Cleaning

How to Clean Your Carpets with Borax

How to Clean Your Carpets with Borax

Whether cleaning up a fresh spill or steaming out older stains, 20 Mule Team BoraxTM can help keep your carpets clean and odor-free. It's all-natural and free of chlorine and phosphates.

In this article:

Cleaning Up New Spills and Stains

Use Borax to help clean up new spills like wine, coffee and juices.

What you'll need

  • Borax
  • Clean rags (cotton works best)
  • A metal spoon
  • Spray bottle with cold water
  • Paper towels
  • Heavy books

1. Blot the spill immediately
Soak up the spill by blotting the area with a clean rag or paper towel. Don't rub as that will push the spill further into the carpet fibers and be more difficult to remove.

2. Work Borax into the stain
Once you've blotted as much liquid as possible, mist the carpet with cold water and sprinkle some Borax on the spill. Then, cover it with a damp rag. Next, pressing on the rag with the curved of a spoon, work the Borax into the stain.

Work Borax into the stain

3. Blot some more
Using a clean cloth, blot the area again, removing the water you sprayed and more of the spilled liquid. Continue to repeat steps 2 and 3 until the blotting rag doesn't show any signs of removing additional spilled liquid.

Spot-clean your carpets

If you don’t get to the spill right away, you can use 20 Mule Team Borax and a few other ingredients to spot clean stains on your carpet.

What you’ll need:

  • Salt
  • Borax
  • Vinegar
  • Mixing bowl
  • Vacuum

 

1. Create your steam-removing paste
Mix equal parts salt, Borax and vinegar in a small mixing bowl to create a paste.

2. Apply paste to carpet
Apply your paste to the carpet using a rubber spatula or spoon. Work into the paste into the stain and then let it dry completely.

3. Vacuum
After the paste has dried, vacuum it up. Repeat as necessary.

Steam cleaning carpets with Borax

You can also use 20 Mule Team Borax in your steam cleaner either as a booster to or in place of chemical-laden carpet shampoos.

What you’ll need:

  • Vacuum
  • Borax
  • Steam cleaner
  • Hot water

 

1. Remove furniture from the room and vacuum
The ideal ratio is ½ cup of Borax to 1 gallon of hot water. Dissolve the Borax in the water and place in your steam cleaner’s tank.
If you’re not able to remove all of the furniture from the room, make sure it’s protected.

2. Mix your Borax cleaning solution
The ideal ratio is ½ cup of Borax to 1 gallon of hot water. Dissolve the Borax in the water and place in your steam cleaner’s tank.
You can adjust the amount of Borax for smaller applications, as well (¼ cup for ½ gallon of hot water, for example).

3. Spot test
If you don’t know whether your carpets are color-fast, spot test a small part of your carpet in an area where you won’t notice (like in a closet or under furniture). You can do this using your steam cleaner’s hose attachment.

4. Steam clean
Follow your steam cleaner’s directions and steam clean your carpet. Remember to let the carpet dry completely before using it again.

Related Uses

  • One Cleaner - Multiple Solutions

    There are a lot of different cleaning products that take up the valuable space under our kitchen sinks and in our laundry room cabinets. 

  • Use Borax for Spotless Dishes

    We’ve all experienced the frustration of pulling plates and glasses out of the dishwasher that are still covered in water spots and don’t feel clean enough to eat off. 

Even More Uses

Our fans are always finding more uses for 20 Mule Team Borax™. Check them out on Pinterest.