Start From the Bottom

You can scrub your walls, clean your furniture, dust your ceiling fans, and wash your curtains, but if your floor is dirty your home will never feel completely comfortable.  Whether your floors are new or old, carpet or hardwood, they can be clean and should be clean, especially if you have infants and toddlers crawling around.

When we first purchased our home, it still had the original carpet.  It smelled horrible, had obvious dirt accumulation, and it felt grimy.  The first thing we did was clean it through and through to make us feel confident having our then infant son crawl all over.  Now we have a brand new carpet and want to preserve it for as long as possible.  Carpets aren't cheap!  So how do you ensure a fresh, clean carpet, with minimal dust mites and zero soapy build-up?

Vacuum often. The longer dirt, crumbs, and fur remain on your carpet, the more they are embedded deep into the fibers and are difficult to remove.  If you have young children, vacuum at least once a week.  If you have pets, double or triple that and shoot for two to three times a week.  Make sure the height setting on your vacuum is right for your carpet.  If it is set too low, you can break down the tips of the carpet fibers.  If it is set too high, it will not be as effective at capturing dirt and fur.

Throw out your carpet cleaners. Commercial carpet cleaners, whether from a spray bottle (like Resolve) or for a carpet/upholstery cleaner (like Bissel) may make your carpet smell nice for a brief time, but they do little in the way of cleaning and keeping it clean.  The foamy solution only cleans the surface and is next to impossible to rinse out of the carpet fibers.  The left over residue traps future dirt and dust, making it necessary to clean your carpet more often.  Not to mention, few products kill dust mites (common allergy triggers that live in all fabrics).

• My Solution:  Mix 1/4 cup (non-sudsy) ammonia and 1/4 cup distilled vinegar with 1 gallon of warm water.  This solution is great for spot cleaning and for carpet/upholstery cleaners.  The ammonia will clean and disinfect your carpet while the vinegar kills the dust mites and removes any build-up or residue.  The result is a residue-free, fresh and clean carpet that your toddler can eat off of.  Added bonus: ammonia and vinegar solutions clean the inside of your carpet/upholstery cleaner making it smell better and last longer!

Treat spills immediately. If you treat spills right after they happen, you will have a better chance at avoiding stains.  If it is a liquid spill, use a clean damp cloth to blot up the excess liquid (do not rub!).  Make sure you rinse your cloth often.  If it is a more solid or gooey mess, using the solution above, dip a colorfast wash cloth (or t-shirt) in the solution and gently rub the spot in a circular motion, blotting up residue and rinsing the wash cloth often.

Now that you have a beautiful carpet, how do you make your hardwood, linoleum, and laminate floors just as clean?
Toss out your broom. Unlike carpets, hard floors do not trap dirt and fur.  Because of this, sweeping can tend to force dust into the air and just push around those wispy dust bunnies.  Instead, vacuum your hard floors.  A lot of vacuums nowadays even have a setting for bare floors.

Get on your knees. If you have floors with cracks (like hardwood, laminate, or tile) or rough textures, expensive cleaning items like Swiffers and the Shark can miss a lot.  They can even force more dirt into these crevices and lead to long term build-up.  While they may be great for a quick clean, nothing beats the old-fashioned method of scrubbing a floor on your hands and knees.  I recommend doing this once a month to prevent build-up.  To clean your floors, you can use the same solution mentioned above of vinegar, ammonia, and water (sudsy ammonia may be used as well) and a hard bristle brush.  Bare in mind, if you have laminate floors, be sure not to drench the floor since too much moisture in the cracks can lead to warping.

Don't forget the baseboards. When you vacuum or wash your hard floors, be sure to get along the edges and in any baseboard cracks.  Use your vacuum hose attachment and run it along where the floor meets the baseboards.  When washing the floor, use a tooth brush to scrub near these crevices.  Also be sure to get into every corner.

Using these methods on your floors often will not only make your home feel cleaner but it will help your floors last longer.  Now when you sit on the kitchen floor to play with your kids or lay on the living room carpet to do your favorite Yoga position, you will feel comfortable and peaceful in your clean home.