Natural Carpet Deodorizer

Since I was stuck at home today with some sort of stomach bug that’s been going around, I did what I normally do when I’m stuck at home… take the opportunity to clean. My first order of business was to vacuum so I got out the vacuum cleaner and went to work. I noticed that my carpets had a medicinal smell that I did not like and no I don’t smoke so don’t even go there. I felt strongly that some sort of deodorizer was needed and I was not about to go out to get any. Other than my stomach issue other deodorizers tend to make me stuffy, and I have issues with particular strong scents, so I was looking for something a bit more natural than carpet fresh. I fired up the ole computer and did a search on natural deodorizers and the next thing I knew I was in the kitchen mixing up a batch. My particular mix consisted of :

• 1/2 cup of baking soda (I used the aluminum free kind)
• 1/2 cup of borax (yes the same stuff you use to clean your laundry)
• 5 or 6 drops of Now 100 % Natural Tea Tree Oil (happen to have some of this in my medicine cabinet)
• Couple drops of vanilla extract (I was looking for almond but thought the vanilla would be interesting)
• A few shakes of cinnamon (before I remembered the cinnamon sticks on the lower shelf- use the sticks next time)
• A few pieces (3 or 4) of cinnamon sticks
• A few shakes of dried rosemary leaves (straight off my spice rack)
• A few shakes of dried mint leaves (also off my spice rack)

Combine ingredients above and make sure that the liquid stuff (oil, extracts) don’t get your mix all beady, the idea is to keep the consistent powder form… The oils and other goodies made the otherwise bland baking soda and borax smell really nice. Ooooh the fragrant offering of natural goodness… I found a container for mine (a rounded tin can that once held tea), threw a thick piece of printing paper on top of it, wrapped a make shift rubber band of sorts around said piece of paper to hold it to the container, and poked some holes in it with a fork real quick. Obviously when I make it out of the house next few days I’ll try to find a more appropriate container for my fragrant concoction.  Anyway, I sprinkled my fragrant offerings on the carpets and left it for an hour (you can leave it for 20 minutes or so) then vacuumed with delight. The whole house is smelling really nice and fresh! I can’t wait to mix up another batch using some other essential oils that I like (yes I enjoyed doing this).  If you are not into mixing up concoctions in your kitchen and prefer to purchase a natural deodorizer, I found two in my brief search: Citrus Magic- Carpet and Room Freshener (particularly for those with pets) and Matt Carpet Deodorizer by Eco-Me. Can’t speak for any of those but I noticed that Matt had baking soda, cornstarch, and essential oils (Roman Chamomile, Grapefruit, Clary Sage) as its ingredients.