Silly Question from the World's Worst Housekeeper

I am someone who out of frustration took the back seats out of my mini van. Took it to the car wash and sprayed until the water ran clear. Then I parked it on the driveway with the windows rolled down and back doors open until the sun dried it out.

Yup that is one way to clean a car. :) What can I say, we lived in that car.

So depending on the material hose it down if it gets too bad.

I got my daughter a shaggy rug from Target, not that I have had to but you can hose that one.

Instead of an area rug how about those foam tiles for babies/kids. I have them in my daughter's playroom. They are brightly colored, interlock and super easy to clean. Plus you can always put them away and into a closet if you have a party or get together. Mine are about 1.5-2ft square and came four to a package. I've seen them at home depot, baby stores and online.

We have hardwood floors, but live in an apt. for the neighbor's sanity, and the baby's safety, we put down area rugs. But man did they get filthy quickly. our rugs were probably no bigger than 6x9. they were the flatweave kind from IKEA. We'd let one side get dirty, then flip it and let the other side get dirty. we were still washing them every two weeks.

Foam tiles are the way to go. They cushion the floor, they prevent noise, bumps and bruises, and they can be wiped, or even moped clean.

my advice, get the oversized 2'x2' ones, not the chrming alphabet puzzle ones. the alphabet puzzle pieces are a right pain in the neck.

ACTUALLY.... 2 options come to mind:

1) Get a rug gripper thingy (you'd need one if you got a rug anyway), and put down a big *blanket* on the floor. Then, easy, easy the blanket gets tossed in the wash. These used to be really common. In fact, they were called 'floor blankets', or 'baby floor blankets'. They were 5x5 or 8x10. It's what mom's used before playpens took off. I remember as a kid that EVERYONE had rules that you had to stay "on the blanket". First "listening" practice. Typically by 9mo babies would even do crawling laps around the edges, or be sitting on the edges with their arms up calling, because from a few months onward parents just directed their rollers and crawlers to stay on the blankets.

(Huh. You know, I'd completely forgotten about those things. I remember ours. It had lions on it. It was common for them to have big patterns on them; to hide spills, but to be on a white background so you'd know when to toss it in the wash.)

2) Get a rug, and do what people in the middle east have done with their persian rugs for centuries (and what I still do with mine). Take them outside, hose them down, use a scrub brush and soap to scrub them clean, hose them off. ((Granted, people in the middle east usually use buckets of water instead of hoses)). Then you just hang it up to dry.

If you don't want to invest in a vacuum, you could always take the sucker outside, hang it over a fence or laundry line, and beat it ;) That used to be one of my jobs as a kid, beating the rugs, LOL!! I would go to Target or Walmart and get a smaller area rug; it will be a bit cheaper and you won't feel bad if you get tired of it and chuck it ;) Make sure it's got good grip on the bottom, some rugs cause more damage than good! Have you ever stepped too quickly onto a rug and went flying? Yeah. Let's not make it harder for a LO learning to walk, make sure it's got good grip! ;)

The vacum cleaner should work just fine, now if your talking about baby food and such you might want to be a bit careful. Also, you can purchase those foam thingy's, they are like square and you put it together like a puzzle, that would work fine for the baby! We have the Hoover steam upright vacum cleaner and we have had it for like 8 years now! It works wonderfully! Good Luck!

I vacuum mine as well. If a mess gets on it, I clean it with Resolve carpet cleaner, just like how I would with a carpet. If it has a low pile, you can also sweep it. Sometimes I do that when I don't want to drag out the vacuum.

Have you considered buying those foam mats instead of a rug? Even if you vacuum all the time, rugs can still attract dust and it can aggravate asthma is some kids. The site onestepahead.com has those foam mats in a wooden color that blend in with wood floors. Here is the link. http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...

They are easy to wipe clean and its great for babies learning to crawl and walk because of the cushioning. Hope I was able to help.

I used Flor - it's a brand of eco friendly modular rug tiles that come in 18" squares that you put together (it's super easy to do). I vacuum them BUT if they get spilled on - you just pick the dirty one up, and wash it out in the sink or tub. AMAZING. You can also add on if you decide you want it to be bigger.
http://www.flor.com/

disclosure: I do NOT work for or sell Flor - I just love it.

Until my niece ruined my nice cream colored berber type area rug with her dirty shoes, we would put it outside and hose it down. On the bad spots we used a little dish soap-gentle but tough. In between, I did use Woolite or Reolsve carpet cleaner. When my older ones were little, the carpeting in our apartment was not great. We put down plush blankets. they would be all orver teh place on those and we had not problems. The best was that I could easily throw them in the washer.

Potterybarn makes WONDERFUL rugs. They're expensive, but they hold up beautifully. That's one of those areas where it's worth the investment. You get what you pay for.

We have a steam cleaner and regular vaccuums. Although I don't bother the with steam cleaner much anymore. My kids are 3 and 1, trying to keep things stain free is nearly impossible!

We have a small steam vacuum in addition to the normal vacuum to get rid of stains.
http://www.bissell.com/autocare-proheat-deep-cleaner/

I mostly just vacuum my rugs. It's too much for me to actually consider steam cleaning them, I'm just not that clean! Sad but true. I find that as long as I get the crumbs it's all good. Crawling is seriously the worst phase EVER in my opinion. You will feel like the worst housekeeper b/c your baby will be filthy all the time, no matter what! Having a rug will make it easier for them to crawl b/c there is more traction but both of my kids learned just fine on our hardwoods. I think it hurts adults more to think about crawling on the floor like that b/c we are familiar with the alternative, but a baby is not. My kids crawled on all surfaces including concrete with incredible speed and mobility! ;) Anyway, not saying you shouldn't get the rug, they are nice to have for sure! Target is a good option for low price, also check Bed Bath and Beyond, especially now with back to school. I would get a fairly inexpensive vacuum that can be used on both the rug and your floors. We had a Bissell that we liked very much that lasted us about 7 years.