Tuesday Tip: Cleaning up Pine Needles from the Carpet

The presents are opened, the tree is looking a little dry and we have all made more memories in our lives to look back on. All in all, we have had a great holiday with family and friends, now it is time to clean up the mess.

One job that we all hate to think of is taking down the tree. It seems that no matter how great we have planned, it doesn’t work out. There are still pine needles all over. So, is there an ‘easy’ way of cleaning this up and not make matters worse?

Try this and see if it works as well for you as it does for many of my readers.

After the tree is down and out of the house:

1. Use a sticky lint roller to pick up all of the fine needles.
2. Spray a little water on the carpet and gently use a washcloth to ‘brush’ the needles into a pile.
3. vacuum as you go; every time you have a pile, vacuum it up, with the hose part of the vacuum cleaner.
4. If there is any needles that look like they are embedded in the carpet, simply take a piece of duct tape, masking tape, scotch tape or a clean lint brush (the sticky kind) and gently dab the carpet and pull the rest of the needles out.

It is the vacuum that usually embeds the needles and since you are using the hose part, nothing is pushing the needles into the nap of the carpet.

By the way, you can also use all of those pine needles to make sachet bags for the closet, truck of the car, basement or hallway. You will have a pine deodorizer for nothing. Simply put the needles into an old nylon, piece of cheesecloth or an old sock and tie it with a ribbon, string, twine or yarn.

Jan Hayner is a Professional Organizer that also looks for ways to clean your home ‘the easy way’, Check more of her tips at www.organizingandcleaning.com.