While we can all agree that there’s nothing more satisfying than walking into a tidy home and seeing a spotless white carpet, most homeowners opt for other flooring options. It’s not because they don’t love the classic look, it’s because they are fearful of one thing: STAINS!

And rightly so. We all know that paying for a top-notch carpet cleaning after a particularly heinous red wine spill can be a pricey experience. Just the same, there are quite a few ways to get a sparkling-clean carpet without phoning a professional.

In the past, we have sung the praises of off-beat carpet cleaning techniques – such as WD40 and even a hot iron – but our current fave calls for even simpler materials.

These everyday ingredients make carpet stains disappear

Now that you are sufficiently on the edge of your seat, we won’t make you suffer in suspense any longer. The two Dollar Store carpet cleaning wonders are ordinary vinegar and baking soda!

In a test conducted by Instructables user 7-Factories, they found that these two ingredients actually made even year-old carpet stains completely vanish. Can your noxious, store-bought stuff say that?

To get started, fill a spray bottle with a 50/50 vinegar-water mixture. Once complete, coat the stains with a liberal amount of baking soda. For this step, it’s important that you cover the area entirely with the deodorizer; if you use too little, the hack will not garner the best results!

After your carpet starts resembling a winter wonderland, grab your vinegar-water bottle, give it a little shake, and spray the concoction directly onto the baking soda. You’ll immediately notice some “volcanic” bubbling, so be sure that your kiddos are around if you have any. Hours of fun for the whole family!

Now that you’ve laid the groundwork, sit back, watch some Netflix, cook a delicious dinner, and return to the science experiment in a few hours. At this point, you should notice that the vinegar-baking soda mixture has evolved into a type of paste. If it hasn’t, you may need to add a few more sprays of vinegar and water.

From there, it’s time to get on your hands and knees and scrub the mixture loose. When ready, the potion will flake off when you run some bristles across it. And while you aren’t quite finished with the hack yet, you should be getting a sneak peek of your new, spotless carpet!

Although the cleaning method calls for the simplest of materials, there is a scrubbing technique that works better than others. To see this hack completed, as well as some further advice on the final step, be sure to click on the video below. Doesn’t get much easier than that!

We’d love to hear what you have to say about this vinegar-baking soda spot treatment. Have you tried this carpet cleaning hack before? If so, do you have any guidance on how to best execute it? Do you have any simple floor cleaning advice that you would like to share?