LifeHackMom.com

Exactly one week ago today we moved across country from Western New York to our new home in South Texas. For about the same amount of money, we got a bigger house, with a great water view, an inground pool, and an affluent neighborhood. When we bask in the warm Texas sun, watching the palm trees sway in the breeze from Corpus Christi Bay while we sip Margaritas, my husband and I remind each other that we are not on vacation — we actually LIVE here now. How did we get so lucky to find this piece of paradise? Only one thing brings us down to Earth — the pungent smell of dog urine when we walk into the house.

When we flew here to house-shop two months ago, there was no odor of dogs, although three large dogs were penned up in the back office while we toured the house. The owner vacated the house shortly after, subsequently turning off the air conditioning. We surmise that the heat and humidity of two months of near 100 degree days brought up these older smells.

The smell was so vile it initially brought tears to the eyes. After buying several over-the-counter products guaranteed to remove pet odors, it now smells like dog pee lurking under spring rain, mountain breeze, and fresh linen scents. In addition to watery eyes, we now suffer from uncontrollable sneezing fits from all the different odors and chemical products piled on top of the dog pee.

I have steam-cleaned the carpets with our personal steamcleaner, to no avail. I believe the smell is actually getting worse. It is now time to give up trying to do it myself and call in the big guns — professional carpet cleaners.

This brings me to my paid review of Quality Carpet Cleaning. I have reviewed their website at http://www.qualitycarpetcleaning.com/ and they have a solid premise of solving problems like mine. In fact, their FAQ page addresses how to treat pet odors.

“Q. How do you treat pet stains and odor?

A. Because dogs and cats don’t sweat, their urine contains alkaline salts which absorb moisture out of the air. Thus, pet urine never really dries. It becomes a feeding ground for bacteria which causes odor, staining and discoloration. Minor conditions can be handled with a combination of germicidal and enzyme surface treatments, and enzyme injections into the padding. Major conditions usually require pad replacement and floor treatment in addition to treating the carpet.”

I believe the part about how “pet urine never really dries” is our problem. In fact, I have difficulty pushing the vacuum over the spot where the worst stench is. I am met with resistance from the vacuum — it feels like I am pushing a vacuum over a wet carpet.

Quality Carpet Cleaning has an entire section on Pet Odor and Pet Stains, including a coupon for 25% off. If they were in my area, I would be on the phone with them this very moment, asking “how fast can you get here to clean my carpet?” They serve many counties in Southern California. If you live in that area and are experiencing the embarrassment and torture of a smelly pet-stained carpet, I recommend giving them a call for an estimate. Cleaning a carpet is a lot cheaper than replacing a carpet.

Quality Carpet Cleaning treats all sorts of stains and dirty carpets, not just pet stains. Besides carpet cleaning, other services they provide include upholstery cleaning, drapery cleaning, carpet repairs, and tile and grout cleaning. They offer a list of carpet cleaning services on their website.

Ever since my son learned to pee standing up at the ripe age of 3, my bathroom has suffered. The inconvenience of changing diapers was soon replaced by the need to clean the bathroom ALL the time . A little boys’ aim is not great, nor is his memory for lifting the toilet seat up to pee. Now that he’s nearly 8, things still haven’t changed that much.
Although I thought I was doing a good job keeping the bathroom clean, a few months ago I noticed a urine odor in the bathroom that wouldn’t go away, no matter how much I scrubbed the toilet.

I could SMELL urine, but I just couldn’t FIND it. I took a tip from the television show CSI and bought an ultraviolet flashlight. Waiting until night time, I turned out the bathroom lights, closed the door for total darkness, and turned on the UV flashlight. Voila - the source of the bad smell was revealed. The walls to the side and behind the toilet were covered with fluorescent white streaks. Seems my son’s aim was REALLY bad. Totally gross, but effective.

I hate clutter, but I hate filling up a landfill even more with usable items. As we are preparing our home to put on the market, I’ve been instructed to do a major decluttering of the house. This means the big stuff — furniture, pianos, entertainment equipment — as well as the little — magazines, old clothes, kids’ toys.

Some of the stuff is pretty good, but is just taking up space. I found a great resource to give away your stuff to people who need them. Freecycle.org offers free local online ads for recycling unwanted items to people in the area who want them and will pick them up (which is usually half the battle). The catch — everything must be totally free.

I checked out the local Buffalo Freecycle group and saw ads for kittens, magazines, specific toys, packing materials, beds. Just about anything. Hopefully this site will help me clean out my house. Looking forward to getting rid of some perfectly usable, but not in our tastes, inherited furniture!