So those of you with children or pets in particular might be interested in this little tip to easily spot clean carpet stains. You can use this in your home or use it in the car.
I am not a messy or dirty person by nature, I am actually one of those people that can’t sit down if there are dirty dishes in the sink. I have always had a clean car- with the exception of a notepad and a stray water bottle I really do keep the car fairly tidy.
No matter what I do, however, my children seriously trash my car. It makes me CRAZY to see little crumbs on the floor, stickers, dirty seats from where they used the car cushion as a step stool to get into a car seat… Really, really maddening.
So I found this recipe for a DIY spot carpet cleaner and I wanted to share it with you. It worked perfectly on my car yesterday and today the car looked so clean and smelled good. I am really happy about how this worked out.
The best part is you don’t have smelly chemicals, expensive products to buy and you can make this yourself with what you probably have on hand already.
So here is the simple recipe for the DIY Spot Carpet Cleaner:
1. Mix 1 tablespoon dish soap (I used a clear version but the magic blue Dawn would probably be OK too.) and 1 tablespoon plain white vinegar into a spray bottle. You can also add a little essential oil if you like, I added lemon.
2. Add 2 cups of warm water. Shake.
3. Sprinkle carpet to be cleaned with baking soda (you can mix the baking soda with essential oils as an air freshener. Let this sit for a few minutes or even overnight.
4. Vacuum and spray the solution liberally onto your carpet.
5. Let this sit for a few minutes and then use a sponge or rag to dab at the excess solution. Now up until this point I did not notice any difference at all.
6. Use a little elbow grease to rub the solution over your stain. Let dry.
And that was all it took! Super simple and the car upholstery really looks great. It isn’t a perfect solution but I am really happy with how it turned out- here are some before and afters of our car:
And the car seats:
And I can tell you today the car smells great- the vinegar and the baking soda deodorize so my poor car was nice and fresh again today.
One last tip, I like these little towels from the Dollar Tree for projects like this.
And here are a few other things you might be interested in:
- Easy DIY Drawer and Shelf Liners
- DIY Boot Tray
- DIY Air Freshener
- Organizing Children’s Clothing
- Organizing Kitchen Clutter
- DIY Deep Conditioning Hair Treatment
- DIY Bathroom Cleaners
I strongly recommend spot testing this on your carpet or upholstery in an inconspicuous spot to be sure it won’t stain or discolor your carpet!
It looks great! I think I might try it this week! Thanks for the great tip!!
Sara,
Let me know how it works!
Really impressive how clean it became! And, your lawn looks so green & healthy, btw 🙂
Great idea! I will try this weekend. Looks like it worked great for you!
LOL it actually isn’t EC. Some crazy teenager left us a note that he “overshot the turn” and he left deep tire marks like 20 feet into the front lawn. In the middle of the day. We are on the corner so I am pretty sure it was some dumb kid showing off but nonetheless the nice grass is still recovering from “Carl” who apparently turns when he is 20 feet past the street 🙂
Going to try this! We have leather seats (thank goodness) BUT the roof of the inside of our car is insane. Like coffee and hot chocolate/ice cream splotches! LOL Wonder how to get the baking soda to stick to the roof? LOL I think thats partly what helps with the stains?? Hoping it works, because everything else I tried hasnt!
Sorry for the Carl-on-lawn mishap! I have teenagers. It was grown-up of him to leave a note.
I will do try this on my couches arm rest.
Thanks! I will try this ASAP. The never ending mess from kids drives me crazy too!
Cool. I like the before and after. Got to try it.
Mom,
You can probably skip that step ;). If the vinegar and dish soap don’t work I believe you can make a baking soda paste too. That helps deodorize.
Here is a recipe:
http://frugalliving.about.com/od/householdsavings/qt/Carpet_Cleaner.htm
This is so exciting! My kids have trashed my back seat and floorboards! I have been dreading paying a detailer to do it so thank you for the tip! It will be my Sunday project. 🙂
Thank you! I will try this. My 3 yo make such a mess in the car! It drives me crazy!
