Spot Clean Polyester

Posted in Home Life by Selections By Sisters

I recently purchased a top from forever 21 for the bargain price of $24.99! I wore it once and got god knows what on the front of it…shocker- spilling something down the front of your clothes, especially when in public, runs in the family. So in an attempt to save the top for a few more wears, I don’t expect much in the quality category from forever 21, I’m straying from the wash by hand directions and spot cleaning and throwing in the washer.

The shirt is 100% polyester, again…I didn’t expect much in the quality category. When I think polyester, I think itchy school uniforms that I wore for 10 years of my life, skin crawling thought.

The tag directs the owner to hand wash cold, not to bleach, to line dry, to iron low and to not dry clean. I’m going to wing it and spot treat with Shout Advanced, and then wash individually using ALL Allergen Free detergent, with cold water on the permanent press cycle.

Random Stains on the front of the shirt.

Shouting out the stain- I didn’t rub the stains, as suggested on the back of the bottle. I dabbed the stains because the fabric is super thin. I allowed the Shout to sit on the stains for five minutes before washing.

After a quick wash in cold water, with ALL Allergen Free detergent on the permanent press cycle…the stains were gone! I line dried the shirt and it’s as good as new!

2Feb2013

Orange & Cinnamon Aroma

Posted in Home Life by Selections By Sisters

After cleaning the kitchen floor, while Reagan was taking her morning nap, there was a slight lingering smell of bleach throughout the kitchen and dining room. I’m not a big fan of room sprays (they are not good for Reagan) and I didn’t have any fabulous Anthropology candles left, so I opted for a ‘use what I have in the kitchen’ method. I saw this post, http://www.flickr.com/photos/annnmarie/4125096686/, a few weeks ago, so I thought that now would be the perfect time to try it out.

Ingredients:

1 orange
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
4 cups of water

Directions:

1. Fill small pot with 4 cups of water

2. Cut skin off of orange and place orange peels in pot of water (I saved the inside of the orange for Reagan’s afternoon snack)

3. Stir 1 teaspoon cinnamon into pot with water and orange peels

4. Boil on medium heat

I added an additional cup of water to my pot after about a half an hour of boiling. My mixture boiled for 45 minutes and made the kitchen and dining room smell fantastic. However, once I stopped boiling the mixture the smell quickly faded.

If you want to boil longer and have a stronger scent produced, I would suggest using more water, more orange peels and upping the amount of cinnamon.

I will definitely be doing this the next time that I have to clean the kitchen floor!

1Feb2013

Carpet Disaster

Posted in Home Life by Selections By Sisters

Seriously…I can do dog throw up, dog poop, but dog pee is a whole different ball game. This is not what I wanted to come downstairs to after sleeping for only 5 hours on Reagan’s floor, my right arm through a crib slat with her foot on top of my hand- if I moved my hand, she woke up…ugh. Dog pee smell sticks, in my opinion it NEVER goes away. It’s one of those things that you can always smell, especially when the weather gets warmer. It stinks, it’s repulsive and it’s a rug ruiner.

The Bissell Little Green Machine has been a huge help with many rug clean ups over the years, it removes the stains, but unfortunately- in my opinion, the urine smell hangs around…YUCK!

This is the third machine that we have had in ten years. There are two issues that I have with this machine. #1- My husband believes that I am burning out the motor by continuing to attempt to spray the cleaning mixture when there is none left in the tank- hey, I’m watching the rug, not the darn tank.

#2- It is IMPOSSIBLE to clean the head of the vacuum. Dog hair gets stuck along the sides of the head and since the head cannot be removed there is no way to clean it…gross, I know.

After attacking the spot with the Bissell, I put a towel under the rug and one over it -so Colby (the dog) wouldn’t pee there again. Here’s what I came back to after leaving the house for a little over an hour for a preschool tour.

The spot is still visible, still damp and still stinky, ugh! I put a new towel under the rug and a new one over (As I sit on the couch, five feet away from the ‘spot’, I can smell urine and I want to cry). I walked on the towel a bit and left it for another few hours.

Day 2: Maybe it’s just me, but the spot where the pee stain looks cleaner than the rest of the rug. We just had the rugsprofessionally cleaned less than 5 months ago and this is not a high traffic area, huh? Anyway, there is still a faint smell of urine…SHOCKER! I’m going to leave the towels off the area for now to let the spot completely dry and then see what happens.

This is what I’m left with. I currently cannot smell the urine unless I put my nose super close to the rug. Since the rug is wool, it’s probably still somewhat damp within the carpet somewhere. So until I can smell the urine when sitting next to it, walking by it, or until my brutally honest family mentions it…I will leave it alone. The rug’s over 15 years old, maybe its time for a new one…hint, hint, to my loving husband of mine.

Oh, just in case you were wondering…here’s a picture of the totally guilty dog. How could anyone be angry at a face like that?

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