Cleaning and Deodorizing a Rug

Today on Instagram (and shared to Facebook and Twitter), I explained my #JustOneThing for this Thursday: cleaning and deodorizing my breakfast room rug.

When we had the leak in the family room, all of the furniture and other stuff from the family room ended up piled up in our breakfast room.

Because the furniture and rug from the family room smelled musty from the mold in the family room, that musty smell transferred to the breakfast room rug when everything was in there. (Yuck.)

Steps for Cleaning and Deodorizing a Rug:

1. Vacuum up any loose dirt or hair.

To clean and deodorize the rug, first, I vacuumed it to get all the dog hair and anything else off of it.

2. Spray with Vinegar

Next, I sprayed a formula of one cup vinegar plus two cups warm water lightly on the rug. You want enough to clean it, but not soak it through. Let it sit for at least five minutes, or until dry. If the smell is particularly strong or you just want to be thorough, you can work the water-vinegar formula into the rug by scrubbing the rug with a sponge. I didn’t do that with this rug because the rug is very thin and because it wasn’t in the family room where the mold was. I did do this when I cleaned our family room rug.

3. Sprinkle with Baking Soda.

Once the vinegar dries, sprinkle baking soda on the rug. Let sit for 10-15 minutes, then vacuum up.

Then breathe deeply, because you’ve got a clean rug!