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Keep Your RV Clean With This DIY Carpet Cleaner

vacuum cleaning carpet with DIY carpet cleaner

Keep Your RV Clean With This DIY Carpet Cleaner

RV floors are nearly impossible to keep clean. With people going in and out all day and carrying dirt, leaves, and other bits of nature in with them, it’s really no wonder the floors in our rigs get dirty so quickly. 

Fortunately, there are some things you can do to minimize this, but even then, you will be dealing with some messes. If you have hard floors, this is easy enough to do, but if you have carpets, you’ll be dealing with a more difficult task. This is where carpet cleaning solutions come into play. 

Sure, you could pay for premade solutions that would get the job done. However, we much prefer to make our own. DIY carpet cleaner is much cheaper than the store-bought stuff, meaning we can use it more often without feeling guilty. Additionally, we know exactly what’s in it, so we feel more comfortable using it on a regular basis. 

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Ready to make a DIY carpet cleaning solution for your own RV? Our favorite recipes are listed below, along with some tips for keeping your RV floors clean in between scrubbing sessions. 

DIY Carpet Cleaning Solution

Let’s start with our favorite DIY carpet cleaner solution for removing stains. We love this recipe because it uses 5 simple and common ingredients that can be found at any box store. In fact, you may even have them in your cabinet already. It’s also pet and kid-safe, and can be used for spot cleaning or steam cleaning. Best of all, the stuff works!

To make your DIY carpet cleaner you will need:

  • 6 cups of hot water
  • 2 tablespoons of liquid Castile soap
  • 2 tablespoons of white distilled vinegar
  • ¼ cup of hydrogen peroxide 
  • 15–20 drops of your favorite essential oil

Once you’ve gathered all of your ingredients, simply pour them into a jug and mix well. Once everything is combined you can pour the solution into a carpet cleaner and use it according to the manufacturer’s directions or spray it onto any stains on your carpet and then scrub with a bristle brush. 

DIY Carpet Deodorizer

Let’s say you used the DIY carpet cleaner solution above to remove the stains, but the essential oils just aren’t getting rid of stinky carpet smells the way you’d like. This is where a DIY deodorizer can help. Lucky for you, we have an awesome recipe for that too.

We like to use this stuff after scrubbing our carpets clean. It helps keep things smelling fresh, and since it only requires two ingredients, it’s incredibly affordable and easy to whip up. And, the powder works just as well as the store-bought product, if not better!

Like the cleaning solution, this deodorizer is kid and pet-safe. (Actually, it’s because of kids and pets that most people find they even need deodorizer.) That said, it’s important to keep in mind that the baking soda is a leveling agent. That means that a large amount of it mixed with heat in a pet’s stomach could release dangerous gases.

Therefore, just to be safe, we recommend vacuuming right after applying the powder, or keeping pets away if you leave it to sit for any amount of time.

To make your own DIY carpet deodorizer you will need:

  • A box of baking soda
  • 14–16 drops of your favorite essential oil
  • Some sort of shaker container

Fill your container halfway with baking soda. Add 7–8 drops of essential oil, then shake the ingredients to mix. Fill the container the rest of the way with baking soda and add 7–8 more drops of oil. Shake again to mix, and let sit for about a day before using. 

To use your deodorizer, sprinkle it onto the affected area and vacuum it up. For tougher smells, let the powder sit for up to a day. This powder can also soak up moisture, making it great for cleaning up water spills—but it won’t remove stains, so if something with color is spilled, it should be cleaned with the carpet cleaning solution above. 

Carpet cleaner and vacuum

Keep your RV floors clean between cleanings

Now that you have the DIY carpet cleaner products, you need to get your RV floors fresh and clean as well, so let’s talk about how to keep them clean from one cleaning session to the next.

After all, nobody wants to be cleaning carpets every day, so the longer you can keep your floors clean after scrubbing them, the better off you’ll be. 

Here are our top tips.

Get an outdoor rug 

Putting a large rug down in front of your RV will help get rid of some of the dirt on people’s shoes before they walk into your home-on-wheels. 

Put a rug inside the door

A rug just inside the door encourages people to wipe their feet, hopefully getting rid of the rest of the dirt and grime left on their feet. 

Take shoes off at the dor

If these solutions aren’t enough, you might have people take their shoes off at the door. This will keep dirt outside or at the entryway rather than all over your carpet. 

Find ways to limit traffic

Finding ways to limit in and out traffic can also help a lot. You can do this by setting up an outdoor fridge/cooler for people to get drinks from, along with offering plenty of outside entertainment. You might also ask your family members to use bathhouses instead of going into the RV to use the restroom.


Hopefully these cleaning products and the tips above will help you get your RV carpets nice and clean and keep them that way for years to come. Have a tip you’d like to add? We’d love to hear it in the comments section below!

One of the best parts about RVing is engaging with the community of traveling enthusiasts. iRV2 forums allow folks to chat with other RVers online, and get other perspectives on everything RVing, including products, destinations, RV mods, and much more.

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