Once upon a time, a husband and wife decided to haul a washer and dryer up a flight of carpeted stairs.
If this was a “choose your own adventure” story, I would throw the book away.
Did you know washing machines are heavy? They are even heavier when you carry them UP the stairs. I’m a master of the obvious.
In comparison, a dryer feels as light as a cloud on a summer day.
I digress.
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If you want to test the trust factor in your relationship, just be the person at the bottom of the stairs holding the washer. In case you are wondering, I was the person at the bottom of the stairs.
I digress again!
The point of this post is that #1, I am still alive. And #2, in all of the lifting, grunting, pushing, groaning, pulling and moaning that occurred as we maneuvered that over-sized washer, that doesn’t even work that well, up this flight of stairs, grease from the bottom of the washer got on the carpet.
Grease. Grrrreat. This picture shows just one of the spots. There were exactly eleventy billion of them, as my kids would say. Okay, okay. There were actually about 8 of them.
I have no idea why there was even grease on the bottom of the washer. I really didn’t stop to ponder the whys until now. I know the how. I lived the how. And it wasn’t fun. Have I whined enough?
So I added “magically remove grease from carpet” to my to-do list.
My magic must be broken because the spots were still there two days later when I decided to finally deal with them – instead of carefully stepping around the grease spots. I’m sure my kids were carefully stepping around them too.
So, I did what anyone in my situation would do. I Googled it. There were a ton of recommendations. I decided to go with the path of least resistance. Dish soap and water. The recipes I read called for 1/4 cup of soap to 1 cup of water. Holy dish soap Batman! That’s a lot of soap.
So, I eyeballed it. You can tell I have a very exacting personality.
I dipped my rag, which is actually an old burp rag/cloth diaper, into the soapy water and got ready to blot away.
That’s when I thought, “I need to grab my phone in case this actually works!”
Starting to work! That’s when I abandoned blotting for full-out rubbing.
Along with exacting, add patience to my list of virtues. Not.
My technique must have been working because the spot was disappearing.
My hands still looked a little creepy though.
This is what it looked like as soon as I finished. I’m happy to report the spot was gone and the others cleaned up just as nicely. Soap and water for the win!
I could have grabbed the vacuum and brought this post full circle, but vacuuming the stairs is not one of my favorite things to do. I have my limits people!
Plus, the carpet cleaners are coming tomorrow.
So, if you find yourself stuck in a “choose your own adventure” story like this one, I would definitely choose the option where you go to page 83 and someone else carries the washer and dryer up the stairs. I’m nothing if not full of helpful, happy advice around here. Or, at least I am when it comes to removing grease from carpet!
Cleaning is a necessary evil. Am I right? Here are some other things I clean…usually over and over in a never-ending loop!
How to Get the Sweat Smell out of Workout or Running Clothes
How to Remove Ring Around the Toilet – With an Unusual Item
Fixing Nasty Grout is Pretty Easy