Ever since we’ve moved into this house the question of whether or not to buy a steam cleaner has been brought up. Not by me, but by my husband. You see, I grew up poor white trash where the vacuums were at least second hand (if not third or fourth) and carpets were scrubbed by hand. Mind you, things did improve as I got older, but those days of when you don’t have the money to buy gadgets and gizmos but simply make do with what you can afford still linger. And the fact that we really can’t afford such a unitasking device has hindered any real chance of purchasing one. With all that being said, when is it time to throw your hands in the air and say, “To hell with it!”?
And so it was the other night after getting home from work that my husband had apparently been researching various steam cleaners. I think he must have known that the only way for me to get on board with such a device is to have it be capable of doing more than just cleaning carpet because almost every model he showed me had attachments for upholstery cleaning too, something our sofa and chair-and-a-half are both in desperate need of since my hand scrubbing and Lucy, our Great Dane, have both contributed to some areas where the fabric has ripped. Mostly Lucy’s fault, I’m sure, as her digging probably led to the torn fabric fibers in the first place before my gentle hands ever-so-softly wiped to remove the filth from the surface. Yes, I’ll blame the dog.
Now the difficult decision is do we even bother, since these carpets were nasty to begin with and after having a professional carpet cleaner come out and tell us not to expect any miracles because it should’ve been replaced at least five years prior makes me wonder if our purchase would be in vain. Then again, I’m really getting tired of getting on my hands and knees and using up all of our old towels to soak up urine and trying to clean it all, first with vinegar, then baking soda, then hydrogen peroxide and finally with borax just to have another one show up the next day in the same spot. Of course, the flip side would be clean sofas too!
I love having a steam cleaner. We don't need it as much now, since the majority of the floors has been changed to wood floors, but it still comes in handy for the family room, which is carpeted.
ReplyDeleteOn occasion, our dog has urinated on the carpet. That only happens when I'm away from the house longer than is anticipated. I always use the steam cleaner to clean it up, after treating the area with vinegar. I occasionally use the steam cleaner on our upholstery.