Friday, August 29, 2008

Cleaning peanut butter the easy way

Chem-Dry removed all evidence of peanut butter for $45--a bargain to this overwhelmed mama!

I have cleaned these chairs myself by soaking the cushion covers in the bathtub.

As Carrien commented, a degreaser is essential for peanut butter cleanup: Dawn detergent works well, as would her Simply Orange suggestion.

I called the pros because I didn't want to force the peanutty oils into the arms and back upholstery without extraction.

How many of you have found a home carpet/upholstery cleaner a frugal investment? Any advice for buying one?

28 comments:

Moriah @ Please Pass the Salt said...

Popped over from Jo-Lynne's. That's a great thing to know for peanut butter clean-up. Not that that's ever happened to me. Ahem.

Also, I LOOOVE Kids 'N' Pets, have you heard of it? It's more for human accidents - breaks down the enzymes and odors. Great for upholstery and carpets when the kids are sick or potty training.

Not that that's ever happened to me, either.

AHEM.

Anonymous said...

i think 45$ would be a BARGAIN, for 2 chairs and that mess....seriously you did well...

at least you were thinking clearly; when i am overwhelmed i would be prone to thinking them fit for trash....


now how did she get into the PB anyway??lol....you may want to stear any peanut allergic persons away from those chairs if you hadnt had them done professionally...


my dear son at 2 and a half , while i was outside with the tow truck driver getting our car towed to the garage, took the juice jug, climbed on it to reach my sharpie on the window sill and made a mural on the cupboards, the white cupboards, did i mention we were renting...
NOTHING got them clean....later that night i realized he made a mural on our dog too..i looked at the dog and said, you stood still for that!!!!! he had to outgrow his mural...

kids we love them don't we..????!!!!!

celina in canada

Rhonda said...

We have lived in a white carpet house for 6 years, no young children but one big dog.
I have hired professionals who do a great job but are very expensive.
We have rented the Rug Doctor - it does a good job but so inconvenient.

I recently bought from Amazon.com a carpet
cleaner with very good reviews.
Hoover F5914-900 SteamVac with Clean Surge
It sells for $169. which is way less than our carpet guy charges for one visit.
This Steamvac does a great job.

I most love the convenience of being able to just do one room at a time.
It is very, very easy to operate too.

Anonymous said...

What a mess! No wonder you screamed. But your children are so dear, I would take them in a moment, peanut butter and all. :-)
Mrs. L.

Kaye said...

I LOVE Nature's Miracle! It gets rid of a LOT of problems and although it warns to use in an inconspicuous place first, I've never had any type of fading or discoloration from it. And one bottle lasted us for almost 3 years with three pets and a baby. Awesome stuff.

Anonymous said...

I too think $45 is a bargain! We bought a Hoover carpet cleaner with an upholstery attachment years ago and it's been a life saver since we have a dog. I just use white vinegar with a little dish soap to clean my carpets. I think some people use a bit of Tide. Works really well and I don't have to worry about chemicals.

Manuela

Meredith said...

will anyone believe me when I say that Elise climbed on a stool, got an unopened jar from the pantry, and unscrewed and unsealed it herself?

She's the handiest child I've ever seen. She can even unlock our old-fashioned doors using the stem end of her father's cuff links.

Anne Marie@Married to the Empire said...

Oh, gosh! She really did a number on those chairs! I'd probably have called the professionals, too.

If it makes you feel any better, one of the cats puked all over the couch last night. That's always fun.

Let's see... I have one cat who is affectionately nicknamed "Pukey," so I'm well versed in cleaning products. My favorite for the carpet is Spot Shot. For upholstered furniture, I like Woolite Upholstery cleaner. Eventually, I want to buy a steam cleaner, especially as the cats' new renal diet has some horrible staining properties that their previous food didn't have.

Anonymous said...

Meredith, how about posting an "after" picture of the chair?
Mrs. L.

Jennifer said...

When my second child had reflux and projectile vomited everywhere day and night, I bought my own steam cleaner. I completely got my money's worth in those early years. We still use it occassionally, just not nearly as much. She can typically make it to the toilet these days. That being said, i don't even remember what kind we bought and it is buried in our crawl space. I would have paid someone to clean the peanut butter too.

Anonymous said...

I bought the bissel proheat when we moved into our new house. It's a big house and it is almost all carpeted.
It paid for itself the first time I used it and I have used it countless times since then.
I have 3 kids and a stubborn dog, and let me tell you that thing is like money in the bank. It extends the life of my carpet and allows me to get to stains before they set. Even if you call a pro, it is helpful to pretreat right away to keep the stain from setting

Cat said...

We also have the Proheat, and it's been a real help, even now that we have laminate flooring. With 8 indoor pets and 4 small children, it has been worth every penny. My just-turned-two year old does similar tricks as your little girl, but prefers diaper contents to peanut butter. At least those aren't oil-based, I guess...have to look on the bright side. :(

Anonymous said...

i had a carpet cleaner, bissell, loved it when we rented out apartments, but i am not convinced it would have gotten that peanut butter out.....

Celina in canada

Unknown said...

I love Spot Shot, I use it on everything and it has never failed me yet. I also like cheap hairspray to remove majic marker from material, rugs, clothing etc. The cheaper the better.
Elizabeth

Anonymous said...