Thanks for your money saving tips i have tried a few of your projects and they really work great. I love your save mart deals by the way
Hey Charlene,
Thank you so much for this post. The other day we were having a “heat wave” in the Chicago area (50 degrees!!!) so I was determined to clean my car. I was however out of carpet cleaner so I went back & found this post. I used lavendar oil in my concoction. It worked so great & made my car smell amazing. I haven’t bought carpet cleaner & probably won’t anymore now that I have my own homemade version:)
Julie,
I am so glad to hear it! I found these little shakers at Target for $1.29 in the baking aisle that make it even easier. I did a mad clean over the weekend and sprinkled this stuff in every room and the first thing my husband said was how great the house smelled. That was like 4 hours later 🙂
http://costcocorner.com/?p=235
I just had a question as to where the baking soda comes into this? Do I put it in the spray bottle with the other ingredients or lay it on the carpet floors? Appreciate this post!
Matthew- I use baking soda instead of the packaged carpet cleaner you normally buy from Glade or whatever. Sprinkle it down and it will freshen your carpets- then vacuum it up.
@momto3 an others
Do not use thus method or and similar methinks on your car roof interior (called a headliner). There generally a thin material that is glued onto the interior roofing material. Moisture (spraying etc) will cause the adhesive to loosen and you will get a sagging headliners
Oops hit submit prematurely.
The best wat to Caen a headliner is to try and gently loosen the dirt witha soft brush and tap/pat out with a microfiber towel
Do not get them wet or the will end up looking like a fat suburban Dad caught in the rain wearing a velour shirt from the 197s.
Goodluck.
where do you buy/find spray bottles? I may be looking in the wrong places at the store 🙂
vi- I find them at the Dollar Store, in the travel section or the cleaning supplies section at Target near the mops and brooms. You can also find them in garden departments in the summer for misting plants. I have one that I picked up at Sally beauty supply recently- all over the place :). I find it is worth it to spend $3 or so and get a fairly good quality one. The ones that are super cheap tend to not mist very well and are frustrating to use.
Charlene, thanks for the suggestions!
Oh My Goodness! This worked miracles. After 5 years of college coffee stains my car was a hot mess. THANK YOU!
Yeah!! So glad Paige!
Just cleaned the dried coffee spill from my new car. Looks new again thank you!!!
Yeah so glad Kittie!
–Thanks for sharing this DIY carpet cleaning recipe!! This can absolutely be helpful for those who hate chemicals in cleaning.
This seems like a great cleaning tip! One thing I’m wondering though is that the surfactants in the dish soap will attract more dirt if not thoroughly rinsed. Have you noticed whether or not the fabric is collecting dirt any faster than before?
Hi Brandi- No I have not noticed that.
Great udea! Thank you!
Will be trying this – pretty sure we have the SAME vehicle! lol… have same upholstery and my middle floor mat is the EXACT same! … amazing what my little ones track onto every inch of floor and seats!
Ha ha 🙂 Hope it works out as well for you 🙂
thanks for sharing these tips. Added eucalyptus oil and made the house smell awesome. I also used this on my wood floors and it worked well for that too!
It’s quite efficient recipe! I just used it used it on the carpet in the living room and it worked perfectly good. I’m cleaning the car tomorrow and definitely using your recipe.Thank you for the great idea! I’ll recommend it to some friends and clients too. Greets!
Love it, nothing like a cost saving DIY recipe and it works! Being a mechanic, my old ford has grease stains on its material seats.. I tried the homemade carpet cleaner and used a small nail brush with a bit of vigour on the upholstery and it works great, even removed most of the stubborn grease spots!
I use the vinegar solution to remove rust from my break desks. There was a nice coating of rust on about 50% of my desk and then on my break calipers and I use the vinegar solution to remove the rust and within a day or two there is no rust on my discs anymore and even after several months the rest has not come back. I’ll see use the baking soda solution mix with water and dish detergent to clean my windows and it does a pretty good job I sprayed on just before I run through the car wash to help at loosen up the dirt that’s really hard to get rid up especially the brake dust and afterwards it looks great. FYI instead of going to those carwashes that use those rags that are used on so many cars it takes up so much dirt and grime and you don’t want that on your car so instead go to a place like BP and do a higher water pressure car wash that uses no rags or brushes just a jet spray and it cleans much better for only five dollars which is their basic car wash. I was surprised as to how well I clean my car even though it was covered with salt, grime, and dirt. Forget going to those old-school carwashes and stick with the high-pressure water jet spray.
This stuff worked great. I’d tried 2 different store bought cleaners for our car and neither worked. I didn’t take before photos because I was skeptical. But two weeks later and the seats still look new. Thanks!!!
Yay! So happy to hear that Elisa!