Freshening the Carpet with Essential Oils

Fragrant homemade carpet deodorizers are easy to make using basic household ingredients and essential oils and/or herbs.

For the basic recipe, combine the following:
3/4 c baking soda
1/4 c cornstarch

You can use the above deodorizing base by itself or add the following to scent it:
5 drops peppermint essential oil and/or 1/4 c dried peppermint
or
5 drops lavender essential oil and/or 1/4 c lavender flowers

The essential oil will add more fragrance to the deodorizer than just using the herbs alone. After mixing the ingredients really well, put in a shaker. A large spice container with holes works well as does a parmesan cheese shaker or a even a baby powder container as long as the holes are big enough. Sprinkle over the carpet, allowing it to remain for 20 minutes to overnight (if you can keep the animals and children off it for that long). Vacuum thoroughly.

Store any leftover mixture in an airtight container, labeled well, for future use.

There are other essential oils you can use instead if you wish, including pine, tea tree, rosemary, or lemon. Just be sure you mix the essential oils very well into the powder base and choose essential oils that are considered safe for everyone in your household including pets. Also be sure to stay away from resins or absolutes since these can stain.

If you’d rather not use a powdered scented deodorizer on your rugs and carpets, you can freshen the room and make vacuuming more enjoyable by just putting a couple of drops of essential oil on a cotton bud and putting it into your vacuum cleaner bag or canister. All of the essential oils mentioned above work great for this as well. Lemon is especially lovely in spring and will put you in a cleaning mood!

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