I think I would have had to call in the experts too. I'm not sure that I wouldn't have made it worse or lost my sanity trying to get it all out.

Nicola said...

so funny you ask this question...i was just thinking to post about mine on my blog, maybe this just convinced me to. YES. i love love love my carpet/upholstery cleaning machine. i so wish i had bought it when i was younger, even more broke, and living in rental after gross rental.

Lift Up Your Hearts said...

Oh my goodness. All I can think about is my daughter's severe peanut allergy when I look at that. Scary!

Meredith said...

All you peanut allergy folks--I know it's scary!

But what else could I have done?

Miss G said...

Meredith, thank you so, so much for your comment! It's good to have someone else "chime in". The coffee stirrers you mentioned are exactly what I was thinking of. Thanks! I'll look at my grocery store or maybe Costco? Thanks. Have a lovely Saturday! Kelly

Tubo Family said...

We used to have white Berber carpets and 4 indoor/outdoor cats so I got some practice with carpet cleaning (and for the next house I picked dirt--excuse me, brown--colored carpet.) Not impressed by my second-hand "Little Green Machine" : it didn't extract well, even with many passes, so carpets tried slowly. Renting the Rug Doctor did better extraction but despite the fact I was careful to go very light on the cleaners, it left a residue behind (probably from cleaners used by previous renters) that attracted a dirt haze over the whole carpet. So after that I stuck to professional cleaners. Stanley Steemer was so expensive so the next time I tried a local cheaper company, figuring if the work was shoddy I could pay for it to be done twice and still save money. Great success. And I bought a Bissell spot cleaner (similar to the spot bot now being sold) that has worked well, including potty training accidents with the KIds & Pets mentioned above, and even got a gentian violet spill up.

Sorry so long here!

Daffodil Hill said...

Though I had to chuckle, I felt your pain when I read about the peanut butter. Years ago when we were on a VERY tight budget, my own little one got creative with an ink pen on our newly upholstered chair. In utter panic, I called the upholsterer for advice that fortunately worked. Glad your own catastrophe ended well. I'd say the professional cleaning was a good choice. :)

Anonymous said...

my son in law works for a carpet cleaning company, so I'm happy for those who use the service! :)
LC

abeachcottage said...

ooh I felt your pain too, gotta love those episodes, you'll look back on that with memories lOL!

Anonymous said...

This made me laugh! Two days ago I discovered a pile of chewed up, wet popcorn stashed under the couch cushions--my kids had watched a movie two days before, and my youngest decided he liked the taste of popcorn, not not the texture and hid it in the couch. I made him help me clean up the mess and I don't plan to serve popcorn again any time soon. Oh well, I remember turning my grandmother's white carpet pink when I spilled red nail polish as a little girl and then tried to clean it up before she found it. What comes around goes around, I guess...Enjoy your clean carpet and chairs while they last! Miss Kris

Unknown said...

I own a carpet cleaner with attachments to clean upholstery. It's ok for simple maintenance, but I too would have called the pros for a mess like yours.

Two weeks ago we paid the professionals to clean our entire house carpet as a general housekeeping/maintenance thing. The next day my 6 month old baby had the most enormous poop explosion on the carpet. I had never seen anything like it. So we had to call the pros out again, for $75. They couldn't even get the stain out even though it was only hours old when they got here.

Guess what happened the NEXT day? Another diaper blowout. This one was smaller, and I wasn't in the mood to pay another $75. So I just went over & over the stain with my machine. It took about a week, and now the stain is about the same as the one I paid $75 to get cleaned.

Anonymous said...

I have a carpet cleaner that I got at a bargain price at a local pawn shop. I was shocked at how many carpet cleaners and "upscale" vacuums they had for rather cheap prices.

It has paid for itself since because I have used it for routine cleaning as well as several "accidents."

The only problem was it did not come with an instruction book, but I found a copy of the manual on-line.....I love the Internet!!

Kathie

Daiquiri said...

With 4 kids and two dogs, we could absolutely not live without our steam cleaner! I rarely (if ever) use the upholstery attachment, but the carpet cleaner is used around here at least once a month.

I recommend buying one with a "rinse" option. You run the thing over the carpet with soapy water first, then do a suction pass to suck it back up, and then you do the water, suction routine again with plain water. I like not having so many chemicals remaining on my carpets.

I'm sure I could have found a deal somewhere, but I bought mine in a pinch. I had just dropped a tray of blue paint on my tan carpet, and had to get it out NOW. I threw some wet towels over the stain to keep them from drying, and raced to the nearest home improvement store to buy a steam cleaner. Actually, my first call was to a carpet cleaning expert, but he was going to charge me half the cost of my own steamer, so I bought one.

I was quite the sight, literally sprinting through the store while 8 months pregnant! I know, what was I doing...painting while hubby was out of town...lugging that big thing around by myself? Crazy. Nesting...it's a powerful thing, I guess!

Laura said...

I have a Hoover SteamVac which I LOVE! I did a ton of research before buying one and this one was top ranked for the price. It pays for itself in no time, and since I have a two kids, one being a two year old little princess/destroyer, it has come in very handy. I highly recommend getting one if you have kids.