Never Ending
OK, already, I’m sick sick sick of winter.
This morning (March 31st!) we woke up to about 4 inches of snow. Somebody make it stop!
In an effort to turn lemons into lemonade, I took the opportunity to try out a rug-cleaning technique I saw on Mary Lou’s blog. She learned it from Kristin Nicholas. If you go to Kristin’s blog, she explains why it works.
You set your wool rugs outside ’til they’re cold then put them, pile-side down, out in the snow and press them down lightly. Then wait. When you lift them off the snow, supposedly all the grime and dirt is left behind on the snow.
It didn’t quite work for me–possibly because I could only wait 90 minutes or possibly because it’s not really very cold out anymore so the rugs/grime never got really chilly. Or, maybe I’m such a fantastic housecleaner that my area rugs were just sparkling clean to begin with!
ETA: The rugs have been back in the hallway for about 30 minutes now and, you know, they do look much cleaner. I think it worked!
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22 comments Susan | random
It’s so pretty right now with the blue sky and white snow…but not pretty enough to make up for it.
I’m sure it worked…it has to work!
That’s a cool trick but I hope I have to wait until next winter before I can try it myself.
Interesting concept.
Nice to remember if I ever live where there is snow to use to clean my rugs.
I biked to class in fair weather and when I came back out (just now) it’s blizzarding!! I’m with you on this one, it needs to be OVER!
That’s a nifty trick, but I hope I have to wait until next year to try it.
Great idea! Our temps will be in the 60’s tomorrow, so I’ll have to wait to try it out.
It’s been snowing all day. Aaaaaah!
Fascinating. I’ve never heard of that. On a (somewhat) related note, my grandmother says they used to wash their sheep fleeces before spinning them by laying them out on the lawn during the spring for a week or so, letting the dew and sun clean and bleach the wool.
That is a lot of cleaning for very little effort, if it really worked. But we have cotton throw rugs I just wash in the machine.
I refuse to allow you to make me wish for snow. It just won’t happen. I’ll be happy with my dirty rugs.
There’s a house cleaning tip I’ll use. To think I’ve been shoveling the deck so that I could “air” my carpets.
I am SO going to have to try that! I’ve hung one out and beat it with a broom, but it’s 5×7 or so, and in the end it had a few dog issues/accidents and I tossed it. Now there’s a new rug… And we don’t have a carpet attachment, so it’ll get beat during the summer, and I’ll try this when we have some fresh snow.
I live in Southern California..that makes a girl want to send her rugs up to be cleaned!Thanks for the suggestion!
lol! Susan, that rug cleaning technique is an old, old one that dates back to colonial times. It really was meant for braided rugs and light fluffy snow. The light fluff was supposed to fit into all the nooks and crannies on a braided rug which you were then supposed to sweep off. voila! clean rug! I think I read that in one of the Sturbridge Village history books.
heh heh — they look mahhvelous
I could try that technique, but it means that we would actually have to have snow instead of rain. (bah humbug)
it did clean the bird shit of of my car. . .
I had easily 6 inches at my house
My comment disappeared ~ but I needed to fix a typo anyway, so in case it shows up:
heh.
I don’t know about the rug cleaning trick, but I am SO with you grrl on the sick of winter part!
Huh. Think it works for sweaters? Too bad we don’t get snow here…I’d like to try it.
We seriously need some snow in FL!
My great grandmother who lived in northern Canada hooked all her rugs and she always cleaned them by putting them outside in the snow to clean them.
Hi! I used to live in Russia and people do something like this, even in the big cities. They hang rugs outside in the dead of winter and beat them with a carpet beater (looks like a massive fly swatter). Then they rub handfuls of snow into the stains and beat the snow off. According to folk wisdom, this works as long as you “don’t use yellow snow!”
