What do you use to clean carpets?

[KpbS]

We are moving to a house with carpet and haven't ever had carpet. Right now is not the best time to replace it with hardwood floors (my preference) so I would like to get as clean as possible before our big move.

I've heard of vinegar+water but really have no idea what ratio or how much I would need. Does this work for stains as well? Some areas are dirtier than others and I wonder if they just need to be cleaned or if there are some stains.

[sste]

I would use a prof. carpet cleaning service for a whole-house cleaning of wall to wall carpet. If you are in/near a city you can get a one month membership to Angies List and find a good rec.

[brittone2]

We use our steam cleaner and a little vinegar. It works fine. I'm not big into chemicals on the carpet though, so YMMV with how happy you are w/ that option.

[gatorsmom]

I am kind of in between the above 2 posters, LOL. I wanted the carpets clean in the twin's nursery but didn't want a bunch of scary chemicals used to clean the carpet. We have a Hoover Steam Cleaner (or whatever it's called) and I used this in it:

http://www.thegreatergreen.com/naturalcleaning/efpcarpetshampoo.html

It smells good and it did a good job of getting spots out of the rug. hth.

[bubbaray]

Periodically, we hire professional cleaners (Coit) and they claim to use gentle solutions. In between, we have our Bissel steam cleaner and use that (with the yucky chemicals).

Beth, what amount of vinegar/water do you use??

ETA: for spot cleaning (which is most of the time), we use Natures Miracle.