Day 13: Removing Carpet Odor (fail).

Pinterest pin and website link.

My kids spend quite a bit of time in our downstairs family room, often with bare feet, food and / or milk.  Added to that, they've both been potty trained (with varying degrees of success) while we've had this rug.  Despite daily vacuuming sessions, and using a steam cleaner for the accidents previously mentioned, I've noticed a distinct smell in the family room for the past few days.  I'm thinking the likeliest culprit is spilled milk -- yuck.  

First, I pushed the couches aside, removed the rug, and vacuumed / mopped the entire area.  When that was dry, I put the carpet back and used the baking soda and peppermint essential oil mix (recipe: 1 cup baking soda and 4-5 drops of peppermint) described in the pin above.  

I think I used much more of the mix on my carpet than it looked like the original pinner did -- in the end, I used over 10 cups of baking soda + 50 drops of peppermint essential oil, but I wanted to make sure I was really getting rid of the smell!  

I then did a very thorough job of vacuuming, and the smell seems to have disappeared.   However, I noticed it returning about five days after the treatment.  I am still on the hunt for a long-lasting carpet cleaner!

Verdict: success at first, but fail in the long run.