Magic Carpet Cleaner

*The title to my post just got that song from Aladdin stuck in my head.  Anyone else?*

When we moved into our house, we had inherited a lot of carpet stains. 

Mysterious, probably years old, who knows how they got there stains.

Oh, the joys of renting!

When I moved in Cody explained that he had tried to get them out, but was unsuccessful.  

I, of course, assumed that I could get them out with a little carpet cleaner and elbow grease. 

No such luck.  So we have been planning on eventually having our carpets professionally cleaned.   

Until I ran across this lovely idea on pinterest.

I figured it was worth a shot, especially since we wouldn't have to go buy anything to try it.

So today I picked out an icky spot and got to work.

The Spot was in front of my sink in our room.  I figured that way if something went wrong (like I turn the carpet blue) it's not in a public space.  If The Spot turns blue I can just toss a rug over it.  Good plan right?  I thought so.  

1. Scrape up the liquid. (Obviously only if it's a fresh spill.  Mine wasn't so I skipped this)
2. Sprinkle baking soda or cornstarch on stain and let absorb for 10 minutes.
(Not sure if this is a must-do step, but figured I shouldn't skip it.  I even worked the soda down into the carpet a bit)
3. Mix one tablespoon clear dishwashing liquid and one tablespoon white vinegar with two cups warm water.
4. Using a white cloth sponge the stain with the detergent/vinegar solution and blot until all the liquid is absorbed.
5. Sponge off with cold water and blot dry.

I honestly didn't think it would work at all, and didn't take pictures of The Spot.

Of course, once I got that spot done I noticed a bunch more in our room.

BEFORE

AFTER

I'm amazed.  The spots are still a little damp, so you can kinda see where I was scrubbing, but the black stain is gone.  Although, I still keep going in there expecting to see weird white spots emerging.  (White seems more possible than blue after all)

I'm going to let it dry over night to make sure they are good to go, then I'm going to tackle the living room stains! 

Especially that one by the couch we hide by putting our shoes on top of it....

We will probably still get the carpets professionally cleaned someday though.  It may be spot free now, but it's still rental carpet. Yuck.