Baking soda is a wonderfully cheap and environmentally friendly product for cleaning around the home, and below are 8 ways to use it to its greatest advantage:
- Unblocking your drains
Blast through clogged drains with a combination of baking soda and vinegar:
- ½ cup of baking soda mixed with 2 cups of vinegar
- Simply pour the mixture down the drain and rinse it with boiling water
- Degreasing your oven
There’s nothing worse looking or more unhygienic than a greasy oven, but with baking soda, you can combat this very effectively:
- Combine ½ cup of baking soda with a few tablespoons of water to form a paste
- Wearing gloves, cover the interior of the oven with the paste
- Leave the paste to sit overnight before wiping it – and the grease – off with a damp cloth or sponge
- Killing mold and mildew in your dishwasher
Mold and mildew can quickly and easily build up in your dishwasher, but luckily, baking soda is on hand to help:
- Dissolve several tablespoons of baking soda into a cup of water
- Pour the solution into the bottom of the dishwasher and run a normal cycle
- Do this monthly to keep fungus at bay
- Cleaning Your Shower Curtain
Mold, grime and soap residue can make your shower curtain look anything but hygienically clean, but fortunately, baking soda comes to the rescue again:
- Remove the curtain and place it into the tub (or any other large vessel). Then, using a paste of baking soda and water, apply it to the curtain before scrubbing it with a nylon brush to remove all traces of grime and gunk.
- Cleaning grubby grout
Grout can quickly become dirty, but is just as quick to clean:
- Make a paste of baking soda and lemon juice
- With a toothbrush, scrub the grout with the paste
- Wait 5 minutes or so before rinsing the grout with warm water
- Cleaning sinks, tubs and vanity’s
While baking soda is great for cleaning many items in your bathroom, do exercise caution when using it on sinks and tub hardware as it is an abrasive substance and may damage it.
- Add baking soda to a damp sink or tub and scrub lightly to eliminate stains and grime
- Refreshing carpets
Carpets not only look unsightly when they’re dirty, but can smell pretty unpleasant, too. With baking soda, you can both clean and deodorize your grubby carpets:
- Take a box of baking soda and sprinkle it over your carpet
- Leave it for around 10 minutes before vacuuming the baking soda up
- Refreshing upholstery
Upholstery can get grubby and smelly over the course of time, too, but with baking soda, you can get it clean and smelling fresh again:
- Sprinkle baking soda on furniture upholstery, pillows and cushions
- Leave it for around 10 minutes before vacuuming it up using the brush attachment on your vacuum cleaner
You might even find that professional cleaners in your locality are using natural substances like baking soda to clean their clients homes, and by hiring one, you can skip the entire list above and get a sparkling home with zero hassle!
