I have my shop set up in my two unused bedrooms so I'm pretty hard on my wall to wall carpeting. Two things I've used on stains that haven't harmed the carpet are oven cleaner and toilet bowl cleaner. Together with warm soapy water and a hard brush they've fixed all the spots I've made when I'm careless. The ultimate fix is called brush cleaner. It has solvents to dissolve any sort of paint, latex or oil, that have dried on paint brushes. It will clean oily spots too. It comes by the gallon and is pretty expensive. Use with caution.
Maybe consider laying plywood over the carpet while using your bedroom as a shop. It is easy to take up and easier than cleaning or damaging your carpet. I hope this tip isn't too girly since it is based on the premise of not making a mess in the first place.
I have a tarp under my table saw which I can fold up and shake out outdoors. It's a good idea but plywood would be awkward for the same purpose. Btw, what does "not making a mess in the first place" mean? Is it Latin of some sort?
It means I always try to think of ways so I never make a mess that is hard to clean up. The tarp is a great idea but when I had to use a bedroom for my studio/shop for several months, I made a floating plywood floor screwed down to 2 X 4s lying flat and all I had to do was vacuum over it to keep the sawdust controlled and I just left paint stains. It made a solid base for my portable workbench, mini table saw, and mini drum sander. When I had my small garage shop finished, I just unscrewed the plywood and the carpet was clean. I used tarps on the walls. The only big repair I had was a hole in the sheetrock from the table saw kicking back a 1 X 2 with prejudice. Example: One of my friends can't cook anything without making a big mess. A good example is making a stew she fills the pot so full that you can't stir it without splashing it all over the stovetop. I fill it 3/4 full and if I do splash out or drips off the spoon hit the stovetop, I clean them up immediately. Also while cooking she just piles up pans and utensils she has used and has a big mess to clean up later. I wash them when finished with them and never have a big pile of things to wash at once. Another was an old neighbor that did a sloppy job of taping before painting. He spent more time cleaning up than the actual painting.
Laundry: Place laundry in tub outside, throw in some soap of choice and water, step in the tub and dance to the tune of Uptown Funk. Cleans the toe nails and washes the clothes at the same time. To dry, hang the clothes on a line directly from the tub and rinse with a garden hose, let hang until dry or if your drawers still aren’t dry when you need them then go commando or refer to the tip. Tip: To dry clothes quicker, use clamps or vice grips to secure said pair of drawers to the flag pole in the back of the pickup and go 60 mph. They’ll be dry by the time you get to work. 2nd tip: A scratchy towel makes a fantastic exfoliating device and invigorates the skin whilst at the same time building endurance to light pain. Dishes: What dishes? Cooking: Open can and put it on the stove. When hot, use channel locks to remove can and eat contents when ready. Dusting and sweeping: I prefer using the electric leaf blower but the cordless battery operated one will do in a pinch. Hint: For better dusting, take all the screens off of the windows and when dusting with the leaf blower make sure the windows are open.
i have learned after having hand issues this last year, to take certain steps to keep from making big mess. I take big package of sugar that i put in clear canister and put in sink to fill it. That way no sugar on cabinet counter or floor incase I drop or turn over. Plus i keep the sugar in a Wal mart bag so that i can lift it from my storage area to the cabinet .
It really doesn't matter to me since we haven't had carpet in our house for at least 40 years.The times we bought first thing we did was remove all carpets and replace with wood,one of the prettiest wood floors I personally put in was pine untility board. We had more compliments on it than any floors we put in.I sanded it till my finger prints were almost gone. Hubby would come home from work and see wires haging down from ceiling and carpet gone where once I also made bedroom part of living room. We use throw rugs but no cloth type material for flooring.I like easy sweep or vacuum mop and go for clean up.Plus we're not continuously breathing carpet fibers.
Me too ,I first got use to washing clothes as a child in a creek over a rock water ran over,I'd stomp them clean,later after babies before disposable diapers I'd put them in the tub and stomp on em. it would have been more enjoyable if I did this to music but then I couldn't hear the babies if they cried. Any of you ever use a washboard with Octagon Soap?Istill remember the look and clean pure smell of Octogon a brown flat bar of clean minus chemicals.I still use Murphys Oil Soap for our wood floors today. Use to like PineSol but it has been gone for many years ,this new stuff is not pine oil.
OK OK, I confess! When I was living in the mountains, I let dishes build up when I was sick. Once feeling better, the thought of heating water on the woodstove and the thought of scrubbing them was too much, so since I stored my dishes in my cabinets using dish drying racks, I put the empty racks in the back of my pickup, loaded up the dishes and in an amazing display of multitasking, washed my pickup and also the dishes. I covered the dishes in the racks with a plastic tarp to keep them dust-free and home I went.
A single girl has to stay ahead of the game, but should illness or injury arise, we do have our amazing successful hail Mary's.
It is amazing what we can do if we have to. " A man works from dust till dawn but a womans work is never done." Of course it helps being from a generation of women doing manual labors at times too. Imagine to look on a woman of todays face if you handed her a washtub and bar of soap to do the laundry.If the shtf most people today will be in trouble. Imagine sending one of their kids to draw water from the well bucket. Or taking care of a wound without ER.