Easy Homemade Carpet Cleaner Recipe: Fresh Smelling Carpets

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The chances you have some carpeting in your home is very high. Even if you are meticulous about vacuuming, carpets have a tendency to trap smells in them. If you are a pet owner you probably are very familiar with this. Even if you don’t have pets though, over time smells will find their way into your carpets. 

While you can buy all sorts of carpet cleaning products online and at local stores, you can also make a very simple carpet cleaning mixture in your home with ingredients likely already in your kitchen and garden. This easy homemade carpet cleaner recipe will put “professional” store bought cleaners to shame. 

This recipe is for getting a fresh smelling carpet. If you are looking to get grime or specific spills/stains out of your carpet this recipe is not designed to specifically help with that. 

Easy Homemade Carpet Cleaner Recipe: Step By Step Guide

First gather your supplies. You will need: 

• A vacuum with good suction 

• A glass jar with lid or ziplock bag

• 3/4 cup of baking soda  

• 10 drops of lavender essential oil*

• 1 teaspoon - tablespoon dried lavender buds*

*This recipe works really well if you have dried florals. I love doing some lavender essential oil in combination with dried lavender buds (feel free to add as much or as little as you like, this recipe will work even if you don’t have any dried lavender buds). You can also do this with any dried fragrant flowers. Dried rose petals with a few drops of rose essential oil would also be superb. Feel free to just do dried florals or a combination. Whatever you like and have on hand if the goal of this recipe. 

1.Add 3/4 cup of baking soda to your glass jar or ziplock bag. 

2. Add 10 drops of lavender essential oil to your glass jar or ziplock bag.   

3. Add 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of dried lavender buds to your glass jar or ziplock bag. 

4. Close the jar or bag securely and shake for 30 seconds or until everything seems well mixed. 

5. Leave your mixture for 30 minutes to a week. This allows time for all the fragrance to soak into the baking soda. 

6. Gently shake the mixture onto your carpeted surfaces. I shake the contents out onto the rug as if I am sanding/salting an icy surface (similar motion). If you have kids or pets, keep them off the carpet while you are cleaning it. 

7. Let the mixture sit on the carpet for a little bit. You can give it a few minutes to sit or up to an hour or two. 

8. Vacuum your carpet. Vacuuming your carpet will not only pull all the baking soda and dried flowers up off the carpet but also any other dirt that may be there as well. 

Your carpets and potentially the whole house will smell so much better all while not spending a ton of money on potentially toxic store carpet cleaners. I was absolutely amazed when I first made this recipe and every month when I clean the carpets in our house I am stunned again at how lovely this cleaner makes the home smell as well as the carpets. 

Where Should You Get the Ingredients and Tools?

For the ingredients you likely already have baking soda in your pantry, if not your local grocery store will have some when you go for your next shop. You can also purchase some off of Amazon if you wish. 

For the essential oils, if you don’t have any on hand we recommend you get 100% pure essential oils. For a great USA based small female owned business that sells 100% pure essential oils check out AroMed Essentials. 

For the dried lavender buds, feel free to pick them from your garden and let them dry before using. If you don’t have any on hand your local farmers market may have some or you can purchase some off of Amazon. Also note that dried lavender buds are optional, the recipe will still work well without them. 

For tools you will need a vacuum cleaner that has great suction. I currently have this vacuum cleaner and it works extremely well for this task.

You will also need a ziplock bag or glass jar. I recommend using a glass jar that you have upcycled. Simply clean out a glass jar, you can remove any labeling you like, let the jar dry, and then use it for this recipe. 

What If You Don’t Like the Smell of Lavender? 

If you do not like the smell of lavender don’t worry. Simply don’t use lavender essential oil and replace it with an essential oil that you do like. Also do not include the dried lavender buds if you don’t like lavender. 

An alternative that you can try is using lemon essential oil and dried lemon peels. Depending on how large the dried lemon peels are you may want to pick them up off the carpet before you vacuum. 

Feel free to experiment and try out different essential oil blends. Everyone has their own personal preference when it comes to the ideal smell. 

How Often Do You Use This Cleaner?

As someone without children or pets I would say I do this about once every one to two months. You will have a better idea on when your carpets need a refreshing clean though.

If you have children, pets, or a full house then you will likely need and want to do this more frequently. There is no harm in doing this more often, it simply is a matter of personal preference and when you have the time. 

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