The Many NON-Baking Uses for Baking Soda
My entire home smells like rotten milk.
That is, until I introduce baking soda to the mix. Yes, it bubbles and creates an awesome chemistry experiment-worthy performance all over my laundry room floor, but what is truly mesmerizing is that the vinegar stench is now gone the moment I wipe up the easy-to-clean mess. I mean, wow.
I’ve always known that baking soda was every smell’s worst nightmare. As a child I remember bouncing up and down on my pee-filled mattress (hey, there were 3 toddlers in the house at any given time, give us a break) and delighting in the clouds of baking soda that would fill the air with each pounce. I would get the powder in my mouth and hair. I swear that mattress was filled with like 3 pounds of that stuff.
But that bed NEVER smelled like urine.
I use baking soda to neutralize the not-so-smelly doggy urine that sometimes accidentally ends up in my house. One of my dogs is a very heavy sleeper and actually wets the bed just like a human child does. every so often I see her get up and leave a little wet treasure behind, and I head straight for the baking soda. After sopping the wet up as much as I can with a damp towel or napkins, I sprinkle liberally baking soda onto the drying spot to leave and set. I vacuum it up later.
Baking soda also does a number on stains. I spilled coffee all over my living room carpet (which so happens to be beige) and after cleaning it up the best I could I still could see the lightish brown spot the coffee had left behind. I thought the beverage had left its mark until I remembered the miracle super-powers of baking soda. I sprinkled some on the stain, added vinegar to bubble and raise, and voila! Clean carpet once again!
We all know the old stand-by of placing baking soda in the fridge to absorb odors. Well, if you DON”T think that works, try smelling the baking soda that’s in your fridge right now. Yep. That’s a lotta odors in there.
Kitty litter loves baking soda too. I think even the kitty litter manufacturers have caught onto it and are including baking soda as a scent neutralizer in their products now. However, I’ve actually been using baking soda for the very same thing for years with the various cats I’ve owned.
By the way, baking soda and vinegar work great together to lift stains. Using baking soda by itself is effective enough, but if you have a major stain that you want to lift (like say wine or grape juice) then after sprinkling the baking soda onto the stain, add vinegar, watch it bubble, and see your stains magically disappear! NO strange after-odor, either.
I love baking soda. Don’t know how to cook with it, but I sure know how to use it to clean up things around here.
