Rug Doctor Review

My son and his girlfriend have just moved house.  We helped them on Sunday with the big clean up to make everything look spick and span, and part of this job was to clean the beige coloured carpets.  Professional carpet cleaning can cost a lot of money, and for young couples the last thing they want to do is fork out cash unnecessarily.  It made sense to hire a Rug Doctor to deep clean their carpets for a fraction of the price.

Wherever you live in the UK, you are probably within a 10 minute car drive from a rental outlet.  Many supermarkets, cleaners and DIY stores are outlets from which you can hire a Rug Doctor.

A 24 hour rental complete with a bottle of cleaning detergent costs just over £30.  This will clean approximately 38 sq m of carpet (about two rooms).

The machine fitted easily into my son's car on the rear seat.  It was in a good and clean condition and ready to use straight away.

The instructions to get the machine ready for use were easy to follow and within minutes the cleaner was filled with warm water and cleaning detergent in the tanks.  

The Rug Doctor injects cleaning solution into the pile of the carpet and sucks it back up picking up all the dirt, grime and nasties lurking deep down.  A vibrating brush agitates the carpet loosening tough dirt and fluffing up the pile.  80% of the cleaning solution is extracted by the machine leaving carpets dry in just a couple of hours.

Using the Rug Doctor is much like using a very heavy vacuum cleaner that you pull backwards.  Unfortunately, the instructions on the machine were a bit vague and consequently he didn't manage to use the attachments, but we did get it all working.  My daughter, who was helping her brother, found it quite hard to use as she struggled to pull the machine backwards due to its weight and ended up with a painful wrist.  However, my son didn't have a problem using it.  The amount of solution going onto the carpet seemed a bit inconsistent leaving some patches much damper than others, but that could have been user error.  Overall though, the Rug Doctor worked efficiently and the carpet was cleaned quickly.  

I was impressed with the end result.  Although it was not 100% perfect, the carpet was much cleaner and the water in the tank was filthy, so we know that a lot of dirt and grime was lifted from the pile.  It definitely provided a new lease of life to the carpet.  As you can see from the Before and After photos below, most of the stains were considerably lightened or removed by the solution.  It is shocking to see just how much dirt is trapped inside the fibres of a carpet. 

For more information go to www.rugdoctor.co.uk

*We were sent a voucher for  24 hr hire.*

Reasons To Be Cheerful....Change!

I've had a bit of a rubbish week.  But even rubbish weeks help you learn valuable lessons.  Life is all about growing as a person and although sometimes things have to change, things will hopefully work out for the best in the long run.  This week has been about this in lots of respects, and we're going through the aftermath and coming to terms with a whole heap of changes as a family.  However, lessons have been learned and for that I'm grateful.

1:  Yet again I've realised how amazing my husband is.  He is a man of integrity.  He puts our family first and I love his simple outlook on situations.  I've been a bit emotionally wobbly recently and he has put everything into perspective for me, making me see things for what they are.   He supports me 100% and just being reminded of these qualities makes me happy.  His job situation is still a bit flaky, but our relationship has never been stronger.

2:  My daughter Megan has finished university.  Three years of studying Business Management and Marketing at The University of Manchester has come to an end.  I'm so proud of her.  She has struggled with her health whilst she has been away and has had some problems that she has had to deal with on her own outside of the protection and comfort of her family.  But she has worked hard and now holds the honour of being the most educated person in our family with a well respected degree under her belt!

She has some recently had some big changes and more are on her horizon.  Times are tough for her right now. The economic climate means everything is more of a struggle but she will find a path befitting her abilities, talents and her personality.  She has got so much promise and potential.  Whatever she ends up doing, she'll make her mark on the world.  I love my daughter and am honoured to be her mum.

3:  Ella has almost finished her GCSE's.  Three more exams to go and she has coped admirably with her revision.  Like her big sister, she is also going through a lot of changes as she is leaving the comfort of her local school to attend a big sixth form college in a town which is an hour's bus ride away.  She has some lovely friends that she will be leaving behind, but they have plans to meet up every week for a catch up.  Ella's not had it easy these past months, but again I am so proud of her of her amazing self-resilience.  She'll be moving onwards and upwards and will have our full support as she takes on the next challenges in her life.

4:  My eldest son Joe is about to move house.  It's never easy!  But it is exciting to think of him and his girlfriend setting up a new home with the thought of their new baby being born into it.  Unfortunately Joe's moving date is the same as the date Megan is meant to vacate her student accommodation.  There will be juggling for us to do in order to help them both!!

5:  Our tickets have just arrived for The M Fest, Morrison's festival of Food and Music (two of my favourite things!!)  It will be Freddy and Kizzy's first weekend festival and it is something that Ian is very keen for them to experience.  It's also across Freddy's 3rd birthday weekend so will be a treat for us all to celebrate his special day!

We'll be postponing his birthday party for a few weeks, but it is something I'm really looking forwards to.  Lots of cake baking, music, fun, friends and family.  It will be fabulous and an opportunity for us to get together and give thanks for all that is good in our life and put behind all the bad bits!

6:  Today I helped sponsor a child in Niger along with a whole host of other bloggers.  This is another example of the good that can be done when the blogging community pulls together.  I'm so proud to be a part of  this!  If you want to be a part of something amazing check out this post from Merry at Patch of Puddles for #ShareNiger  You don't have to give a lot (I couldn't donate too much because of my husband's uncertain job future) but every penny counts.  A one off donation or a monthly payment can literally change the lives of children in Niger.  Together we truly can make a difference.