Pinterest Busters: Microfiber Edition

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Ours was fun and exhausting birthday extravaganza. I can't believe how many people we know with birthdays in the month of June. Crazy!

Ever watch Mythbusters? I'm a big fan of Adam and Jamie, and their fun experiments to either prove or debunk urban legends. Today's post is one of those "I saw that on Pinterest and had to try it" kind of posts. Where I put things that I have pinning to the test. There are so many things that look too good to be true, and you can't believe everything that you pin, right?

Today's challenge is cleaning microfiber. Our love seat used to be a favorite spot for the dogs to sit. I've been trying to be diligent about keeping them off of the furniture, but sometimes they are sneaky and climb up there. Sometimes you just can't teach an old dog new tricks. Both of my dogs have picked this particular chair as the perfect place to groom themselves, and so it was disgustingly speckled with lick spots. And it smelled gross. No judging.

The pictures above show you a side by side comparison of the half that is riddled with dog saliva, and the half that came clean after a good scrubbing with rubbing alcohol and a wash cloth. I have to admit that this is my new favorite way to clean our furniture. Yes, it was rather stinky at first, but the smell does go away, and I am grateful that my love seat doesn't smell like an alcoholic. I've spared you the grossness that consumed my rags when I was finished.

Here's what I used:

1 spray bottle from the dollar store
1 bottle of 70% rubbing alcohol
Wash cloth (or you could use a sponge). Make sure these are either white or the same color as your furniture to avoid possible color transfer from the dyes.

You just spray the cushion and go at it with your sponge or wash cloth. It will appear to be very dark at first, but when it dries, it will lighten. Since alcohol evaporates pretty quickly, it will not leave the water spots that my Bissell machine does. It will also take less than an hour to dry rather than a day or two. You might have to change our your sponge or wash cloth often depending on how dirty your microfiber may be. I went through two wash cloths cleaning this nasty chair.

And Voila! Here is the official "after". I give this Pinterest  legend my stamp of approval. If you've got microfiber, and are looking for an alternative way to keep it clean, be sure to give this method a try if you haven't already. I am pretty darn impressed with how everything came out, and I can't wait to tackle the rest of my furniture. I no longer dread having to clean the upholstery in the living room since it is MUCH faster to both clean and dry.

Any of you have success with certain Pinterest urban legends and care to share your results?