I tried the viral Tik Tok hack on deep-cleaning your rug and I regret every second of it

If you have Tik Tok then you'll know that it's easy to spend your time going down a deep black hole scrolling through videos for hours.

Depending on what videos you engage with the most will also determine which videos show up on your 'for you' page.

Somehow I ended up on the deep-cleaning side of tik tok seeing people show their tips and tricks on how to clean certain things in your home.

With the likes of Mrs Hinch and Stacey Solomon, I've become one of those people who fall into the trap of watching those satisfying before and after videos and wanting to try and do one myself.

Scrolling through the app one afternoon, I saw a couple showing a viral hack on how to deep-clean your rug and I was sold, this was the one I was going to give a go myself.

I should have just brought myself a carpet steamer as what should have taken me only a few hours ending up being taking me a week to complete.

All you have to do is put your rug in the bath with some cleaning products and leave it to soak for a few hours.

In hindsight, it sounds simple but the 60-second video I watched missed out on a lot of things that, if I had known beforehand I probably wouldn't have bothered.

I've got a white shaggy rug along with a puppy who enjoys eating wooden sticks on it, although I hoover every other day there are still some bits of wood then have quite literally become one with the rug.

Hauling it upstairs, I put the rug in a warm bath and added Zoflora, washing detergent, fabric conditioner and some white stain remover.

I had to put a heavy door stopper in the middle of the rug to weigh it down before going downstairs to let it soak and the cleaning 'magic' to begin.

After four hours I went to check on what was happening and was pleasantly surprised that all the dirt and grime that I wasn't able to get out of the carpet had started to come out and the water was, well quite frankly disgusting!

In the video, they showed that you have to empty the first lot of water out and repeat the process for a second and final time leaving it overnight to soak.

Well, draining the bath was a mission in itself as the rug was sodden with water I had to put my fall bodyweight on the rug in the bath to try and get all the water out completely before putting fresh water in.

Half an hour later and one very sore back from leaning over the bath to squish the water out, I left it in for a second soak.

It had now been left overnight when I decided it was time to take it out, let it dry and see my results, however, this is when it started to go all downhill.

Water and rug drained, which again was extremely difficult, it was time to get it outside to dry in the sunshine.

The only issue was that now the rug was extremely heavy and near impossible to lift, for reference I am not a very strong person so this felt more like a gym workout than a cleaning project.

I had to get a huge duffel bag to haul the rug and drag (yes literally drag) the rug all the way down the stairs and into the garden.

After it was in the garden I had to fold the rug in half and stand on it to get any excess water out that I didn't get out in the tub.

Again, I was shocked to realise how much extra water the rug had absorbed which was probably why it weighted so much trying to lift it out.

Eventually, after a lot of huffing and puffing, I laid the rug out to dry in the sunshine and was excited to see the final outcome.

The next day I went out and the rug was still quite damp so I decided to go on a walk in the sun, disaster struck as halfway through the rain then started.

Cue my panic as I realised the rug was in the garden and I had to run home before it was sodden once again.

I now had to drag it back inside and lump it over my bannister before heading back out to run some errands for the day.

However, when I come home I instantly noticed an awful smell that I can only describe as a damp dog, which left me confused as my dog hadn't been out in the rain so I instantly thought I had a leak from somewhere in the house.

Walking upstairs to investigate, the stench was getting stronger when I noticed that luckily it wasn't a leak but instead it was the rug!

The mixture of rainwater, the texture of the rug and now being left to dry in the house made it smell worse than it did when I first put it in the bath.

Cue cleaning mission 2.0 spraying Febreze and Zoflora on the rug to try and distract from the awful stale smell that was now taking over my house.

Luckily, the following day was a scorcher and I took the rug outside to pop over the fence and keep an eye on the weather in case the heavens decided to open again.

The rug was outside for a few days to completely dry and luckily, the smell has gone after being aired outside for 48 hours.

I started cleaning this rug on Monday 7 June and it is now one whole week later before the rug is now back in my living room.

I must admit that the rug does look a lot whiter than before but would I plan on doing that again anytime soon? I think not.

In the future, I think it's time to invest in a steamer which would be a lot of an easier and quicker process.

The lesson I've learnt from this experience? Don't believe everything you see on Tik Tok!