POSSIBLY HELPFUL HINTS for SHAMPOOING YOUR CARPET WITH YOUR OWN MACHINE

* Wear indoor shoes with grippy soles. I discovered from the beginning that although it makes sense to go barefoot while shampooing, when i walked onto the kitchen floor i nearly fell down... repeatedly (because I am a slow learner!) Of course, socks will get wet. Today i am wearing my indoor slippers.

* Vacuum well and get as much cat hair up as possible. When i got this machine and for year afterwards, we had Bessie with us. And no matter how well I vacuumed, still i ran into a situation of having her hair collect and roll into snakes or balls or lumps on the carpet. At first i tried to pick these up with the machine but that did not work. So every time the machine kicked these out I picked them up by hand. Now, with only Tigger here i have had only three small blobs kick out. BUT, I suspect with your long haired Kitty you may have more, like I did with Bessie.

* Make certain that you look carefully at how to mix your cleaning solution into the dispenser. I have made numerous mistakes over the years with this just because i did not pay attention. Today I paid attention! My reservoir hold approximately 1 gal of water.  the solution holder is designed to feed out into that gallon properly as the water leaves the machine. The solution i am using says "1 oz per gal to 2 oz per gal, depending on the traffic or dirt level in the carpet. I use 2. So, that goes into the  dispenser and then it is filled to the line with water.

* Make certain your machine is set on "Floor" rather than "Tools" or "Attachments". AND make certain that the dial is set to either the heavy traffic, or moderate traffic and NOT to the 'just water' setting. These are little symbols. One time I did an entire room with just water and could not figure out why i was not smelling any of the solution or why the level of the solution in the holder was not going down. (DUH!!!!!!!!!) I was just NOT present and NOT paying attention!

* Clean out the machine as well as possible when you are finished! This is NOT an easy task! Wish it were! I hope your machine is a bit easier. I suggest sitting in a kitchen chair and putting the machine on an old towel. Turn it over and see how much of the hair and dirt you can get out of the various places, including in the wheels. All you can do is what you can in this regard. Then i set all  parts over a register and let them sit of a day or two, until completely dry.

* Take your time. Take breaks often. All it to be an all day thing if need be. Get someone else to take as much stuff out as possible. i just moved my one light chair I use for the computer in the living room, the wooden boxes (and one of them i just set up on end) All the light stuff.. Nothing else was moved.My experience in the past is that if those things are moves, really it was not necessary to shampoo underneath the couch and loveseat anyhow.

* "Spray and Wash" seemed to help get those pesky extra dirty spots clean! I would use that product again as a pre-cleaner. I even sprayed it on some of the larger areas. One of the reasons I decided to use this instead of the commercial grade spot cleaner i have in the cupboard is because THAT product has ammonia in it.. and i believe that ammonia is a very dangerous thing to smell. (imho)

* Take your time in small spurts. The reason i say this is because as i was going along today and really pacing myself, I recalled how in the past what would happen is that i would push myself way too hard and so when it came to the end (which could have been 3/4 of the way through)  I would just go toooooo fast, wanting it to be done. And that DID sacrifice the thoroughness of the result. This time i thought "Why go to all  this trouble to get sloppy toward the end?" So, I have been at this since this morning. It is now 2:30 CST, and I still have a bit more to do. I have managed to get most everything put away and/or moved around.

What i ended up shampooing is the short hallway from the front door into the living room, the hallway to the bedrooms and the hall bathroom. (yes.. the carpet is in there also.. YUCK!) Call me sick, but there is something so gratifying in dumping the disgusting water out after shampooing!

Now i am thinking i want to save to replace the carpet in a couple years or so. Until then, i will try to do a better job of shampooing what i have. Actually,  this is the first time since my last surgery that i have shampooed! Now i know i CAN do it! (or DID do it today, anyhow!)