Пищевая сода и средство для мытья посуды: автор сравнил два способа освежения дивана

I cleaned my couch with baking soda and washing up liquid – one made it look and feel like new Wondering how to clean your fabric sofa at home? I tested two popular household staples - washing up liquid and baking soda - and one came out a clear winner for freshness There is genuinely nothing better than wrapping up a tough day at work, making a cup of tea and sinking into the sofa. I am convinced that a quality, comfortable couch is one of the best things money can buy — after all, we spend a lot of time seated on it, no matter how much we try to stay active. Last year, I replaced my uncomfortable leather settee with a far softer, more sumptuous velvet alternative, and I have not looked back. My only complaint is that this new one is harder to keep clean. Every crumb or spillage shows up instantly, and given the nature of the material, you can't just wipe it away. I turned down every single extra that the furniture retailer attempted to sell me, which naturally included a professional cleaning service. So this week, having put off the task for months, it was finally time to tackle it myself. I chose to trial two popular sofa cleaning techniques I've been seeing online over recent years. While there were no particularly stubborn marks or stains on the cushions, it definitely required a bit of refreshing. This is one of those chores that is easy to overlook, yet cleaning your sofa is really important, especially as we move closer to the colder months. Nobody wants their couch to become a breeding ground for bacteria and germs, which is far more likely if it is littered with crumbs or has an unpleasant odour. The two cleaning methods relied on a pair of cheap household essentials - washing-up liquid and baking soda - both of which I already had to hand. And having put them both to the test, there was an unexpected winner. Cleaning my sofa with washing-up liquid First, I attempted what is probably one of the most widely shared cleaning tricks on social media in recent years. All that's required is some washing-up liquid or a laundry tablet, hot water, a tea towel and a saucepan lid. I boiled the kettle for this, which in retrospect was a very poor decision, as the water was far too hot to handle for quite some time. Warm water straight from the tap would have sufficed, but lessons have been learnt. I squeezed some washing-up liquid into a large bowl, then added the water before placing a clean tea towel in to soak. Next, I wrung out any surplus water from the towel and wrapped it around the lid of one of my saucepans, fastening it at the back with a scrunchie. The cleaning process itself is straightforward. Simply glide the saucepan lid gently across your sofa, and it should lift minor marks, leaving it looking cleaner and more presentable while also smelling fresh. I was worried this would leave my sofa damp for ages, but I was pleasantly taken aback by how quickly it appeared to dry. The cushions had a noticeably cleaner appearance once I'd wiped them down, with all the dust and blemishes seeming to vanish. I had also expected that the fresh scent of the washing-up liquid would remain, but sadly you could barely smell anything. Nevertheless, it was still a pretty effective hack, and a speedy one at that. Cleaning my couch with baking soda Next on the agenda was tackling the remaining sofa cushions using baking soda. It is well known that this cleaning staple is useful for countless tasks around the house, from clearing blocked drains to removing grease from oven glass, yet it turns out it also performs very well on your sofa. This approach was far simpler than the pot lid technique, despite technically requiring more time. For this method, I scattered a generous amount of baking soda across the entire sofa and allowed it to sit for approximately an hour to do its work. This is effective at revitalising sofas because it essentially absorbs any unpleasant odours, leaving the fabric looking and smelling fresher. Once the hour was up, I used the soft brush attachment on my vacuum cleaner to remove the residue. It felt like a far more thorough clean, as opposed to merely shifting the dust about, which I suspect may have happened with the pot lid approach. While baking soda lacks the fresh fragrance that washing-up liquid provides, I think it'll be better in the long term, as baking soda eliminates odours rather than simply masking them. It was such a straightforward trick that I'm surprised I hadn't tried it earlier, and I definitely won't leave it so long between cleans again given just how effortless the whole process turned out to be. If your sofa is in need of a refresh before the summer ends, I can't recommend the baking soda method enough.