Saturday, March 07, 2015

Folex is the greatest carpet cleaner on the planet

When you have kids, cats, and adults living in the same house, accidents will happen. Sometimes those accidents involve stains, and sometimes those stains fall onto the hardwood for easy cleanup. This post is not about those times.

I've tried a number of carpet cleaners over the years, and my two complaints about them have been as follows:
  1. They don't clean very well. This is especially true on old stains.
  2. They have a strong, synthetic odor to them.
On the hunt for a carpet cleaner that doesn't smell like the fake lemon scent of a convenience store bathroom, I spotted a fairly plain, white bottle of Folex sitting on the shelves of a drugstore. Reading the bottle, "non-toxic" and "odor-free" caught my eye. I decided to give it a shot.

Here's what Folex has been able to get out of my carpets and rugs:
  • Tomato sauce
  • Jam
  • Blueberries
  • Coffee
  • Tea
  • Milk
  • Soil
  • Mud
  • Cat hairballs
  • Cat vomit
  • Cat poop
  • Other hard-to-identify cat-related things
  • Dry-erase marker (!)

The best part is the smell: there's practically no odor. I don't feel like I have to air the house out after spraying this on my rug. 

I sometimes find Folex at Bartell's here in the Seattle area. You can also find Folex in quart-sized bottles on Amazon. The price is higher than what I've seen at drugstores, but it's a quart so it should last you a while. Give it a whirl and let me know if it works as well for you.