No one needs aggressive chemical cleaners and cupboards full of cleaning agents. You can replace almost all cleaning agents with simple household products such as vinegar, citric acid, and soda. You will save plastic waste and money – and protect your health and the environment at the same time.

If you need to clean your carpets then you can avoid industrial chemical cleaners and make your own eco-friendly carpet cleaner instead.

Natural carpet cleaner + stain remover solutions

Save the environment with eco-friendly homemade carpet cleaner

Carpet cleaning home remedies instead of industrial detergents

You can clean almost every surface at home with homemade cleaning products and what is more – you can do it without much effort. This is better for your health and for the environment because home products such as vinegar, citric acid, and baking soda are not nearly as aggressive as many mainstream cleaners bought from the stores and they are also biodegradable.

The great plus when making a carpet cleaning product yourself is that you save a lot of plastic waste. If you are careful when shopping for your home remedies, you will get almost everything packed in an easily recyclable package. You can buy them in bulk and they are highly concentrated so they’ll last for a really long time, all contributing to less packaging waste.

Making your own carpet cleaner will reduce the harmful ingredients you are exposed to and that washes off into the environment. It’s much better all round.

How to make your own carpet cleaner

You need these ingredients to clean about five square meters of carpet.

Ingredients:

250g cornstarch
250g baking soda
50ml white vinegar
water

Equipment:

Sugar shaker or a jar with holes in the top
Spray bottle
Brush
Vacuum

Warning – Keep in mind that vinegar and baking soda can have a slightly bleaching effect. It is therefore advisable to test the effect on the back of the carpet or on an inconspicuous area before treating your entire carpet to make sure you are happy with the result. If you go ahead then it is advisable to treat the entire carpet evenly with the solution to avoid colour deviations. The same would be said for any commercial carpet cleaner too.

Method:

Mix the cornstarch and baking soda and in the sugar shaker (or jar). Spread generously over the carpet as evenly as possible. Stains can be treated with an extra portion of the powder.
Spray water evenly from a spray bottle until the carpet is damp but not wet. It is even more effective to spray it with a mixture of one part of vinegar and three parts of water.
Use a brush to gently massage the applied powder into the carpet using circular movements. Do not scrub so as not to damage the texture of the carpet.
Leave on until the mixture has dried, preferably overnight.
Thoroughly vacuum up the dried powder with a vacuum cleaner, brush out any residue if necessary.

The carpet cleaning effect of cornstarch, baking soda and vinegar

Cornstarch is particularly suitable for carpet cleaning because it binds grease and dirt. When vacuuming, the dirt is removed together with the starch.

Baking soda complements the effect by also loosening dirt and eliminating odours at the same time.

The sprayed water helps to remove water-soluble and greasy substances and ensures that starch and baking soda penetrate deep into the fibres.

In the case of particularly heavily soiled carpets, vinegar contributes to cleanliness: it cleans, disinfects, removes calcareous stains and at the same time refreshes the colours.

Removing stubborn stains from the carpet

There are lots of ways to remove stubborn stains from carpets and numerous natural homemade carpet cleaning recipes online. Here are a few more ingredients you can use to treat your carpet stains.

Cirtic acid, undiluted vinegar and hydrogen peroxide

Stubborn dirt can be worked on with undiluted vinegar or citric acid.

The same applies to hydrogen peroxide, which can also be used to remove stains from carpets.

However, the bleaching effect is more powerful when the ingredients are undiluted, so this method can only be used for already light-coloured carpets. Always test in an inconspicuous area whenever you are trying any type of carpet cleaning solution so you don’t ruin your carpets!

You’ll get the best results removing carpet stains when they are still fresh, so tackle any carpet stains as soon as possible before they get a chance to really settle into the fibres of the carpet.

Club soda

Even club soda can help to remove carpet stains that are fresh, including red wine or grape juice!

First, remove any coarse dirt, then soak the stain with club soda. Soak up the liquid with a towel after a few minutes.

Salt

Generously sprinkled salt can also remove a wine stain, especially with freshly spilt red wine. It absorbs the liquid together with colourants.

Blot as much red wine up with a paper towel and then generously cover the entire red wine stain with salt until it is completely covered. Once dry, vacuum up the salt.

Choose professional steam carpet cleaning

If all of this sounds too complicated to you, or you have more confidence in professional carpet cleaning services then simply follow the same principle – choose a company that uses only eco-friendly cleaning agents for deep carpet cleaning.

They protect the environment through the use of natural surfactants and ingredients and are also less harmful to your health than conventional products. Many companies care about their environmental impact today and will be more than happy to let you know their eco-friendly credentials.

Steam carpet cleaning is a great option when it comes to an eco-friendly way of living.

You can invest in a steam carpet cleaner yourself or hire the help of professional steam carpet cleaners. In hot water extraction carpet cleaning, experts do not add any harmful or toxic detergents. The power of steam alone is sufficient for cleaning and disinfecting any carpeted flooring.

There is another great advantage too – you can use the carpet almost immediately after the carpet steam cleaning procedure is over!

Whether you have the time and patience to experiment with homemade carpet cleaning solutions to tackle stains or a professional deep steam clean sounds like the best option, there are lots of ways to avoid harsh chemicals when it comes to cleaning your carpets.