Thursday, June 26, 2008

101 Uses for Windex

A high school classmate of mine that I've stayed in touch with over the years emailed me the other day to ask what should she use to get fingernail polish out of carpet. Being a parent I could picture her chasing her child with a bottle of fingernail polish in their hand sccreaming "Gimme that!" After a little snicker I emailed her a few options and wished her good luck.
She emailed me a couple of days later and said that Windex works to get fingernail polish out of carpet. I about fell out of my chair!
Now I'm sure the people at P & G would be thrilled to know that Windex has yet another use and I haven't tried it to see how well it works.
But being a cleaning professional I would advise against using Windex to remove fingernail polish from carpet. I have to think that there may by some unfavorable chemical reactions that could happen with the dyes in carpet, etc.
I know over the years there have been several "Old Wives" remedies for cleaning different things. However to avoid any unfavorable chemical reactions, make sure what you're using is intended for what you're cleaning. Just a good rule of thumb.
I am going to contact P & G and see if they're aware of this discovery and to discuss reactions, etc.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

IM TRYING TO FIND OUT IF VINEGAR CAN BE USED IN A CARPET CLEANER .
I HAVE 2 PUPPIES AND YO CAN IMAGEN
MY CARPET. IM TRYING TO LIFT OUT PET STAINS AND DEODORIZE . any suggestions?
i know when i spot treat with vinegar and a cloth it works great. What about shampooing with it?

Chad said...

This one falls into the "Old Wives" category.
Yes vinegar is a tried and true and very inexpensive way to clean carpet and it will help with the pet stains. I personally have never tried it. As a professional cleaner I use mainly Pro-Chem and Bridgepoint products exclusively.
I would say you are probably ok to shampoo with it as I have done some research on this and have not found any adverse reactions from doing so. I would say be careful if you have fifth generation carpet as it may break down the stain resistance. Hope this helps.

Unknown said...

Uses for Windex? How about Ants! My wife & I returned home after 1.5 hours out and found ants making a home on the kitchen counter. In our absence they had decided to migrate through an electrical outlet to our kitchen sink. As part of our clean up my wife brought out the Windex. Once they got a good bath the ants simply gave up (the ghost :P). Windex now has a new home in our house, right alongside the RAID.

Chad said...

That's excellent Mike! ok 102 uses for Windex...

Cornelius Sneed said...

One of the most amazing things I found Windex useful for is cleaning evergreen sap off of cars. I had just washed and waxed my wife's car the day before, and when she came home from work that evening it was more tree sap than windows and paint. I went to the auto store and bought some tree sap remover that didn't work well at all; it mainly served to redistribute the tree sap rather than to remove it. As she had to use the car, I took out the Windex to see if I could at least get her some clear spots on the windshield to see around the blobs of sap, and to my amazement the Windex simply melted the sap away. In a couple of minutes I had the windshield completely clean. This after scrubbing with the tree sap remover for about a half hour.

I also use Windex in the kitchen to clean cooking oil off the counters and cooktop. Works like a charm.

Chad said...

That's great Kelly! I wonder if P&G would allow me to put out a book on all the uses for Windex....lol

Art Salvitti said...

I just discovered that Windex removes the dead bugs from my car. It probably removes that wax, but hey, it sure beats the scrunge! I'll rewax anyday.

Another P&G product that is awesome is Dawn. I use it for everything (well almost).

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Anonymous said...

Windex really does work to remove nail polish from the carpet. I spilt dark purple nail polish onto light coloured carpet and with a little bit of elbow grease it came right off. You can't tell there was ever a stain there

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Anonymous said...

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