surfaces, but it's abrasive enough to lift dirt and stains for easy removal. It's great around food prep surfaces because you know it's not leaving a chemical residue.
Baking Soda cleaning uses!
1/2 cup of Baking Soda in the rinse cycle neutralizes and eliminates harsh odors. No perfumey cover-up, just clothes that smell naturally fresh and clean.
Baking soda and vinegar also clear clogged drains. Get the water out, fill drain with baking soda, pour in vinegar. When it stops bubbling, hit it with the plunger. Follow with lots of hot water - boiling, if your hot water heater is set below 160 degrees. Another reader adds: I use baking soda and vinegar as a drain cleaner. Put 1/4 cupbaking soda into the drain then pour 1 cup of hot vinegar over it. Use it every week as preventative maintenance.
Once a month I use 1/2 to 1 cup baking soda (depending on how much the pipes are utilized), then I start to pour 1 cup white vinegar over the baking soda. I usually let it sit overnight then run very hot water for minimum of 5 minutes. If I have a clogged pipe I will do the above with boiling water and sometimes a plunger.
When an animal vomits, urinates or has diarhhea on carpet, sprinkle baking soda heavily, then wearing rubber gloves, rub into area until baking soda coagulates. Let dwell at least five minutes. Vacuum with your regular vacuum cleaner. Clean or dispose of bag. Pour straight white vinegar over area. When vinegar foams, blot with sponge. Residue will evaporate leaving no odor or stain. If unable to immediately treat with vinegar, leave baking soda on area until ready.
A reader says: I collect coins; I save all types -- Canadian, Wheat pennies, Buffalo nickels, etc. I can use a mix of a half tsp baking soda in about 1/2 inch of vinegar... cleans up 'old' coins, and makes them look shiny and new! Another reader adds: If the coin is a rare date this method will substantially reduce the value of the coin, in many cases over half of the value may be lost. DO NOT CLEAN COINS. If it is only face value and only collected for fun then you may try this tip. By all means check the value first.
Thanks to that reader for this and the next three: Sprinkle weeds on the sidewalk or driveway with baking soda. Let sit 30 - 45 minutes, pour on some vinegar. Rinse with fresh water the next day.
Put the grill down into the bbq and sprinkle liberally with baking soda. Add enough vinegar to cover, put the lid on, and let sit over night. Flush with clean water the next day - most of the burned on stuff should be gone!
Car battery not making good contact? Take the terminal off the post
(one at a time, if you cross them up you'll reverse polarity in the battery and it will cost you a new one!) cover the corrosion liberally with baking soda. After a few minutes, SPRAY with vinegar. Continue spraying as long as the soda bubbles. Rinse with a high pressure hose, let dry and put the terminal back on. Repeat on other side. Camera or tape player damaged by battery corrosion? Remove
batteries. Sprinkle baking soda into battery box. Using a q-tip dipped in
vinegar, carefully and slowly swab out the baking soda. Make sure you don't
mash the terminals or knock them out of alignment.
When using baking soda as a scouring powder, add a little vinegar to remove soap scum or lime deposits. This reader says: I use the mix when my kids get cuts. My mom used it when she was a girl and got an infection from a rusty nail, and my friend used it when he got cut from a box cutter. What you do is take a bucket of warm water, sprinkle some baking soda on the cut and then pour the vinegar over it. Soak it for a while. The kids love the bubbles and it will kill an infection. Also works for boils. Another reader says this: I've stopped using shampoo and now use equal parts of vinegar and baking soda diluted with a bit of water. The extra that dribbles down my forhead seems to restore its natural oil production and I have smoother skin. It has cured the chronic hairline itch I've had and subdues dandruff too.
I had a stain in a shirt caused by pouring laundry softener directly on the shirt instead of mixing with water. Several washes couldn't remove the wet looking spot. However, one wash with a half cup of baking soda and a cup of vinegar removed the stain completely.
For upset stomachs:
3 Tablespoons of Vinegar
1/2 glass of cold water
1 heaping spoon of baking soda
I remember as a child in school making a cork rocket by pouring some baking soda and some vinegar into a soda bottle, stopping it with a cork, shaking it up and watching the cork shoot out like a rocket from the pressure build up. Don't let your child do this alone, as the cork comes out with quite some force and could injure an eye, etc.
Fantastic cleaner for residue left in pots or skillets from frying or baking roasts, turkey, etc. Place the pot on a burner with about 1 1/2 inch mixture of water, 1 cup vinegar. Bring to boil. Sprinkle on half cup of baking soda. It will bubble and boil immediately, so watch that it does not boil over. The residue will loosen and clean off like a charm.
For cleaning sinks, tubs, etc. I put the stopper over the drain hole, then sprinkle some baking soda in the bottom of sink/tub. Then pour some vinegar over it. I don't measure, really, just use an amount that seems to work for you. Let this fizz for a couple minutes. Then add a little water and scrub with your sponge/scrub brush/cloth. Unplug the drain and rinse with hot or warm water.
Indoor gardens and greenhouses often lack healthy levels of carbon dioxide. CO2 is the gas bi-product of mixing baking soda and vinegar. Purchasing compressed CO2 is expensive and requires a license in most states. So make it yourself!
I use a combination of baking soda, lemon juice and vinegar to deodorize my garbage disposal. The lemon makes it smell good and the baking soda and vinegar cleans and desanitizes. After I do this. I run the disposal for a few minutes and odors are gone. If I have a really big problem I do the combination above as well as pour boiling water down the drain.
I have always had difficulty cleaning the scum off of my tub especially due to my husband working in a powder metal plant. So, I recently decided to try sprinkling a good amount of baking soda (after I had watered the bottom of the tub sides) and them I poured white vinegar overtop of the baking soda. I couldn't believe my eyes, I had completely scrubbed my tub within 45 seconds. What an amazement!
Use white vinegar and bicarbonate of soda (not sure what the term is in the US) together to clean a burnt saucepan. It comes up like new!
My 4 yr. old granddaughter lives in the tub. If I were to scrub it out after each bath, I would not be able to stand up. Looking for ways to make the job easier, I tried baking soda in the tub and then sprayed it with vinegar. It was great, it foams and does most of the work for
you! Little scrubbing with a brush and a good rinse.
I have this special set of salt/pepper shakers that I forgot to empty and had stored away. Upset that I let them get salt damage I used bakingsoda/vinegar cleaned them up just fine.
I pour some vinegar into my toilet bowl, then pour some baking soda on top of it. It starts foaming, and I just swish the brush around.
I tried everything to get rid of the foul odor of smelly sneakers/running shoes (this pair being used while coaching on wet soccer fields). Baking soda alone did not help, adding kitty litter did not help, washing with the best cleansers did not help, but baking soda and vinegar did the trick.
My Chihuahua puppy had tons of fleas and nothing was working to get rid of them. I gave her bath in nothing but white vinegar (from a spray bottle) and a little baking soda. I literally saw the fleas rinse off her and down the drain. It also made her coat very soft and shiny. No, she didn't smell of vinegar when done.
