One of the mistakes I made back when I lived in a carpeted home [shudder] was purchasing carpet powder deodorizer, all because I liked the idea of the house "smelling clean". Really, I was just paying for chemically scented baking soda. You can just make your own carpet powder using this formula:
1/2 cup of borax
1/2 cup of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cloves and/or cinnamon (cloves help keep our closets moth-free too)
Or, if you've got pets, instead of the spices, use about 20-25 drops of sweet orange oil, which is a natural flea repellent; be sure to mix in the oil into powder mixture thoroughly and never use directly onto your pets.
I guess the borax is to kill all the bugs that want to eat the other ingredients?
view Curtis's profile
There are bugs that want to eat baking soda?
view Lisa from VA/lsaspacey's profile
What about lemon oil instead of orange. Are the properties very different? I just like the way lemon smells better than orange.
view charlenemcbride's profile
I use baking soda by itself before I vacuum. Does that do any good?
view crafty82's profile
crafty82,
Baking soda or Borax on their own are wonderful deodorizers. If you have a particularly bad spot (pet urine stain, vomit, etc...) you can pour a vinegar/water mixture (1/2 cup white vinegar to 1 quart warm water) on the spot and rub some baking soda or borax in and let it dry and then vacuum it all up. I did this with an old cat urine spot and it worked great. If the smell/spot is particularly bad or old you may have to reapply a few times. For my cat urine stain I poured enough vinegar/water on it to soak down to the subfloor and it took about 5 days to dry, but in the end the smell was gone!
view Monica's profile
Monica -
You're a lifesaver. Thank you for that tip.
view Bob LLama's profile
You are very welcome Bob!
view Monica's profile