Cleaning my carpets, naturally

[MissSJ]

Hi, I was hoping some of you can give me some tips on how to clean my carpets naturally. I have two shampoo-ers, one is a kirby and the other is a bissell. As far as cleaning materials I have borax, bac out, biokleen all purpose, vinegar, baking soda and of course the brand specific cleaners for the kirby and bissell. I'd like to do the whole house. To warn you I have a toddler and a baby which means my carpets have been pee'd, pooped, spit up, and vomited on, there's been plenty of food and drinks spilled AND I have a stinky dog who tracks in dirt. Before you :Puke at the thought of the state of my carpets I just want to say I DO clean as I go!! LOL!!

My husband thinks our whole house stinks, I just think he's paranoid but they definately need cleaned. Any suggestions?

ETA: Now my house must smell minty fresh since DS1 squeezed half a tube of toothpaste onto the floor in the living room. Off to put DS2 to bed, when do mamas get a break?? LOL!

TIA,
SJ

[melamama]

I can't seem to find them now, but I know that there have been posts on people's carpet cleaning mixtures.

I have a purple shampooer--maybe a Bissell. I have used plain hot water, water+vinegar+essential oil, water+Charlies Soap. The big thing seems to be to make sure that if you're using some sort of cleaner that it be detergent, not soap (like Dr.Bronners) as that can attract dirt later.

For areas that are just regular dirty I find that ultra hot water works just fine. I add some eo to make it smell nice. Places that are really bad, I do with the hot water, scrub with the hard brush, then do again.

I actually really need to do my carpets again---my ds is a secret spiller.

[anthasam]

nak

We just use vinegar and water.

Oh, and we rinse twice so the house doesn't smell like a salad bar