Vinegar and Baking Soda for Cleaning and Deodorizing it’s Cheap AND Green!

I’ll admit that I am obsessed with how my home smells.  I’ve almost always got a Yankee Candle tart burning, and regularly use Wallflowers, home fragrance oils, reed diffusers, sprays, candles, and just about any other home fragrance product I can get my hands on in an effort to make things smell good around here.  I am very sensitive to anything that smells out of the ordinary and with two kids, two cats and a dog it seems like there’s always something that needs to be de-funked!  My favorite is when Abby spills milk on the carpet and doesn’t tell me until I notice a funky odor coming from her room days later.  Yeah, it’s LOVELY!  I’ve found that when it comes to removing odors the most effective products to use are regular old white vinegar and baking soda. Here are a couple of ways I use vinegar and baking soda to keep things odor free:

• For carpet odors fill the solution tank on your carpet cleaner with a mixture of 75% hot water and 25% white vinegar.  Clean as usual and let dry.  For extra odor control, after shampooing sprinkle area with baking soda and vacuum when dry.
• Mix a few tablespoons of baking soda with hot water and soak overnight to keep plastic sippy cups odor free (this is useful for cups that get left under the sofa or forgotten in the car).
• After emptying out the dirty water tank on your carpet or floor cleaner sprinkle with baking soda and add a little water.  This will keep things odor free until the next time you use it.
• When using regular carpet cleaning solution add about 1/4 cup vinegar to the mix to reduce soap residue.
• Use vinegar in the Downy Ball instead of fabric softener.  

So there you have it!  I don’t know what I’d do without baking soda and vinegar.  The best part for me is that they’re cheap, green, and most importantly effective.  What more could you want?  For more thrifty tips check out Tightwad Tuesday!

Tags: Cheap, Cleaning Tips

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