There comes a point with carpets and furniture when they look so grubby you want to replace them.
But we all know how much it is to shell out for these big items and it's not ideal when there's a current cost of living crisis.
With children and a dog to contend with, nothing in my home stays clean for long.
My son's carpet in particular had never fully recovered from various sickness episodes over recent years. And since the arrival of our two-year-old Labrador Milo, our living room carpet and sofa have taken quite the battering.
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The piddles on the carpet might have stopped, but with everything from muddy paws and dribbles on the couch when he's salivating over whatever we might be eating, it's an ongoing battle to keep it stain free.
The dark grey carpet hides a multitude of sins, unlike the light grey couch, which isn't as forgiving.
Fed up with buying bottles of upholstery cleaner, which let's just say vary in their effectiveness, I decided to bite the bullet with a more permanent solution - the Vax Platinum Power Max Carpet Cleaner.
I'd seen the TV advert for it, but they make anything look good on an advert don't they. There's always a family with a baby and a dog and a CREAM carpet. I mean, that's just asking for trouble.
So how does it really perform?
In short, it's fantastic. I've never used a carpet cleaner before so I was worried it may be a bit faffy and complicated, but it's far from it.
You literally just fill the tank with water and add the right amount of carpet cleaner and away you go.
The auto-mix does the rest and the solution is pumped into the carpet while the brush bar and 'spin scrub technology' get deep down into the fibres.
It was the spin scrub tool and hose that worked its magic on the couch - bringing it up like new.
And it got stains out of my son's carpet that nothing else has been able to shift.
The colour of the water after cleaning was quite disgusting and proved exactly what I thought about that living room carpet.
I was equally impressed by the time it took for the carpets and sofa to dry.
The last thing any family needs is an out-of-bounds room or a soggy couch that can't be used.
The carpets however felt pretty much dry in just a few hours, while the couch was left overnight and dry by the morning.
It's no wonder the product has had thousands of five-star reviews, many of them praising it as 'easy to use', 'effective' and 'absolutely brilliant.
One customer on Very's website states: "I bought this a month ago, I worked hard to get my lounge and hallway done in one night and had amazing results in one deep clean session, where I left the carpets to dry overnight and was all dry when I woke up.
"It is definitely worth hoovering all your carpets thoroughly before cleaning as the carpet cleaner will then bring up deep rooted dirt from the carpet.
"Really restored the carpets in the sense of colour and texture and left them smelling fresh. I have two dogs and 3 children under 6 which can be very difficult to manage keeping the carpets clean, however the Vax makes it much easier to manage and great results.
"The attachments are also great for using on the stairs or upholstery. The only thing it is a little heavy to carry up the stairs but at least you know it's going to last."
It's a little loud when in use and Milo wasn't too keen on the noise. I'm not sure if that's what was making him sulk on the carpet next to the machine, or knowing he was responsible for the mess in the first place.
We've yet to find a permanent space for it, as it is quite bulky, but that's a small price to pay for something that's saved us so much money - and will continue to do so. I'll sleep next to it if I have to.
The Vax Platinum Power Max Carpet Cleaner is available on the Very website for £249. It's also available at Argos, Currys, Amazon, AO and Vax direct.
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