Monday, November 28, 2011

The Carpet Cleaners

I have been amazingly forthright with you all about my complete lack of housekeeping skills. Or more specifically, my complete lack of an interest in flaring my pain so I can have a clean house. Its easier to keep it straightened up than it is to clean it. Vacuuming hurts my shoulder, dusting makes me all nasally and sneezy, and cleaning the bathroom just sucks. And unfortunately, I cannot afford a house cleaner. I grew up with a free-spirited mom and OCD step-mother, finding my balance in adulthood as a "kinda" clean working wife. My house was hardly perfect but nobody was calling the health department, either.

Then I got sick. I could barely empty the dishwasher or make the bed. I could not work, grocery shop, do laundry or pretty much move. I sat and watched layers of dirt and dust pile up all around me. The beige carpet (why do apartments always have light beige carpeting?) turned grayish because the vacuum was the last thing I had the strength, or interest, in running. Years passed and I watched it build, dust bunnies rapidly multiplying and gobbling up my decorative accents. My house became one where I could not invite somebody over spontaneously, for it was downright embarrassing. I grew to accept this as a limitation of my illness and thankfully my husband told me repetitively he did not marry me for my housekeeping skills. Thank God.

The apartment complex I live in cleans my carpet every year when I sign a new lease. First time in 15 years of renting so needless to say that is quite thrilling. So last year I scheduled the clean and we moved everything out of the walkways and main areas of the apartment and golly gee gosh, I got my carpet cleaned! But two weeks later it was dirtier than before. This made me mad. So last night we were moving everything out of the walkways and main traffic areas in preparation for another cleaning. Except this time I was vacuuming. That made me realize I had not vacuumed the year before. Well no wonder my carpet got dirty so fast, the cleaners only removed the top layer of dirt a vacuum should have already picked up! I looked over at my husband once I realized this and said wow, I really am improving. Last year not only could I not vacuum, I didn't really care. This year there is a bag full of white socks sitting by the front door and I am determined to keep the carpet clean this time. At least for the first two weeks...

Thanks for joining,
Leah

1 comment:

  1. Steam cleaning is the process I found best for carpets in home. For home where carpets used to sit and walk all the day, steam cleaning proved better than dry cleaning. It eliminates bacteria, dirt, dust and stains. It also removes unwanted elements and smell they persist with their existence. It does not harm the fiber of your carpet either it is synthetic or natural. I prefer end of tenancy cleaning for steam carpet cleaning.

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