The Wonders of Baking Soda!

I don't buy much in the way of cleaners any more...I pretty much stick to baking soda and vinegar for almost everything. Here's a few pages I have bookmarked from a little while back...

http://www.bellybytes.com/articles/bakingsoda.shtml
http://housekeeping.about.com/od/environment/a/vinbaklemo...
http://www.thenewhomemaker.com/bakingsoda
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/vinegarbakingsoda

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Hi Mama-
I read that you can use baking soda paste as shampoo and rinse with vinegar that's been treated with an essential oil (so you don't smell like vinegar). I believe it's 1 tsp baking soda to 8 parts water. get the paste on your scalp and not all over your hair. Then rinse it with vinegar (1 part v to 4 parts water) that has either a cinnamon stick, vanilla bean, clove buds, or whatever you want to put into it to fragrance it (essential oils work great, too). The baking soda cleans your scalp and the funky residue without stripping the natural oils, and the vinegar hydrates your hair as it rinses. You can check it out at onegreengeneration.

I also use baking soda on the tub, a coffee filter of it in the freezer to absorb odors, to clean the littler box, the floors, etc. You can also use it in the bathtub when you have a yeast infection, or if your kids get chicken pox....I am also going to attempt it on my own acne issues in the next few days. Try googling "uses for baking soda" and see what pops up.
Good luck!
And awesome conversion! Those chemicals really do smell funky, don't they!
-E. M
P.S. If you like the smell of a certain oil, say orange or mint or clove, try adding a few drops to a spray bottle. Use that when you make your baking soda paste to clean stuff. It should keep it smelling fresh!

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One of the best tricks I learned from my mother in law 50 or so years ago was whenever you burn something in your nice (I had stainless steel) cooking pots, just put some baking soda in them and enough water to go over the top of the burned area and boil! the soda foams up and it and the boiling action releases the burned on food and is easy to remove (after it has cooled) by using a sponge or one of those plastic or nylon textured scrubbers. If it is really hard and thick I sometimes have added salt and a new bunch of soda and done a second boil. Doesn't have to boil for long.

I also use it to clean out the insides of tea cups which get stained. Just use the paste or just sprinkle the soda into a damp tea cup. Even is safe for the best bone china.

Isn't is great to get back to the basics our great grandmothers used to use?

N.

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Once or twice a week I brush my teeth with it. At first it's nasty, but you get used to it. It makes my teeth fresh from the dentist clean. I also use it in my sons bath when he has diaper rash, its supposed to calm his skin. I use it once or twice a week if there is formula build up on the bottle. So I guess any build up you can try it on there. You can put it in smell shoes (when not in use) and just shake it out before you put them on.
I just googled uses for baking soda and here is a link for 75
http://lifehackery.com/2008/07/22/home-4/

I really like #17!! Good to know!

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I stopped buying cleaners.

For the entire bathroom (tub, tile, sink, etc) I get a plastic cup and fill it a bit less than halfway with baking soda. Then, over the sink, slowly pour in some vinegar-- it will foam up. Mix, then use to clean all surfaces. Works good in the kitchen, too. I've never found a better cleaner.

Every now and then, I pour some down the sink (kitchen, bathrooms, and tub drain) and slowly pour in vinegar. When it stops the fizzy sound, flush for a few minutes with hot water and your drains will run clearer

For my everyday cleaner, I use a mixture of vinegar and borax. You only need a small amount of Borax and you have to mix it with hot water to help it desolve, then the cleaner is good to go and it doesn't have to be hot to use. I bought an empty spray bottle and it's just a few tablespoons of vinegar and a teaspoon of Borax. I use it daIly to clean the dining room table after we eat, the kitchen counters, spot clean the tile, etc. If you don't like the vinegar smell, you can add a few drops of essential oil (I like peppermint) but neither the vinegar nor the essential oil smell will linger so it doesn't really matter. It disolves dry stains like spagetti sauce splatter in a matter of seconds

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wow! these are great comments! I use baking soda in my laundry also- it is amazing how much cleaner and softer my clothes and towels are. I have also used it for my oven and hard to clean pots and pans. I use a paste of it on any insect bite or sting and use it for cleaning the bathroom and making my sink nice and shiny!
You can also use it as a mild scrub for your body- about once a week. Great stuff! Thanks for the post!
~C.

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One of my favorite new discoveries is using baking soda and vinegar to clean a slow drain. I'm sure there's a recipe out there, but I poured about 1/4 cup of baking soda down the drain and added about a cup or two of plain white vinegar. Science experiment in action, plus the drain drained!

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Not sure if someone mentioned it but I like that I can use a little baking soda and mix it with my shampoo once a week and it helps clean, make more manageable and fuller hair.

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Its a natural odor sucker upper, you can sprinkle it on your carpet to neutralize odors. You can use it as an exfolliant on your face. It's good to soak in the bath with. Its good for getting rid of shoe smudges on the kitchen linoleum or viny. Its good to add some on top of your toothpaste on your tooth brush. Its good to use in replacement of cleanser.
It's good for heart burn,
And you can make Irish Soda Bread when you run out of things to do, and that goes good with beer ;)

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I've used it for toothpaste every day for the past 24 years, and have had fabulous checkups. Leaves breath sweet, too. It will pickle your lips a bit, so rinse thoroughly.

Use it to boost detergent and sweeten laundry. It neutralizes many smells.

Boil a couple of tablespoons soda in a quarter-cup of water to get burned-on food out of cookware.

Use as a mild scouring powder on countertops, sinks, and other surfaces.

Sprinkle on carpets before vacuuming.

And almost everything else. Vinegar is also a great cleaner. While it can be safely mixed with soda, the two will vigorously foam when combined. It looks impressive (many school science projects are built on this reaction of acid and base), but they are actually neutralizing each other and won't have quite the power of either used alone.

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It works wonders on removing the mildew smell from clothing if you happen to forget to transfer the clothes from the washer to the dryer.

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It is great...I use it in the washer to clean clothes or to freshen them up especially hubbies works clothes,bathroom as a scrub clean the tub,toilet,sink.
Sprinke on carpets to get odors out then vacuum hours later.Leave in plastic comtainers the ones that stink from food get's odors out.

1 mom found this helpful

It also polishes silver very well! Just make a paste, let it set for a bit them w/ a little elbow grease it cleans up very nice.

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Brush your teeth with it! It's the best toothpaste ever!

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I sprinkle a liberal amount in the bottom of my kitchen garbage can to keep it smelling fresh.
Great post! I am getting some new ideas!

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I cloth diaper, and always add it to our laundry to help get out any odors.

T.

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drain cleaner! http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/plumbing/h...

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I use it for baths for my son once a week to help prevent rashes.
My SO is a delivery driver and has horribly grimey hands take baking soda and some soap and scrub away the crud!
I also use it in the washer to get clothes extra celan
I use shampoo and bakingsoda mixed as well after a crazy night of hairspray overuseage
cleaning the carpet with super hot water if you get at it right away

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I have used it in the sink with vinegar (like others below) to clear a drain, I also sprinkle it on the carpet 15 min before vacuuming to get rid of carpet smells, and I also sprinkle some into peed-in diapers before folding them up and throwing them into the diaper pail. Does not do much for more than pee, but if you toss the more signifigant diapers separately (in a sealed bag!) then the pee-only diapers with baking soda don't stink up the bin. - this works for us as we are mid potty-training and only have 2 diapers a day from nap/night, and do not want to change the bin constantly!

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Pour it in your garbage disposal with lemon slices.

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Put 1/4 cup baking soda into the washer w/detergent.