Quick fixes for dirty carpets

With the holiday season approaching, you are probably expecting an increase in the number of visitors to your home. Friends, family and neighbours popping round for parties, drinks and social gatherings, but it can sometimes feel like a struggle to keep your house looking presentable at all times. Spilt food and drinks and outside dirt being traipsed in can leave your pristine carpets looking a little worse for wear. While the best way to clean a grubby carpet is often by using a professional carpet cleaner, here are a few speedy tips you can do by hand if you need instant results.

Use a carpet brush

This old-fashioned method is particularly effective on soil and dust. Trodden-in soil that has dried solid might seem impossible to remove by hand; however, by using a stiff carpet brush to loosen and break down the dirt, you will be able to simply vacuum most of it up and leave your carpet looking as good as new. This tip works best when there is only a small patch of mud or soil, as larger patches will require a lot of time and elbow grease to break down.

Freshen up a stale-smelling carpet with vinegar

Vinegar comes to the rescue in a range of household cleaning emergencies, so it is worth keeping a large bottle in the cupboard. Fill a bucket with warm water and a generous splash of vinegar. Using a soft-to-firm scrubbing brush that won’t damage your carpet, scrub your carpet with the water and vinegar solution. Replace your vinegar solution with fresh warm water and dip a clean cloth or towel into it. Wring this out and use it to scrub the treated area, then simply leave the carpet to fully dry.

Remove stains with baking soda

This is a tried and tested tip that people have been using to clean carpets for decades. It works in a similar way to the carpet powders you can buy from any supermarket and is handy for when you have run out or the shops are closed. Simply sprinkle baking soda on the affected area, then spray the area lightly with hot water from a plant mister or similar. Leave this mixture to sit for as long as possible – three hours or more is ideal and you can even leave it overnight if you have the time. The mixture will soak up dirt and any unpleasant smells from your carpet. When it is dry, simply vacuum up the baking soda.