So this post is a little sobering for me… how did I become old enough to even want to write a post on cleaning products?

Over the years I’ve put questions out to friends and instagram to get recommendations on household cleaning products, and many of you have asked me in return via instagram for my recommendations. I feel like writing a post on cleaning supplies and vacuums means I’m officially old. And while that might be the case, at least I’m old with a clean house and a clean house makes me happy. Maybe that means it’s somewhat of a win.

So this post is dedicated to the many items I’ve compiled over the years to cover any number of problems:

Keeping my hardwood floors clean, getting a vacuum for my beloved shag rug that doesn’t get stuck on the long fibers, keeping my furniture from scratching the floor, keeping my runners in place, keeping butcher block wood countertops and cutting boards from drying out… etc. etc. etc.

Because when I spend money on an item, whether it be floors or rugs- I want them looking new forever. And while this may be a blog almost completely dedicated to decorating & travel, keeping the s*** you spent your hard earned money on, is an important aspect to keeping a beautiful home.

Keeping those rugs in tip-top shape:

Vacuum & Carpet Shampooer

Shark Navigator Lift Away Vacuum

Along with making the big decision to get a puppy during our covid quarantine- when I made a list of all things I thought I needed to train our puppy and keep our house looking spotless, a new vacuum topped the list. The priority for me when ordering this vacuum was that it didn’t break the bank, and it was able to run over the fibers of my shag carpet easily without getting stuck. I threw the question out there to instagram and got a ton of responses. I ended up going with this vacuum which was originally $229.99 and on sale for $159.99. With a Kohls coupon and $10 Kohls cash, I got this vacuum for a whopping $129.74. It also detaches from the base so you can easily lift it to clean stairs. Bagless was a plus because now I can wash out the vacuum chamber every few vacuums.

shark navigator vacuum

Hoover PowerDash Pet Compact Carpet Cleaner

Can you believe it took me to 34 years old to realize that I should be using a carpet shampooer on some of the throw rugs in our home? A little disgusting right? and now I’m obsessed. When did the realization come? When Benny our 5 month golden doodle came into our lives and starting chewing his smelly bully sticks on my beloved shag rug in our living room. I couldn’t stomach the thought of our rug smelling like bull penis (did you know that’s what bully sticks were made from?… yuck). That’s when I remember my friend Jackie posting about a carpet shampooer she bought and was obsessed with, so I messaged her to ask her for the details.

What I love about it? It works like a charm… in that the dirty water container was completely black the first few times I shampooed our rug… how disgusting?? lol… I should also note it was super easy to clean out after I was done using it.

It also didn’t break the bank at only $109.99, Check it out here:

Carpet Shampooer

It comes with a small bottle of cleaning solution which got me through 2 rounds of cleaning 3 rugs. Eventually you’ll need to purchase the cleaner as well, and this is what I purchased:

hoover cleaning solution

And for keeping those rugs in place:

My friend Heidi messaged me the other day after she saw my instagram story of Benny dragged his bed across my runner rugs to ask how they stay in place. I use rug pads below. I use to buy the 8x10 rug pads they sold at Homegoods and cut them down to size myself because I found that to be the cheapest. However my friend Lindsey recommended the type that just goes on the corners of the runners and they work perfectly. One kit gets you four rugs (16 corner pieces total). Check them out on amazon here:

Rug corner pads

Now for keeping those hardwood floors clean & from scratching:

My in-between clean: Cordless “vacuum”

I use a combination here of a couple of different items. I vacuum my floors in the entire house once every 2 weeks. For the in between times now that we have a dog tracking in dirt: I use a small cordless vacuum that acts sort of like a dust buster. I wouldn’t recommend this product to use as a regular vacuum for your entire house- just for the in between time.

I was going to invest in an expensive Hoover or Shark cordless vacuum that charges on the wall but I just couldn’t see spending $500 when all the other products I bought combined didn’t equal that. So I settled for the following one on amazon:

Aposen Cordless Vacuum Cleaner

It works great, it didn’t break the bank at $99, it holds a charge for weeks (I only use it for 5 minutes at a time to quick pick up crumbs in the kitchen and mudroom), and it’s super easy to empty.

To keep my hardwood floors looking pretty: My Bona

I had used Bona and the regular dust mop regularly on my floors. It makes my floors look like new and isn’t slippery to walk on after. I use to spray the floors with a bottle and then use the dust mop as like a swiffer- all until I ended up at my friend Missy’s house to help them put together furniture during their move-in. Her son ran around the house cleaning the dust on the floors with a Bona mop that sprayed the solution with a touch of the handle instead. Missy was nice enough to purchase one for me as a gift and I’ve been using the combo mop ever since.

