Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Homemade Carpet Shampoo

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A good friend of mine found herself without carpet shampoo a few days ago. Her carpet desperately needed cleaning and she had a block of time to accomplish the task, so she went on a quest to find a homemade recipe for shampoo. She found a recipe which she tweaked a bit and it worked great on her carpets. If this worked for her (she has three boys and two dogs) it would probably work for anyone!


Here is the recipe she used:

1 1/2 scoops Oxyclean
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4/ cup Febreze (or other generic spray)

Mix together with a gallon of hot water and add to machine.  Any vinegar smell will fade away quickly, although my friend didn't notice any smell at all. She said this worked great on dog stains and odors.

I can't wait to try it!

P.S.  I joined Frugally Sustainable's blog hop today.  Go check it out for lots of great ideas!

10 comments:

  1. I can't wait to try this recipe in my carpet steam cleaner. But a word of caution. Make sure the Oxiclean is dissolved really well. Maybe pour it through a colander lined with a paper towel or coffee filters. This way you can reduce the chance of undissolved Oxiclean clogging the water or soap lines. Also vinegar is specifically mentioned to not use in most carpet cleaners manuals. Since vinegar is an acid, I can see how this could happen if it sits in the tubing between uses. I DO use vinegar regularly in my machine. I just make sure that when I am done cleaning I dump out ALL of the cleaner from the dispenser, rinse and fill with plain water. I then go over my entire carpet with the soap dispenser on (filled with water)to clear out all the lines. I also do the same with the upholstery cleaner attachment. This way I clear ALL soap &/or vinegar reside from the machine tubes AND I get more cleaning solution out of my carpet preventing dirt sticking to the soap residue left on the carpet. I hope that helps! I can't wait to try your recipe since the chemicals are MUCH safer than the solutions you buy at the store.

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  2. Is is ok to put the powder oxy clean in my steam cleaner? I don't want it to clog it up, I just got it and don't want to ruin it.

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    1. Sorry I didn't respond to this sooner--just saw it! I would double check your steam cleaner manual.

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  3. I have dark colored carpeting. Is the Oxi-clean safe for that?

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    1. I would think so, but I would double check the box or the website to find out for sure. You could run a test in a small inconspicuous corner, too.

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  4. This carpet cleaning ingredients really does work for a person on a budget. Thank you a million times!

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  5. What do you do when you have a hot water and a solution dispenser?

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    1. That's a great question. I am not sure. I think it's fairly important that the oxyclean be dissolved, so perhaps you could make a thicker solution with water using the same three items? And then the water and solution would mix together? That's just a guess, though...

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  6. Can you also use liquid Oxiclean

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