Sorry about the delay in posting! We have been busy trying to find a new home, jobs, etc to move out of California! Now we are moving in a week and I am running around trying to pack and clean. Today I started on the living room floor (half of it anyway) and had no carpet shampoo. So I looked around online for a recipe with household items. I tried the first one I found and I have to say I am glad I did!
Rachel @ Surviving the Stores
- 1½ quarts of hot (NOT boiling) water
- ¼ cup of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide (it’s the regular hydrogen peroxide that you can get at any store)
- 1½ Tablespoons of White Vinegar
- 1½ Tablespoons of Dish Soap (we use Seventh Generation and it worked great)
- About ⅛ of a teaspoon of your favorite essential oil(s) – either just one or a combination. Vanilla and lavender would be a good one. I had ginger and lavender on hand so I used those, but I’m going to get vanilla for next time.
- Mix all of the ingredients together (be sure to add the dish soap to the water and not the water to the dish soap – you’ll see why if you do it the wrong way just once)
- Pour into your carpet cleaning machine.
- Clean like the directions tell you to.
I messed around with the recipe a bit because I only have a little bit of peroxide on hand. I followed it like the original for the first round with only 3 tablespoons of peroxide instead of the 1/4 cup. Worked fine aside from my machine getting a bit foamy. The second round I filled my clean water container to the fill line (I think it is 2 1/2 quarts), 2 tablespoons vinegar, 2 tablespoons soap and 3 tablespoons peroxide. That did not cause my machine to get foamy and still did a great job cleaning. I have to say I wish I took pictures because living in an apartment with cheap carpet, well no one has to tell you that it gets dirty and gross no matter what you do!
