If it’s time to give your carpets a deep clean, but you’re on a budget, don’t worry. You don’t need to hire a cleaning service or buy a machine to keep the carpets in your home fresh and clean. There are various regular household items that you can use on your carpets to deodorize them and keep them looking new for longer.
Household Items That Will Be Useful To Clean Carpets:
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Vinegar
- Dish Soap
- Essential oil (your favorite one)
- A spray Bottle
- A Clean Stiff Bristled Brush
- Some old towels or absorbent rags
Step 1: Wait Until The Weather Is Warm And Dry
Unless you have had an emergency spill that needs to be cleaned as a matter of urgency, it is advisable never to start cleaning a large carpet area unless you are sure that it will have enough time to dry completely. The last thing you want to do is to put all that hard work on your carpets and, a few days later, realize that they have developed an odor or become moldy from being damp.
Step 2: Move Any Furniture Away From Any Target Areas
This doesn’t mean that you need to carry everything out of the room, but we all know that pesky area of the carpet along the bottom of the sofa that picks up grime from everyone’s feet—also the area underneath tables.
When you clean your carpet, you will do a more thorough job if you can access the entire soiled area. If you move the furniture items back slightly when cleaning, the carpet area below will look much cleaner when you replace them after cleaning. There won’t be any noticeable ridges in places that have been cleaned or a few inches of the visibly soiled carpet before the spotless carpet under the furniture.
Step 3: Banish All Foot Traffic From The Area You Are Cleaning
Kids are cute, and pets are adorable, but not while you are cleaning carpets. While this task is underway, any foot traffic over damp areas will make things worse. Plan ahead and make a fun area for the kids and dogs in another part of the house while you tackle the carpet in a particular area.
Step 4: Vacuum The Area
This must be an intensive vacuum. Clean your vacuum collection bag and filter before you start on this step. Your vacuum cleaner must be ready to deliver its best performance!
I suggest vacuuming the carpet a few times from all directions. First, move one way, then the other, and so on. You are trying to lift any fluff, hair, or lint that is stuck in the pile. Longer strands of foreign material like pet hair often become lodged into the pile, so by moving the vacuum from all directions over it, there is a much better chance that it will be detached.
Step 5: First Try Baking Soda
Before you go the route of making your carpet damp with cleaning solutions, first decide whether your carpet doesn’t just need to be freshened up. Freshening a whole room carpet can be easily done by sprinkling baking soda over your carpet and letting this amazing substance go to work, absorbing any moisture or odors that may be lurking below your feet.
How To Clean Your Carpet With Baking Soda
- Fill an old sprinkle container with baking soda that will make it easier to distribute finely over the carpet. You can make it a bit thicker in spots that are more likely to have absorbed unpleasant odors.
- Then rub it in using a stiff brush. If you cannot bend easily, find a clean, stiff broom that you can use to agitate the pile.
- Give it a light spritz with a spray bottle and some warm water.
- Then leave it for a couple of hours. The longer, the better, but it should stay on for at least 30 minutes to give it time to go to work. The baking soda particles are tiny and will penetrate between the gaps in the carpet fibers absorbing any odors and killing mold.
- Then vacuum. Go right around the edges of the room and suck up all the baking soda. You may need to clean your vacuum bag and filter out a few times when you do this, but keep going until you’ve got it all.
- Your carpet will be deodorized, but baking soda won’t make the room smell particularly fresh because it has no odor. It will have absorbed any dank or musty smells, but it won’t leave any ‘just cleaned’ fragrance.
- If you would like the room to smell fresh after you’ve cleaned the carpet with baking soda, simply add some of your favorite essential oil to a small spray bottle of water and spray a very fine mist over the carpet.
Step 6: Decide On A DIY Carpet Cleaning Recipe And Get To Work
If particular areas need more than general deodorizing, you can try several recipes for a homemade carpet cleaner. A general note when using these is to not add too much of anything that may make your solution soapy. Soap is great, but if any soapy residue stays behind on your carpet, it will attract dirt very quickly, and that area will need to be cleaned repeatedly.
Carpets are notoriously hard to dry. Be sure never to leave any wetness below the top surface of your carpet that could start smelling a few days after you cleaned it. Use as little of your selected solution as possible when cleaning and only spray it on lightly before rubbing it off. Be especially careful if you have wooden floorboards below your carpets.
Before you apply any of these mixtures to a large area of your carpet, be sure to first test them in a small inconspicuous place.
| Basic Carpet Cleaner | General Carpet Cleaner | Spot Cleaning Carpet Cleaner | Pet Stain & Odor Removal Carpet Spray |
| 1 Tablespoon of dish soap 2 cups of warm water 1 Cup of white vinegar | 1 Cup of White Vinegar 2 Cups of Water 2 Teaspoons of Salt 15 Drops of Essential Oil | ¼ Cup of Salt ¼ Cup of Borax ¼ Cup of Vinegar | 2 cups white vinegar 2 cups warm water 4 tablespoons baking soda |
| Mix the ingredients and add to a spray bottle. | Mix the vinegar and the water first. Then add the salt and the essential oil. Shake it all together and use a spray bottle to apply | These three ingredients can be combined into a paste. | Mix the ingredients and put them in a spray bottle. Dab up as much liquid from the affected area as possible using an absorbent cloth. |
| Spray the affected area and leave it for about 10 minutes. Then use towels or rags and get to work to absorb all the dirt and remove all dampness from your carpet. | Rub into the spot and used it as an effective spot cleaning solution on your carpets. | Spray with the mixture and leave it for at least 5 minutes. Then use absorbent cloth towels to blot and absorb as much of the liquid as possible. Repeat as many times as necessary until the area is clean. | |
| Once your carpet is completely dry after the treatment, it should be vacuumed for a final time. This final vacuum will ensure that the pile is refreshed and looks even throughout the room. |
Conclusion
Giving your carpet a deep clean without a carpet cleaner is possible. There are several household agents that you can use to inexpensively create homemade carpet cleaning solutions that will give your entire home a fresh and clean feel.