Bona Hardwood Floor Kit

To keep my floors from scratching: Rug pads + feet

We have hardwood floors in almost every room of the house but the two guest rooms and our master closet. So we have tons of furniture legs on floors all over the house. Therefore I bought a set of furniture pads at Homegoods for $9.99. I stick them on the bottoms of all my furniture legs that sit directly on top of my hardwood floors (with the only exception being our stools… more on that in a minute). While I couldn’t find these online, I did find a better alternative with over 250 pieces for all sorts of furniture leg sizes on amazon, linked here:

258- piece rug pad set

I have two metal stools on the peninsula in my kitchen that don’t have normal round bottom feet to them. Instead they have rectangular metal feet that scratch the floor easily. That’s when I found these furniture feet originally from bed bath and beyond:

Furniture feet

Keeping our butcher block island and cutting board moisturized:

If you don’t keep your cutting boards and butcher block countertops moisturized (especially if they don’t have a protective coat on them), they’ll dry out. This product was actually recommended to me by the guy who delivered our island from the Treasure Place in Lancaster about four summers ago. I had always heard about using mineral oil, but it seemed to dry up quickly- this stuff works like a charm and a small amount goes a long way. I bought this bottle 4 years ago and I’m not even a 1/4 of the way through it. I apply it to my island and big butcher block cutting board once a month with the corner of a rag.

Howard Feed & wax

Keeping fabric/ couches and seating in tip top shape:

This next product was given to me by my dear friend Lindsey as part of a “puppy” gift when Shad and I decided to get Benny. I couldn’t believe the amount of gifts that were sent to us or dropped off at our home in the weeks leading up to Benny coming home. One of my favorite gifts was this Folex spray- that Lindsey said she saw chicks on instagram swear by. What better gift for someone who was already scared of a puppy ruining my home- than a cleaner for pet stains? The bottle boasts that it’s for any type of stain- coffee, wine, blood, etc. And I have to say I’ve tried it on all of those stains, most recently when Benny was teething and went to tug at my blanket leaving blood stains all over it. Came right out with this stuff.

Folex "carpet cleaner" spray

This last cleaning product was recommended to me by my very first design client ever, Erika. She wanted upholstered dining room chairs- but with two children under 4, I tried to talk her out of it for fear of food stains. She proclaimed, “I’ll just scotchgard it”, and literally I didn’t even know this product existed for upholstery until I met her. She sprayed all her chairs prior to putting them in the dining room for the first time- and this acted as a protective shield. She reminded me of the Frank’s Red Hot commercials: she literally put that shit on everything. I used it on our two upholstered dining room end chairs, and it worked great for when there was a food spill last Thanksgiving. And literally as I was writing this blog post, my husband Shad came in from letting Benny out the front door- and there was an enormous blood stain that looked like a bird had been murdered on our outdoor porch seating cushions. I took it to the sink and scrubbed it with a sponge- sure enough thanks to me spraying these cushions down with scotch guard at the start, and to my amazement it came right out. You can use it on numerous fabric products from clothing, cushions, to backpacks.

Scotchgard Fabric Spray

Lastly, random products that have brought me happiness which don’t fall in a specific category:

Plastic Bag organizer

(which you may not need in a few years since NY has done away with plastic bags). I remember seeing a meme that said something along the lines of “are you even an adult if you don’t have a plastic bag full of other plastic bags?”.

I could not stand the plastic bag full of other plastic bags under my sink, and that’s when I found this cheap alternative on amazon. Well worth the less than $20 to my organization, type-a, OCD world:

Plastic bag organizer

Under Sink Pull out

I could not stand reaching back and under my sink for all the random cleaning products and sponges I needed. It only dawned on me to look up an after-market organizer to attach to the inside of my cabinets after I started doing kitchen design and began noticing a push for drawers below sinks instead of doors. I can’t even begin to describe the weird joy these two purchases for my sink cabinet brought me (a clear sign of I’m nearing 40). This one didn’t break the bank and comes in a bunch of different sizes on amazon:

Under-sink organizer

So Random… but my grill cover.. lol

I’m going to stretch this one a bit- but this can fall under the category of “keeping your stuff nice”. We spent a good amount of money on our Weber grill about 5 years ago and every single freaking year I had to purchase a new grill cover. I tried the cheap ones, I tried the expensive ones. No matter what I spent- it had to be replaced each and every year. That’s when I put it out to the instagram world asking for recommendations and my friend Beth recommended this cover. It has lasted me a whopping 4 years… which has to be some sort of record. Rain, snow, full-sun, you name it. It’s stood the test of time. You can find it on amazon here:

Grill cover