The Delicious-Smelling Herb That'll Freshen Up Your Smelly Carpets

Vacuuming is one of the most effective ways to remove unpleasant stains and smells from carpets and rugs, but sometimes the action alone isn't enough to eliminate tough odors. Using popular household finds like essential oils, dried herbs, and baking soda can upgrade your vacuuming experience by trapping lingering scents and releasing pleasant aromas in their place. Mint, in particular, stands out for its cool, stimulating, and nose-tingling effect, strong enough to overpower even the most persistent of unfavorable stenches, like stale smoke and pet odors. Use crushed mint leaves or a peppermint-scented essential oil when vacuuming to deodorize and refresh your carpets more effectively.

Aside from offering a clean, refreshing scent, mint is equipped with many other benefits as well. A whiff of the herb can help reduce stress and clear sinuses. The smell of mint also naturally repels unwanted critters that may try to make a home within the fibers of your house's textiles, like fleas, ants, and ticks. Here's how you can incorporate the herb into your carpet cleaning routine.

Mint in its essential oil form can be used in two different ways when vacuuming carpets: applied directly to your vacuum bag or mixed with baking soda to create a vacuum-safe powder. Placing a few drops of the oil into a fresh vacuum bag before operating the machine is a quicker alternative to the baking soda method. It can also benefit the vacuum cleaner itself by eliminating any smelly odors from previous uses. Make sure to use a new vacuum bag when working with essential oils in order to prevent the oil's scent from colliding with the smells of old waste left inside the machine. If your specific model of vacuum cleaner is bagless, improvise by substituting a doused tissue or cotton ball and dropping it into your vacuum's canister before use to create a similar effect.

You can also combine 10-15 drops of essential oil with a cup of baking soda to create a homemade deodorizer. Sprinkle the mixture onto your carpet and allow it to sit for at least 10 minutes before vacuuming it up. If you have dried mint leaves on hand instead, crush about 2 tablespoons of the herb and mix with baking soda to create a concoction for your carpet. Regardless of the method you use, vacuuming with concentrated herbs tends to generate promising results because the appliance's motor helps diffuse the plants' sweet smell while giving your carpets a deep clean.