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More Amazing Uses for Baking Soda
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Nature’s perfect cleaning product
Long before the advent of commercial cleaning products, simple household items, such as baking soda and white vinegar, were the most commonly used cleansers. Unlike many commercial cleansers which contain perfumes to mask odors, baking soda actually eliminates odors.
As a cleanser:
Baking soda is mildly abrasive, but doesn’t scratch surfaces. That means you can use it like a scouring powder for pots and pans, stove burners, ovens, grills, sinks and tubs, toilets, and anywhere you have a stubborn spot or stain, without worrying about damaging the finish. Baking soda makes a good cleanser for plastic bowls, too, which other abrasive cleaners would easily scratch.
As a washing solution:
Baking soda and water make a great all-around cleaning solution for just about anything that ever needs to be cleaned! Mix about 4 tablespoons to a quart of water. Use it on floors, walls, woodwork, countertops, cupboards, the refrigerator and most of all, the garbage pail! The only caution would be its use on upholstery or rugs. Make a color test first because it may not be color-safe for some materials.
As a laundry agent:
Add 1/2 cup of baking soda to your laundry detergent to freshen, deodorize and combat yellowing of fabrics. For whites, add baking soda to your laundry to boost the whitening action of bleach while at the same time neutralizing the bleach odor.
Banish mildew:
At first glance mildewed shower curtains seem like a lost cause, but don’t throw them away just yet. First run them through the washing machine, including a couple of towels in the load for weight, and add 1/2 cup baking soda to the detergent and 1 cup of white vinegar to the rinse cycle. Your shower curtains will be clean, fresh and mildew-free.
As a disinfectant:
Run your empty dishwasher with 1/2 cup of baking soda in place of detergent to make it clean and odor-free. If you run your dishwasher once a day, sprinkle a little baking soda over the dishes that are waiting to be washed. This will neutralize any odor build-up.
As a deodorizer:
- Place 1 cup of baking soda in the refrigerator and empty microwave to neutralize food and cooking odors.
- Have you ever taken the lid off a plastic bowl and found a stale odor lingering there? Sprinkle a little baking soda into the bowl and let it sit overnight. When you wash it, your bowl will be odor free.
- For those smokers in the house, sprinkle a little baking soda in the bottom of ashtrays to help counteract the odor.
- Sometimes rugs can get a musty smell, especially if they’re in a basement area. To clear the air, sprinkle baking soda generously over the carpet and let it sit overnight before vacuuming.
- Sprinkle a little baking soda in the bottom of sneakers or other shoes — whew, what a relief!
- Keep yourself and your cat happy by sprinkling a little baking soda into the litter box to keep the odors away.
- For those environmentally conscious parents who use cloth diapers, add 1/2 cup of baking soda to the diaper pail to neutralize odor. If the diaper pail has a liner, sprinkle a little in the pail before you add the liner, then add the rest to the soaking solution.
Fizz it clean with a marvelous mixture:
I’ve come to regard baking soda and white vinegar as the Dynamic Duo of cleaning. When you combine white vinegar with baking soda, the mixture “fizzes” because the acid in the white vinegar releases the carbon dioxide in the baking soda. This “fizzing” action scrubs the dirt away. Try these simple solutions.
Kill harmful bacteria:
- Bacteria, like salmonella, can easily be spread from wooden cutting boards. You can guard against this kind of food poisoning by sprinkling baking soda over the surface of a wet cutting board and pushing the powder down into any cut marks with your fingers. Then spray white vinegar over it (put the white vinegar in a small plastic spray bottle). The resulting fizz will deep clean the cutting board. Rinse with hot water. Repeat this process after you’ve used the board to cut raw meat, especially chicken.
Unclog drains:
- Open a clogged or slow drain by pouring a cup of baking soda down the drain followed by a cup of hot white vinegar. Let it sit and “fizz” for a few minutes. Then go back and pour hot water down the drain to rinse it through. (Hint: Heat the white vinegar and the water in your microwave.) To prevent clogged sinks, wash them with baking soda on a regular basis, and sprinkle a teaspoon or so of baking soda into the drain about once a week. Regular use will keep drains cleaner.
Mineral deposits:
Mineral deposits in pots and pans, coffee pots and teapots will fizz away by bringing a cup of white vinegar and 4 tablespoons of baking soda to a boil.
Grease: Stubborn grease on the bottom of a pot or pan will come off with 1/2 cup of baking soda poured into the bottom, followed by 1/2 cup of white vinegar. Let it sit overnight and it will be clean as a whistle in the morning.
Soap scum:
Cleaning fiberglass tubs and shower stalls is a breeze with a white vinegar-soaked cloth or sponge with my baking soda power wash on the next page. Rinse with hot water and wipe dry for a beautifully clean shine. This works great on shower stall doors, too!
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