By Mary of Remain Eco
Baking soda is such an amazing ingredient. Almost all households will have this product because it is also popular for cooking. It helps baked goods to rise and become fluffier.
Baking soda also known as sodium bicarbonate is a mixture of carbon, sodium, hydrogen, and oxygen. I assume you haven’t tried to taste it, but many people don’t know that baking soda is actually a type of salt.
Baking soda makes a reaction when it touches or gets mixed with acidic items like vinegar, yoghurt, and buttermilk. While baking soda makes a fizzy-like reaction when mixed with vinegar, it’s not the same kind of ingredient that makes carbonated drinks fizz.
Keypoints:
- Why Baking Soda is a Powerful Cleaning Agent?
- Is Baking Soda Eco-friendly?
- Ways to Clean Your Home with Baking Soda
Why Baking Soda is a Powerful Cleaning Agent?
Baking soda has a mild amount of alkali which helps dirt and grease to breakdown. When you mix a baking soda with vinegar, it becomes even better cleaner because the mixture will release a carbon dioxide gas which lifts the stuck dirt to the surface.
Is Baking Soda Eco-friendly?
Yes. Due to the alkaline component which is high pH, baking soda doesn’t cause destruction to living organisms such as plants and animals.
Let’s say you washed your kitchen sink with baking soda to remove grease. When it reaches the waterways, it doesn’t kill plants or be harmful to sea animals. It is also septic safe and probably helps to keep the smell manageable.
Ways to Clean Your Home with Baking Soda
Instead of buying and using common cleaners that you can get from stores, it’s cheaper and so much eco-friendlier if you make your own using basic and organic ingredients.
If you have spray bottles lying around, don’t throw those because you can recycle them to store your homemade cleaning mixture. The cleaning hacks I will show you below will change the way you keep your home immaculate.
Arm yourself with baking soda, vinegar (white), salt, and lemon (or lime). Make sure to buy more than you thought. Usually, one formula will require you to use an entire box (454 g) and about 2 cups of vinegar.
1. Sink cleaner
Sinks, especially the ones in the kitchen collect a lot of grease, dirt, and leftover food that most people don’t often notice. On average, people will use the kitchen sink about 5x a day and even more if you cook most of the time or have a bigger family.
In a bowl, squeeze half a lemon and add a teaspoon of baking soda. Mix it together until you make a paste. By using a steel scrub pad, scour the sink inch by inch. If your sink is made of stainless steel, this will also make the sink shiny again.
You can do the same for the bathroom sink, garage sink, and even around the faucet head, body, and handle.
2. Unclogging drains
First, boil 2 cups of vinegar. When ready, pour a cup of baking soda into the drain and slowly pour the vinegar. This will dissolve grease, soap, and other dirt clogging your drain. Wait about 10-minute before flushing the drain with warm water.
3. Refrigerator deodorizer
This one is super easy, simply open a box of baking soda and place it anywhere in the fridge. You can leave it there for three months before replacing it with a new box. This would work even better if you give your fridge a good deep cleaning first.
4. Washing fruits and vegetables
Some people might find washing fruits and vegetables with running water is not enough especially fruit like an apple that feels like it’s covered with wax. If that’s the case, you can mix water and baking soda in a bowl, dip your cleaning cloth in the mixture and wipe the fruit. You may rinse it with cool running water.
5. Oven scrub
I personally don’t enjoy cleaning the oven (and I love cleaning). But the burnt cheese and stuck food in the oven are very hard to remove and usually take me all day. If I scrub it too hard, I’m also worried that I might break something. I learnt that an easier way to clean an oven is with baking soda.
In a spray bottle, fill it with a cup of white vinegar and a ½ of lemon juice. Spray this mixture inside the oven and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Now, sprinkle baking soda all over and let it sit for another 10-minute. You should be able to swipe all the leftover food, grease, and dirt away.
6. Cutting board deodorizer
A lot of people have one and only cutting board that is used for fruits, vegetables, bread, and meat. Unfortunately, not only this can cause cross-contamination and unhygienic, but it also makes your cutting board smelly.
There are two ways to solve this. One, get at least 2-3 different cutting boards for different types of food and number two, use baking soda to remove the funky smell.
Sprinkle some baking soda on the cutting board and scrub every inch of that board. Rinse it off with warm running water.
7. All-purpose cleaner formula
The multi-purpose cleaner is great at removing dirt, dust, and grease on the countertop, appliances, and even the floor.
To make your own spray cleaner, on a spray bottle, mix 1 cup of white vinegar, ½ cup of lemon juice, and 1 cup of baking soda. Quickly twist the cover because it will overflow. Turn the spray bottle up and down to let the ingredients dissolve.
Use this mixture whenever you want and use cloth for wiping. I don’t recommend you use this on sensitive or expensive wood because it might cause to ruin your furniture.
8. Sponge cleaner
The kitchen sponge gets filthy and smelly quite quickly. Instead of tossing it out and sending it to our overflowing landfill, you can clean this sponge by soaking it in baking soda and warm water.
Mix 3 cups of warm water and 4 tablespoons of baking soda, soak the sponge for half an hour. You may do this once a week.
You can also start using organic and eco-friendly dish scrubber so you won’t feel guilty when you have to toss it away since it’s biodegradable.
Conclusion
Keeping your home clean doesn’t mean you have to use chemicals that harm not only the environment but also yourself. There are many ways to keep your house tidy and spotless using an organic and sustainable cleaning agent.