Tips for Sustainable Living - Baking Soda

Go ask your grandmother what she used to clean her house with before all of the commercial cleaners that we have today were available. I'll bet she'll say baking soda, among other products. I saw a pin on Pinterest that showed an oven door pre- and post-baking soda cleaning. By George, baking soda actually took the gunk off! Here's the deal, the cleaners that you find on a grocery store shelf are there because we are, as a society, extremely lazy. Harsh chemicals take the "work" out of cleaning, reducing the need for putting some extra elbow grease into cleaning. So, if you decide to use baking soda or vinegar as cleaning products, be aware that it will take some extra work on your part to yield the same results. But hey, some good hard scrubbing might be beneficial to you too by burning some extra calories! Good for the environment, good for the wallet, good for your body!

I've recently started using baking soda in my cleaning tasks. Combined with a little bit of vinegar (a la elementary school science fair volcano style) it can be very powerful. Just ask my mildewy shower door track. Add a little bit of water to some baking soda to make a paste and you have a powerful scrub! Here are some ideas of where you can use baking soda in your home:

- Clean the inside of your dirty oven. Create a baking soda paste and SCRUB. I tried this in my oven after an unfortunate lasagna explosion last month left me choking on an aerosol oven cleaner. I didn't want to suffocate, so I tossed the can aside and made a baking soda paste. It took some serious scrubbing, but my oven was baked on tomato sauce free!

- Dinner stuck to your pots and pans while it was cooking but you don't want to scratch your pans trying to remove the stuck on food? Baking soda paste and SCRUB. Pretty sure this trick has saved me from being banned from using our new pots and pans!

- Dog peed on the carpet? Drop some baking soda on it with a little bit of water, scrub it and let it dry. Drop some dry baking soda on the spot, let it sit for a few hours then vacuum it up. No stain, no pee smell. it's a win for everyone.

- Ceramic oven top with charred on food/liquids? This is a daily occurrence in my house. Baking soda paste and scrub. Works like a charm.

- Husband's shoes or work clothes stinking up your closet? Open up a small box of baking soda and stick it in a corner of the closet. It will absorb the bad smell. This works for fridges too. Heck, it works pretty much everywhere.

- Dirty toilet bowl. Drop baking soda on the edges, scrub with toilet brush. Flush. Done.

- Bathroom or kitchen counter has stuck on nastiness? Baking soda paste and scrub.

- Bee sting? Remove the stinger first (if it's in there), and assuming that the stingee isn't allergic to bees and doesn't need to go to the ER, make a baking soda paste and apply it to the sting. Let it dry completely, then wash it off gently under running water. It takes the sting away from the skin and makes your 7 year old summer camp kids stop crying.

There are SO many uses for baking soda other than baking, and since it's very inexpensive AND completely non-toxic, it's kind of a no brainer. Do yourself and the environment a favor and use some baking soda to do the job.