I was just texting with a friend who had bought some used furniture. She was happy with it, she was happy to make a more sustainable choice to buy something used. Also knowing that product is likely off gassing a little bit safer than something that's brand new.
But she was really confused about how to clean it and so I gave her some tips and I thought I would share them here today on Toxin-Free Talk.
So my simple tips are, it's like so simple, right? She actually was sending me pictures of some of the products that they had at Home Depot or whatever store she was at, to help clean these products. I think Zapp was one of them. And then some sort of carpet cleaner slash fabric cleaner. And it's so funny that there are these products that are made for specific purposes when in reality, a lot of the cleaning products that we need we have at home already. We don't need to go out and buy a specific cleaning item. Because that's just marketing to us that we need something special when we really don't.
One of the most simple things that you have to clean a new sofa that you buy used is sunlight. Sunlight is a natural disinfectant. It is awesome. It's as strong as bleach if you can believe that. So the UV rays in the sun are awesome at cleaning and disinfecting things.If you buy clothes online like through Poshmark, or Goodwill, putting something in the sun is actually going to clean it really well. Same with a sofa. So you want to leave it out there for a few hours if you can, and really make sure that it has lots of exposure to sunlight.
Tip number two is if it has a scent to it, rubbing alcohol is really excellent at getting out smells. So you can put some rubbing alcohol in a little spray bottle and you can spray it down and let the fabric naturally dry. And through that drying process it's going to pull out the scents.
Then of course we have vinegar. You want to make sure that you're using the right vinegar solution for the product that you're cleaning. But again, vinegar is another really great way to clean used items that you might buy.
That's it! That is how simple it is to clean used fabrics, sofas, and furniture!
