I tried the cinnamon in your hoover cleaning hack to see if it works (Image: Alex Evans)
It’s definitely something that I (and my wife ) are guilty of not doing often enough – hoovering the carpets.
While juggling a newborn baby and writing for a national newspaper every day, the little household chores like vacuuming are not always top priority, especially as that aforementioned baby is terrified of the hoover noise. But when the little man decided to be sick all over our carpets without warning, it prompted a sudden and urgent need to clean orange stains off it, fast, which is when I tested the
Fast forward a week and there’s definitely a… lingering smell. A not-quite-fresh, staleness, in the general area of the crime scene, and it’s this that inspired the latest cleaning hack test: cinnamon in your hoover.
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The science behind this, according to cleaning experts™, is that cinnamon “neutralises bad smells at the source, while leaving behind a warm, subtle fragrance” which is “far more pleasant, long-lasting scent compared to synthetic alternatives.”
According to science journals, there is something in cinnamon’s antibacterial or antimicrobial properties. IOP Science reports: “Cinnamon bark has been commonly used as spicy and traditional medicine. It contains several antibacterial compounds such as flavonoids, saponins, and cinnamaldehyde. Several studies have been done to know the antibacterial effect on bacteria such as Streptococcus in vitro.”
There are two ways to get the desired orange powder in-vac, which is to sprinkle it on a wet napkin and then place it directly into the bagless compartment, and to hoover it directly off the carpet.
I tried a mixture of the two, hoping that it might also lift some of the stale smell in the affected area too.
I did this, then kicked the on button and hoped for the best. It passed the first test – the hoover didn’t break. It took the cinnamon in without protest, and the bagless area didn’t explode from the napkin. So far so good.
The next part was not quite what I expected. Perhaps I didn’t use enough of it, but it wasn’t revolution. Yes, I could smell the cinnamon in the air, which definitely beats the scent of old dust. But it’s subtle. I then poured another half a jar into the hoover – far more than the 10g recommended – and tried again.
Still no explosions, but a much stronger smell, which did leave behind a refreshing cinnamon scent instead of dust, child vom and bicarb. In the road test then, I found one thing: yes it does work, but if you want to cover a strong smell, like baby sick – don’t hold back.