cleaning Archives - Bigger Than the Three of Us

Remove Carpet Stains Without Chemicals

September 2, 2016 by Ashley Mayes 26 Comments

I posted this post a few years ago but wanted to revive it a bit with new images. This is our go-to way of cleaning carpets and rugs and I didn’t want it to be lost in the archive of the blog. Hope you all have a great Friday! Let’s get onto our post… Remove Carpet Stains Without Chemicals!

I still remember this as if it was yesterday and, in fact, it was more than 5 years ago. We were newly married and living in our first apartment. Our first, brand-new, first-renter apartment. We hadn’t been there long, maybe a month, and I was doing my make-up on the floor in our bedroom. The apartment had glass closet doors and that was just the perfect place to do my make-up while drinking coffee. Well, I knocked over my whole cup of coffee on brand new WHITE carpet. To say I freaked was an understatement. Luke on the other hand, had everything in control. Let me give you a bit of backstory on Luke. His parents owned a janitorial cleaning supply store while he was growing up and one of their best friends owned a floor service company (mostly commercial mopping, waxing, etc.). At this point in our marriage, we were both in college but Luke was working overnights waxing floors at various haircutting places all over town. So, let’s just call him a floor guy. Back to the story. He was super calm and just went to get a towel and an iron. A few minutes later, the spot was gone and there were no worries. So, you can remove carpet stains (including wine). We have lived to tell the tale!

Fast forward to our current house. Again, we have light-colored carpet (although not new – it’s actually decent in the main living room). We had been here about two weeks and I decided to have a glass of red wine one night. Again, I was sitting on the floor and again I spilled it. Panic mode set in, but Luke handled it again. =)

I’ve had it in my mind to share this little trick with you for quite some time, but I just kept forgetting. So, here it is now.

How To Remove Carpet Stains Without Chemicals!

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This & That

October 3, 2014 by Ashley Mayes 6 Comments

Whew, this was a busy week! Luke and I took a quick trip up to Kansas City on Monday for Monday Night Football (in which we KILLED the Patriots!). Then, between school, speech class, swimming, two family photoshoots, and just life it has been hectic! Can I just say “Happy Friday!”

Anyways, so last week I shared the gallery wall that went up in the living room. This week, I shared upcycled pillows. If you put two and two together you might have realized that I’m updating the living room space. =) I’m not buying anything or have many plans to buy anything, but I’m finally tackling a few things that have just been on the to-do list forever.

Take for example this built-in:

It’s being updated right this second! Paint and a few minor changes are really turning it around.

Then, I’ve been shopping my house and have made some small decor changes that really seem to fit better than what we had. Other than paint and shopping the house, I’ve also been cleaning (as in spot cleaning). We have old carpet so spots just seem to stick right to it. We use this method with the iron that I shared awhile back and it works like a charm.

Anyways, just wanted to keep you in the loop on what’s going on. I’ll be sharing more of the living room soon!

Oh, and if you want to see more carpet cleaning tricks, you can check out the board that I curated over at Hometalk.

Have a great weekend!

Cleaning Schedule and Tips

May 13, 2014 by Ashley Mayes 6 Comments

Do you remember my “30 Before I’m 30” list from last month? If not, I’ll remind you. One of the things that I wanted to accomplish was to make a cleaning schedule and stick to it. Well, I’m going to cross that off the list! I made a cleaning schedule a few weeks ago, tweaked it a bit here and there, but am consistently trying to stay on top of it. By no means am I hitting everything on the list for the week, but it has allowed me to be more in a groove.

I made my list and then found this free printable. I inputted my cleaning items on the printable and then I printed it out. Easy peasy!

Free Printable via A Pair of Pears

*Please pin from the original site of the printable!

Having a daily “chore” item has definitely kept me more on target with cleaning. I would probably say that our house is more cluttered with stuff right now (because I’m cleaning more regularly but not picking up as much), but is definitely more clean that it has been. Does that make sense? lol.

I also have found an easier way to keep the shower clean, so I thought I would share.

I bought a little scrubby that you can fill and I filled it with vinegar and dish soap. Every other day or so, I just spend thirty seconds and clean a part of the shower. Right now I’m trying a 50/50 mix but it should probably have a little more dish soap. It works and is so fast! I’m all about fast and easy!

Pinterest Made Me Do It :: Pillow Washing

February 17, 2014 by Ashley Mayes 7 Comments

Whew, I feel like I can breathe again. We had a crazy-full weekend. Funny though, we didn’t have plans with anyone but I had plans for all of us. I wanted to get the bathroom cabinets done (which was asking too much…but we did make tons of progress) and do a few other things around the house. We got a little bit of everything done, but nothing fully done. Sometimes that annoys me, but other times I realize that the things that we do instead are more important.

Like this:

We went on a bike/walk at a nearby park and trail on Sunday. We finally had decent weather (I think it was upper 40s) and it felt so good to do something fun as a family. Spring….come soon, please.

Back to the post. I’ve had this pinned for awhile. It’s a pillow washing tutorial from One Good Thing by Jillee. So, please visit her site for a very in-depth tutorial on how to wash your pillows. It’s funny that I share cleaning methods, because I’m not a super tidy type person. I like the obscure cleaning methods (like the mattress cleaning that I did) way better than just general house cleaning (which doesn’t get done all that much). I did the lazy-gals guide to washing pillows and mine turned out well… so I’ll share what I did.

Use two pillows so that they keep the washer balanced.

Wash (I used the DIY laundry soap but you could use a different powder soap) on Permanent Press/Delicate (I was able to choose both for my washer) and use cold water.

Send it through the rinse cycle twice.

Put in the dryer and dry on medium. I ran mine for 1.5 cycles and that seemed to get them very dry.

These pillows weren’t stained or anything before, but they did seem to have a freshness to them after they came out of the dryer.

I read somewhere about how many pounds of dry skin we shed a year and it totally disgusted me. I’m now feeling better about having dry skin-less pillows. =)

Linking up to:

The Makers – Persia Lou

How To Clean Your Washing Machine

November 13, 2013 by Ashley Mayes 6 Comments

I hate doing the day-to-day cleaning that a house requires, but I love to do the obscure stuff. Love might be too big of word, but I’m much more interested in the obscure stuff. Some of you are as well, because one of my top pinned posts is the “How to Clean a Mattress”. I’m back with another one of those “How-To” one’s today… How To Clean Your Washing Machine.

I noticed for the last month or so that some of our clothes had blue spots on them. I couldn’t figure it out until I started seeing blue spots on the bottom of the washing machine after I ran a load. After further investigation, I saw that my washing machine (where I put the Downey in) was clogged. I had never thought to clean the washing machine (as you can tell). Well, I cleaned it and now we have no more spotted blue clothing. Pre-warning, we’ve owned this washing machine for 6+ years and it had never been cleaned … proceed with caution. =)

I now get to enjoy a clean washing machine and probably cleaner clothes in the process. Definitely a win in my book!