I didn't know where to put this so here it is. Do any of you have a portable carpet cleaner? I have some "spots" that I want to remove from my carpet and I'm thinking of investing in a carpet cleaner. Any suggestions? Warnings?

I have a hand held portable cleaner its a Hoover brand and all I do is put in 2 cups of water and some soap and it cleans the spot. Then you empty it and vaccuum up the water in the furniture or carpet as a dry vac, using the same portable vac however. It is great for vacuuming up wet spills and cleaning small furniture or other rug spots. If I had larger carpeted area's and say a dog who has accidents, I'd buy a bigger one for those larger stains and do all my own carpet cleaning. Now, if you own your home and plan to stay there why not go to wood floors or a good tile. The money you save not to mention its more sanitary all around. I have a couple of area rugs that I can take to the laundromat once in awhile and they come out gorgeous and look great on my all tile floors. Just a thought!

We don't have carpets any more (thank goodness!) except in one room, but when we did, we just rented a steam cleaner. When we need to clean the area rug, we use Bac-Out - it's an enzyme cleaner and gets everything out of the rug. We just spray on, let it sit for 10-15 minutes, then blot up. Sometimes we have to treat 2 or 3 times, but when we're done, you can't tell there was a spot on the rug. Bac-Out also takes out smells completely. Spud, when he first adopted us, had to mark everything in the house. The first 6 months he was here, I think we went through 3 huge bottles of the stuff. Fortunately, he's feeling secure enough now that he's not marking. He drove us crazy for a while.

Where do you get this stuff, Yonuh?

The only place I've seen it here is at our Food Co-op. It's by a company called Bi-O-Kleen based in Vancouver, WA. If you can't find it locally, you could go to their web site www.bi-o-kleen.com to see if you can order. It says to pour on the spot, but we just stick a spray bottle top on the bottle and spray it on. I love this stuff, and you can use it on laundry stains, too. I first used it after mom died to clean stains on her carpet, and I was sold! If you can't find it, let me know and I'll send you a bottle to try.

That is such a great tip. I visited their site and it is suppose to be sold at a nearby grocery store, Kroger. I'll call them today and see if they carry it. Cool! Thank you!

With my crew (cats, dawg, me, etc.) dragging in dirt, it became expensive to pay for professional carpet cleaning. (I have builders grade carpet & pad - in a year or so I'll need to replace and hope to find a good deal w/ extra padding b/c I like to play on the floor with my pets). Thus, about 2 years ago I purchased a Bissell Proheat 2X, which works well and easy to use. I clean my carpets about every other month and you'd be amazed at how much dirt comes out! Its a constant!

One thing we did do was invest in a Dyson vacuum cleaner. The first time we used it, when the floor (we still had some carpet then) was clean (or so we thought) that vacuum picked up 2 containers full of dirt and hair. We were able to buy the Dyson on close-out at almost half price and are so glad we did! The fine desert sand comes in even when we have the doors and windows closed - I have to dust every day! Our vacuums, no matter which brand or model, would last a year or two before we'd have to have the motor replaced or buy a new vacuum, and that got expensive. So we figured if the Dyson lasted two years we'd be ahead of the game. It's been almost a year now, and it's working as well as it did when we first got it.

Many years ago, several women from the neighborhood pitched in and bought a Bissell run cleaner and we shared it.

Many years in to the sharing, I borrowed it to clean Dad's rugs and burned the motor. I can't recall how I did it, but anyway, I was mortified because it belonged to everyone. I ran out and bought a new one and now it's years later, no one ever needed it again, soem of the women have moved away, and I still have an lamost new rug cleaner which I love.

When it comes to doing small stains, I like Resolve carpet cleaner.

Yonuh, did you get the BALL DYSON or the regular one?