Granny's Best Carpet Cleaning Secrets: Removing Stains With Vinegar

One of the best uses for vinegar is removing tough stains from carpets.

Removing stains with vinegar is perhaps one of the most effective and environmentally friendly ways to get even the toughest set-in grimy spots from a carpet. As a young pup growing up in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, I can remember my Granny using some of her time-tested, old-school methods for keeping a spotless and almost sterile-clean house. Many of those old-time recipes included using vinegar cleaners for just about any room in her house. One of her favorites was using vinegar to clean stains from her carpets. She was a loving soul but one of the things that Granny hated most was stains in her carpets. With so many grandkids running through her house every day, there were a lot of spots, stains and dirt.

How to Remove Stains with Vinegar

While it may not lift out every type of stain from your carpet, using white distilled vinegar as cleaner will take out just about any stain. Here's how you do it: First, dissolve 2 tablespoons of salt in about 1/2 cup of white distilled vinegar. Rub the solution into the carpet stain, let the area dry and then simply vacuum. If you have a larger stained area, try mixing 2 tablespoons of borax into the vinegar-salt mixture and treat in the same way.

Spot Treatment with Vinegar as Cleaner

You can also make a spray-on spot treatment by mixing 1 part vinegar with 5 parts water. Get a second spray bottle and fill it with a solution of 5 parts water and 1 part non-sudsy ammonia. To treat spot stains in your carpet, soak a cloth with the vinegar solution and saturate the spot or stain. Let it sit for a few minutes and blot dry with a clean cloth. Now spray the ammonia solution on the spot or stain and blot dry. Repeat this alternating treatment until the spot is gone.

What Granny Knew About Removing Stains with Vinegar

Some folks tried to encourage Granny to start using some of the commercial cleaning products available from the local grocery store. They claimed these new-fangled cleaners would save her time and help Granny to get the job done quicker. Granny simply smiled and went on doing as she had done for so many years. Perhaps she knew more than she was telling about these natural cleaning methods, or maybe she was just stubborn. Either way, those old-fashioned ways of cleaning are making a big comeback in this era of environmental awareness.

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