I clean a lot. I used to be very proud of how much I knew about cleaning. There is a product for everything, and I had my favorites by the time I graduated high school. This cleaner is great for windows and mirrors but does NOT work on the tub, floors, or laundry. This one is only for laundry. Another one for the tub, sink and toilet, but not for the counters and floors. Also, they all smell terrible, some of them require ventilation and bleach your clothes and rags, and you should never let your kid or dog near them. I was pretty sure I knew all about it.
Now, I have kids and dogs and a small apartment that needs to be accessible to everyone. I also don't have enough space under my sink for all of that stuff. So, I found a few simple, safe things that take care of basically all of my cleaning needs. One of them is baking soda.
Things I use baking soda for:
Laundry - Over the years I've had small children, I've learned that baking soda is one great way to get pee smell out of clothes. I wish I had known that when I was paper training my mastiff. I just toss 1/4 to 1/2 cup of baking soda into my machine along with my usual detergent when I have something stinky to wash.
Trash Can Smell - Sometimes, when we take the trash out, our kitchen trash cans smell horrible. I spray the insides of the cans with vinegar and let it sit for a few minutes, then wipe it out. But to keep the smell away, you can sprinkle some fresh baking soda in the bottom of your trash can before you put the bag in.
Clean Toys - Baking soda doesn't kill germs, but it's safe to use on things a baby or kid might put in their mouth and it adds some scrubbing power to vinegar, which does kill germs. So, if you have some unknowable sticky goop on your building blocks, baking soda can help scrub it off, and vinegar can sanitize it. Like vinegar, I use baking soda a lot because it is super safe to use around kids and pets.
Stain Removal - You can get stains off of surfaces with baking soda and water (3/1), and you can get most stains out of clothes with a mixture of baking soda, peroxide, and dish soap (I'll share that and my experiences with it in another post).
Clean Battery Terminals - I posted another entry about how to do this. It's just a sprinkling of baking soda, a little bit of water, and some scrubbing.
Refrigerator Smells - Keeping an open box of baking soda in the fridge helps rid your fridge of weird food smells. I don't recommend using the same box of baking soda when you want to bake, later.
Bath Tub - A paste of baking soda and liquid soap works great here. Like the stain removal liquid, if you want to brighten up the tub in the process, add some peroxide.
Other things it does:
Grease Fires - Up to this point, I've never had one. But apparently you can put out a grease fire by sprinkling it with baking soda.
Grease Spills - Again, this is not something I've had to deal with because I live in an apartment and park in a parking lot. I've read that you can clean up grease spills by covering them with baking soda and letting it soak up.
Coffee Pots - I don't have a coffee pot, but baking soda is said to work great for removing mineral build up on these things. Scrub with ¼ baking soda to 1 quart water.
Your Face - a 2/1 mixture of baking soda and warm water is suggested as a cheap, environmentally friendly face wash. If you also want your cleanser to exfoliate, try a 1/1/2 of baking soda, water, and oat flour.
Your Hair - I... really don't know about this. I'm not sure I could do it. So, if you want to know more about washing your hair with baking soda (and conditioning it with apple cider vinegar), check out this other blog: My Merry Messy Life
Other Things - Baking soda's best quality is getting rid of smells, but it also makes a great scrubbing agent and is safe for kids and pets. If you want to scrub a painted surface, baking soda is great because it is not abrasive enough to damage the paint, but will still clean it. It does not disinfect. Really, almost anything you can think of that fits in those categories is a good candidate for an attempt with baking soda.
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