wash your carpets in snow

It is a nice winter day -15C (5F). Time to wash the carpet!
You spread it on pristine snow and then vigorously walk all over it. Snow flakes are spiky and will penetrate the carpet, effectively removing dust and dirt.

After doing both sides, you leave the carpet there for a couple of days.  Good news: the weather forecast for the next days is hovering around  -25C (-13F). No fibre-eating critters can survive that.

The tools are simple. Beat the snow in, brush it away. The carpet does not get wet, because the snow does not melt. So when you brush the snow away, you have a dry carpet smelling fresh.

Some advice to vacuum the carpet first. That is unnecessary (and as I have no electricity, impossible). The dust comes off in the snow.

I worked at a convenience store 35 years ago where we cleaned burned coffee from the bottom of the coffee pots by swirling them with icee drink slush in the bottom. Ice crystals are useful!

Well done, Kaarina! The first eco-friendly dry cleaning method!

I like this makes me wish there had been snow here during our recent cold snap! and the rug beater you have pictured is gorgeous! I like the kill bugs by freezing to death option. need to go back to these simple solutions!

So smart! ❄️ Someone I follow online uses this same method to naturally clean her sheepskins!

I'm always surprised how great snow is for cleaning. I'm usually using it for cleaning dishes while camping or staying in back country huts. In the Winter, whenever I dump out my compost I clean the bucket with snow.

Definitely going to try this on my rugs.

THIS is why I still have some hope left for humanity...because the creativity of the humans that still exist!

Wow, unlikely I will ever be able to use this, since 1) in Honolulu, it does not snow...although "climate change" might change that! and 2) my carpet is attached to the floor, and there is too much stuff over the whole living room for me to be able to remove it and take it outside for cleaning.  haha

BUT, I LOVE this!

Ashley Cottonwood wrote:I'm always surprised how great snow is for cleaning. I'm usually using it for cleaning dishes while camping or staying in back country huts. In the Winter, whenever I dump out my compost I clean the bucket with snow.

Same here -- always have! Best scouring compound ever.

If it's cold enough, powder snow is also a fantastic sweeping compound for use in unheated outbuildings. Especially when the deer mice have penetrated my defences and left a mess -- and I'm trying to control the aerosols (hantavirus puts a few people in the ICU, or worse, every year, so not to be dismissed lightly). But powder snow forms an increasingly tight crystal matrix when "worked" by a broom (or an avalanche) and becomes a sort of concrete-like mass that can be tossed in the woods. (This is anecdotal of course, but because I get an allergic reaction from deer mice pee/poo I can tell when the aerosols are reduced; and if I can't ventilate the space well I still mask up for safety.)

This method is age old wisdom. One of the old skills we have just forgotten, because somebody wanted to convonce us to buy carpet shampoo, dry cleaning services and vacuum cleaners.

I find these gems because I love reading old housekeeping books