How to Clean a Microfiber Couch

Update 4/9/2020: It’s been over 4 years since I originally published this post, and crazily enough, is the most popular post! Apparently a lot of us struggle with microfiber couches! This is still how I clean this couch (yes, I still have it!) and it’s still going strong!
I don’t know about you, but it seems nearly impossible to keep my couch clean.
Between the spills, crumbs, and all around everyday activity of five little beings, you can only begin to imagine how very…well-loved (sure, we’ll call it that) this couch has been.
We bought it over 7 years ago, when we moved to our very first house, the “little house” as we still lovingly refer to it, back before we added a bunch more more tiny humans to the mix.
Needless to say, it’s definitely seen better days.
I’d love to get new living room furniture, but with our limited budget and our active, young boys, it’s not a realistic thing to invest in right now. We want to wait until they’re a little older before spending money on a quality living room set.
So for now, I’m stuck with the couch we bought years ago.
In order to keep my couch looking as clean and fresh as I possibly can, I try to clean it every once in a while.
If you’re unfamiliar with microfiber, consider yourself blessed. It’s a fabric I will never buy in a couch again!
It shows everything. And by everything, I mean if you spill a little water on it, that puppy is going to make itself seen, no matter how quickly you wipe it up. It shows mere water marks, not to mention everything else.
So I periodically clean the couch with a very simple solution. I found this idea via Pinterest (where else?) a few years back, and it has revolutionized and revitalized my feelings toward my couch! At least if it’s clean, it doesn’t look quite so seriously lived-in.
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Some of the supplies needed to clean a microfiber couch:
-A spray bottle
-A white or neutral colored sponge
**While I haven’t had any problems with this method whatsoever, you may want to try a test spot on your couch in an inconspicuous location just to be safe.*
1. It’s very simple from here! First, I like to vacuum my couch really well to make sure it’s surface clean.
2. Next, spray your couch with the alcohol, and scrub the heck out of it with the sponge. Do that in each section of the couch, until the whole thing is clean.
A couple of tips for this part…I’ve found that it really works best if you evenly saturate the area with the alcohol, otherwise it can look spotty when it dries. Also make sure its a nice, even spray. I usually also work with one cushion section at a time. So I’d evenly saturate one section and scrub it down before moving on to another section. This ensures that I scrub each area thoroughly before the alcohol dries (it dries very quickly).
3. Once the entire couch has been cleaned, allow it to completely dry. My couch usually takes at least 3 hours.
I’ll try to do this right before I go to bed so it has adequate time to dry. Then I’m not having to corral 5 energetic boys away from it all day long, if you know what I mean.
4. Once it’s completely dry, take the bristle brush and brush in the same direction along each section of the couch.
This kind of “combs” the couch and makes it look sparkling clean again.
Almost as good as new!


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