Years ago, when I was a full time Mom of three little ones, a 100 lb. dog and living in a house with white carpet, I discovered an affordable way to 'clean' our carpets without forking over $100 to a carpet cleaner and dealing with the hassle of moving furniture and putting up with wet carpets for hours until they dried.
At the time I tried a moist/dry powder cleaner that you sprinkled on the carpet, brushed in, let dry completely and then vacuumed up. I thought it worked well and since it was available just down the street at my local DIY hardware store, I always had nice looking carpet even though I had three children under 5.
Our next two homes had more wood floors than carpeting and I forgot about the product for awhile. I remembered it last month when I was hunting and searching for a reputable carpet cleaner with decent prices to clean our white carpets in our current home. What I found was that almost none of them moved furniture (you have to have it moved yourself before they arrive) and then of course I knew I'd have to move furniture back and deal with the damp carpet in the meantime (with three kids and 2 cats....).
That's when I remembered the powder I used to use 10 years ago and tromped off to the local hardware store to see if they still sold it. They did... sort of.
It's sold under a different name now. It's currently called "Capture" Rug and Carpet Cleaning
. But I recognized it and was happy to purchase. My initial purchase was one large kit that came with spray and brush, as well as an extra bottle of spray and an extra bucket of powder. This was to clean a living room, family room, master bedroom and walk-in closet as well as the basement family room and entertainment rooms. 
You vacuum the area to be cleaned.
Spray the included spray to help loosen the fibers.
Sprinkle the moist/dry powder.
Brush in.
Let dry.
Vacuum up.
I was happy with the results and even purchasing as much of the product as I did, it still rang in at about 1/3 - 1/4 the cost of a traditional carpet cleaner would have been. Of course, it's only as good as the sucking power of your vacuum! But I have a Dyson
with an additional filter, so we were fine on that end. We also have a Dirt Devil and that one didn't do very well. It clogged easily and sprayed the fine powder back into the room so I had to re-vacuum with the Dyson.Overall I give it a thumbs up. If you have heavily soiled carpet, it hasn't been cleaned for 10 years or it's unusually trampled, smelly or have pet accidents I'd go with a traditional carpet cleaning first and then follow up every 6 months or so with this 'dry' carpet cleaning kit to keep it fresh and clean inbetween deep cleans.
