A nice carpet powder, that you can use with a vacuum to help make your carpets both smell better and deal with pet odor and other unwanted scents that may have gotten into your carpet.

Is very simple and easy to make as well as very cost effective. I personally like this powder over store bought ones as the scent bothers me much less. For anyone who does not like overpowering air fresheners or finds that the scents often give them headaches this can be a very nice alternative. All the materials can be easily found and bought.

Note: It will not remove stains, and should be used on a dry carpet(otherwise powder could clump and won't penetrate as deeply into carpet). So probably not good for use with a steam cleaner.

How does it work?

Well the baking soda will react with most musty/pet odor smelling compounds due to its chemical nature thus helping neutralize the scent. as you put the fine powder over your carpet it will settle nice and deep in between the fibers of the carpet. The longer it sits the more it will react with the smelly compounds and help neutralize the odor. Then when you vacuum the baking soda will be quickly pulled through the carpet thus in a way "scrubbing" the carpet. This will also kick up the nice smelling spices making your room smell nice.

Materials...

- A shaker of sorts, preferably a large salt/pepper shaker, the holes should be just small enough to not allow rice through.

- Baking soda

- Rice

- A small sandwich bag

- A larger jar (optional, good for easy refilling less hassle than making a new batch every time)

The following are primarily for scent reasons, if you do not have some of the following spices it is not a big deal.

- Cinnamon

- Nutmeg

- Allspice

- Cloves

- Rosemary

Step 1: Add Ingredients to Shaker.

First add just enough rice to coat the bottom of the shaker. This will help with the powder from clumping from humidity.

Next add the rosemary, just enough to cover the rice is fine.

Then add your cinnamon about 1/7 to 1/5 of the container should be cinnamon.

Add a small amount of allspice, ground cloves and nutmeg to make for a very nice scent.

Next add the baking soda, until you have almost filled the container, tap the side of the container some so that the baking soda settles, and then refill so that it is almost full again, be sure to leave a little bit of space in the container to make the next step easier.

Step 2: Mix the Ingredients Together

Take the lid of the container and place a thin sandwich bag over top. Then snap or twist lid back on so that the bag is between the lid and container. Making sure lid stays secure, thoroughly shake the container until all ingredients are well blended. Remove lid and take the sandwich bag out, put the lid back on and you are done!

Step 3: How to Use!

Simply lightly dust carpet by shaking over. Be sure to hold the shaker at least at the height of your hips so that the powder has some time to disperse before hitting the carpet, this will ensure more even coverage over the carpet.

Then let it sit a good 3-10 minutes, depending on how strong the smell you can let it sit longer so that you get a better effect. Then when you are ready vacuum over the carpet and enjoy the nice smell.