Carpet Freshener: Baking Soda

So after our delightful moving out experience, T did some good research on how to really keep the carpet from holding on to Eau de Doglette. I have never been a fan of those carpet powders, and especially after using some recently, I'm even less of a fan.

The secret magic cure for the carpet? Plain old baking soda (Bicarbonate of soda, for you Brits.) The secret? Don't use it with the kind of vacuum that doesn't have replaceable bags. Over time if can build up in those suckers (heh) and break your vac, but if you have a vacuum that uses disposable bags, you're in luck!

Lucky for us, we have 1 vacuum that does in fact use disposable bags. I'm not a fan of the disposable waste, but to keep the dog smell out, I'm willing to allow myself this indulgence.

It is best when you can rope off the room you want to treat, sprinkle lightly with baking soda (more is not necessarily better in this case) and let it soak up the smells over a little while, like at least 30 minutes, but a few hours would work awesome! Simply vacuum up and walk away. Ta-da!

For a little extra something special, mix in a few drops of your favorite essential oil before sprinkling. I like lavender, cedar wood, and bergamot, but that's just me.

Carpet Cleaner: Folex

This miraculous carpet cleaner comes in a delightfully cheesy, as-seen-on-tv-circa-1993 packaging and works wonders on carpet stains from barfy bulldogs and waves away a whole host of other doggily fluids too. We just spray and blot (no rubbing!) Use it in a steam cleaner, too! There's an every day spray bottle size, and an industrial sized jug for steam cleaning, or refilling the spray bottle.

It's safe around kids and pets. The amazon reviews say it all, except those idiots that don't know what they are doing and obviously used it wrong. I spray a very concentrated amount--not just a light misting. Get about 2 inches from the stain, and cover the whole stain in spray and then let sit about 1-2 minutes, then blot up with paper towels. Repeat for worse stains. I promise--everything except oil based paint has come out in my experience, and that includes dog urine, dog feces, dog barf (plain food barf and also bile barf), wine, soda, jell-o (red!), dirt, blood, green marker, and plenty of other unknown stains.