It's that time of year again. It's time to clean and dust every nook and cranny, scrubbing harder than you have for the past 365 days, and that includes getting down and dirty with stains your pet may have left on your carpet. Sure you may "treat" the stains when they first happen, but even after you give him (and your carpet) a good scrubbing, pet odors can still linger, making spring the perfect time to really attack those problem areas. So we asked the team at to test four pet-safe common household products, like club soda, that can eliminate those funky ground-level stains and scents. "While my wife and I were out of the country, our dog sitter let my two Golden Retrievers explore the tomato garden," says BrightNest CEO Justin Anthony. "If you don't know what happens when dogs dine on tomatos, let me share — a very messy carpet. So I asked our team to explore the best techniques for turning my living room back into a space where you'd want to live."

If you have a urine spot on your carpet that's still wet, opt for eco-friendly white vinegar, which neutralizes odors due to its high acidity — and works well even if the stain or smell has been there for a while. Start by blotting the area, rather than rubbing it, which will only push the stain further into the carpeting fibers. Then mix equal parts white vinegar and cold water, and pour the mixture generously over the soiled section. Blot well, and then let it dry. (A fan can speed up the process.) Once dry, run a vacuum over the area. urine spot that has already dried, sprinkle a generous amount of baking soda over the soiled section, and then let it sit for a couple hours before vacuuming. Dr. Tina Wismer, DVM, DABVT, DABT, medical director of the ASPCA Poison Control Center, just advises owners to use a baby gate or an overturned laundry basket to keep pets away from the area while the baking soda sets. Although this cleaning method is safe to use in homes with critters, “if ingested, baking soda can cause stomach upset and electrolyte imbalances,” says Dr. Wismer.

Go to primary menu| ABC on your mobile Shannon Lush cleaning advice from June 30 2008 Can you un-shink a jumper? Got some stains in the carpet that just won't come out? Shannon Lush has the answers to your cleaning questions. Q. What is the best way to clean a vinyl record?A. A small amount of glycerine on a cloth - soap and water can work but it can leave a fat residue on the record, glycerine doesn't. Q. How do you get [povidone-iodine] out of pale blue wool carpet?A. The best thing to use is a colour run remover product. Dilute the colour run product one part to five parts water ring a cloth out in it and sponge it off. You can find products to prevent colours running in cloth in the laundry section of supermarkets. Q. How do you get cat wee out of a mat?A. First get an ultraviolet light and a piece of chalk, and the urine will illuminate. Mark the areas that need cleaning and then sponge out with white vinegar. Q. How do you get photos out of an old photo album which has glue on the backing sheet and a plastic fold over cover?

A. Over the top of the plastic, along the leading edge away from the photos put a damp cloth. This will add some moisture to the plastic which will help to start the peeling back. Sometimes the photos stick a bit and to get the last bit off, use a sharp knife and a hair dryer. Slide the knife under and point the hair dryer at it at the same time. Q. How do you get a marker pen stain off a 95 per cent cotton jumper? best cleaner for dirty carpetHave tried using metho, but it's left a residue stain.swimming pool cleaning acidA. It means you didn't get all of the marker pen out. rogers pool cleaningMetho doesn't leave a water mark. best way to clean up broken glass on tile

So there has to be another material to remove it. Try cleaning it again with metho and clean a larger area. Q. How do you clean an oven?A. Damp the inside of the oven first then sprinkle it with bicarb soda and then wipe out with white vinegar. To do the side and top of the oven get two cleaning cloths. Sprinkle bicarb soda on one and pour vinegar on to the other. Put the vinegar one at the back and as you put pressure on the two cloths against the oven squeeze the vinegar through to the bicarb soda. carpet steam cleaning vancouverTo get a better view of the top of the oven put a mirror in the bottom while you clean.indoor pool in palm springs hotel Q. How do you clean very dirty collars and cuffs on work shirts?A. Make a paste out of a powdered bleach/detergent product and paint it on the stains, leave it for 20 minutes and then put in a normal wash cycle.

Q. Can you recommend an alternative to black wash which is for washing black clothes?But Shannon uses cheap shampoo and little bit of bicarb soda for washing her black clothes or black wash which says she did a test run and the difference between black wash and normal washing powder over 50 washes is huge. However the same results are achieved with black wash as with cheap shampoo and bicarb soda. Q. How do you get candle wax out of acrylic loop pile carpet? A. get a couple of ice cubes and put them in a plastic bag. Put them over the stain until the wax is really hard and then use a flat wood stick or a take away plastic knife to remove all of the hard wax. Then put paper towel over it and aim a hair dryer at and push the paper towel down while you're doing it. Keep changing over your paper towel until it's all absorbed. You'll be left with a greasy mark which you can rub with tea tree oil and it comes straight out. Q. How do you get fish smells out of a frost free fridge?

A fish was put in the freezer uncovered and despite washing with vanilla and other products, the smell won't go away.A. Vanilla doesn't actually clean it off, it just smells nice. The best way to clean it off is with normal soap from the bathroom - if you use detergents you will set the fish oils. Get a cake of soap, rub it onto a pair of panty hose and wipe it down. Q. How do you clean aluminium?A. Use either tea bags or apple peel. Q. How do you un-shrink a jumper and do you need to do it every time you do it?A. No you only have to do it once and then make sure you follow some basic rules to do with washing jumpers. Don't wash them in the washing machine and wash them and rinse them in the same temperature water. If you change the temperature of wool too fast it automatically shrinks. To un-shrink a jumper 2 tablespoons of fullers earth and put it into a bucket of blood heat water, agitate gently, leave for 15 minutes and rinse in the same temperature water. Lay it flat on a towel in the shade to dry and as it dries you stretch it from the inside pulling it out.

Put a pin line on the towel to the right size so you don't stretch it too far. Go out every 20 minutes to stretch it out a bit more. Q. How do you remove dog vomit from carpet? It's been washed in vinegar but also a touch of dish washing liquid but now it has a slight grey colour to it. A. Put a couple of drops of dish washing liquid on it and massage until you feel it change texture, it will suddenly feel a bit like jelly and when it does sponge it out with white vinegar. Make sure you don't make it too wet, just a little moisture. Q. How do you get paint thinner smells, out of a white melamine cupboard which was used for storing garden and painting products?A. Melamine actually absorbs smells and so to fix it you need to reseal the melamine. There are sealers available from hardware and specialist paint stores. Paint it over and leave open for 48 hours and it seals it. The sealer can come in most colours and a clear finish. Q. How do you get olive oil out of new maroon sued shoes - they haven't been cleaned with anything.

A. Wipe them with white spirits and sprinkle with talcum powder and leave the talcum powder until it dries. Q. How do you get thick clear photocopier oil off white carpet?A. Put a few drops of dish washing liquid on to it and rub it with your fingers until you feel it change texture. When it suddenly feels like jelly then sponge it out with a damp cloth. Q. A white cardigan now has black stains on it after soaking it in bleach - the stains are from the shiny metal buttons which are on the cardigan.A. It is rust before it goes rusty. It's either iron transfer or chrome transfer. If it's chrome transfer you need to use a combination of vinegar and peroxide - 1 teaspoon of 3 per cent peroxide solution and one tablespoon of white vinegar mixed together - that's if it's a blue/grey/black coloured stain. If it's a black stain heading towards brown, which means it's an iron transfer, you need to put small mounds of salt on to the stain and squeeze lemon juice on top, and leave it in the sunshine to dry.