Oh, God.... Where's that coming from?

We got up this morning to a horrible smell in the living room that told us one of the cats decided to take revenge on me for forgetting to empty the litter box before bed last night. I couldn't track down the spot because it was dry, so time to deodorize the whole area.

One of the potential offended offendees; Cora, the 20+ lb sweetest, dumbest cat you'll ever meet. Our other one, Valerie, was camera shy. A sure sign of guilt. She is the smart one, after all.

No Carpet Fresh in this house. Behold the magic of baking soda! And it's really simple.

Step 1 - Sprinkle baking soda on the offensive area. You don't need a lot. Just a good dusting should work fine. I do my entire living room every week or two and I only use about 1/5 of the box each time. If the area is still damp, you'll be able to see it in the baking soda. It will be a spot that doesn't seem to "take" your sprinkles. I just give that area an extra few shakes.
Step 2 - Wait 10-15 minutes. I took my older daughter to PreK and came back so it was more like 30 minutes, but as long as it's at least 10 minutes you should be good.

Yes, I know I got some on the sofa. But this works for upholstery, too, so no worries.

Step 3 - Vacuum as normal.

Or in my case, try to vacuum at all.

May I introduce my youngest: the crazy, diaper-shedding 15 month old who LOVES the vacuum cleaner. I don't know why. I stopped asking those kinds of questions two kids ago. I just try to vacuum when she's sleeping. (And yes, the baking soda works great for potty training too.)

And that's it! No more stinky carpet. A nice perk of doing this is that the baking soda absorbs the odors from your vacuum bag, too (assuming you don't have a bagless type).

I haven't tried it myself, but I would think that if you wanted a scented deodorizer you could add some essential oil or something similar to the baking soda before you put it on the carpet. If you try it, let me know how it does.