DIY Natural Carpet Cleaner – Homemade Recipe
During the winter, your home’s carpet can begin looking pretty sad, what with all the coming and going of wet, snowy boots, drops of hot cocoa, and whatever else lots of interior-dwelling brings. You may be less than enthusiastic about spraying chemicals on your carpet, especially with kids or pets around.
View in gallery
Here’s a simple DIY carpet cleaner that uses only natural ingredients that you probably have on-hand already.
View in gallery
Ingredients and materials you’ll need for homemade carpet cleaner:
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
- 1 tsp salt
- 8-10 drops clear essential oil (this tutorial uses lavender)
- 16 oz or larger spray bottle
- Narrow funnel (optional, but recommended)
How to make a natural carpet cleaner at home:
View in gallery
Step 1: Add the ingredients to a bottle
Put the funnel into your spray bottle and pour in 1 cup water and 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar. Vinegar has stain removal and deodorizing qualities, which makes it an essential ingredient for homemade carpet cleaner. Straight vinegar is a little too potent, however, so must be diluted with water.
View in gallery
Step 2: Salt
Add into the spray bottle 1 tsp salt. Salt is a key ingredient for binding up stains. Actually, for stains that are really hard to remove, such as cranberry juice, pour some salt onto the stain first off. This will absorb excess liquid and help to keep the stain from setting before you even use this carpet cleaner. Let the salt dry before you vacuum it up, then move on with this carpet cleaner.
View in gallery
Step 2: Essential oil
Carefully add 8-10 drops of a clear essential oil, such as lavender, to the spray bottle. The essential oil in this recipe helps to deodorize the carpet area and should keep bacteria at bay as the cleaner does its job.
Please note that you should avoid any essential oil that has any kind of color to it (particularly sweet orange essential oil), as this will inhibit the stain removal abilities of this carpet cleaner and actually make it worse by transferring additional color onto your carpet.
View in gallery
After all ingredients have been poured through the funnel, use the end of the spray top tube to push any excess ingredients (such as salt) through the funnel.
View in gallery
Step 3: Shake
Screw the spray top onto your spray bottle and give your carpet cleaner a good shake. It’s ready to go.
View in gallery
Find the spot on your carpet that needs cleaning. If you have a fresh liquid stain, blot up (DON’T rub) excess liquid before applying this carpet cleaner. If you have an older or solid stain, pick up or vacuum the area first before applying this carpet cleaner.
Spray a generous amount of carpet cleaner onto your stain; it should saturate the entire stain (but you don’t have to go overboard with this – it doesn’t need to be soaked through and through). Shake your spray bottle a couple times between each spray. Let carpet dry.
View in gallery
Once the stained carpet area is dry, vacuum up the treated area.
View in gallery
If your stain was treatable, it should come right up!
View in gallery
For a tougher stain, follow the steps above except go ahead and soak the entire stain area thoroughly with carpet cleaner.
View in gallery
This stain was tar-based, a remnant from someone’s shoe.
View in gallery
After soaking the stain, letting it dry, and vacuuming it up, the stain was still visible, but upon closer inspection, it was beginning to break up (photo shows after first application). After several repetitions, the stain should begin to lighten. Consistent use of this carpet cleaner will keep your carpets looking – and smelling – great!