their room had a great smell for quite sometime and all those hard to remove stains on the kids came out, too :)
Chief Family Officer
Feb 14, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Could you please recommend a brand/model? I have been interested in getting a carpet shampooer but haven’t been able to find convincing reviews on any specific one. Thank you!
mom_of_14
Feb 15, 2008 at 11:48 am
leslie…how long does it take for the vinegar smell to go away?
Melody from ~Pennies In My Pocket~
Feb 16, 2008 at 3:42 pm
My sister-in-law has a carpet shampooer and swears by it. We haven’t taken the plunge into getting one yet, but I keep getting lost in all of the different brands. Can’t decide on one. I’d love to hear recommendations, too.
~melody~
kellys
Feb 19, 2008 at 7:14 pm
CFO, I have a Hoover and love it. It is extremely easy to use and empty. I am very happy with mine. You just need to make sure that you extract most of the water. I would love to try out the oreck. Check it out.
http://www.oreck.com/floor-cleaners/rinse-a-matic_ultra.cfm
Karen
Feb 19, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I also have a Hoover. Unfortunately, I just had to get it out. Someone just had a pee accident on the carpet!
Karen
Feb 19, 2008 at 8:11 pm
mom of 14: The smell goes away once the water dries.
I do agree that you need to make sure the water gets out of the carpet. I go over the carpet several times to make sure the water gets soaked up. I love my steam cleaner too!
Chief Family Officer
Feb 19, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Thanks! You’ve given me a lot to think about - now I’m back to debating steamer vs. shampooer …
Karen
Feb 20, 2008 at 10:06 am
Chief Family Officer: Now that you’ve said that, it caused me to remember that mine is a shampooer/steamer combination.
Chief Family Officer
Feb 20, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Thanks, Karen - I’m definitely going to take a look at the Hoover and Oreck you mentioned!
kellys
Feb 21, 2008 at 9:53 am
No problem, CFO.
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