Baking Soda: The Jack of All Household Trades and Master of ... Well Most of Them

Common everyday baking soda is often overlooked by the modern world. After all, baking soda is just some old fashioned thing grandma used to use when she actually "baked a cake from scratch" right? We do not need it these days when we use pre-done mixes or, better yet, we simply buy a cake already baked just as cheaply as we could bake one for ourselves. We do not need to keep an old fashioned, individual ingredient such as "baking soda" around any longer. Do we?

Perhaps a few folks remember that an open box of baking soda will absorb odor in the refrigerator and they may keep a small box and change it out, from time to time. You may have picked that useful tidbit up from grandma, many years ago. You may even remember that, for some strange reason, your grandparents kept a big box of the stuff on hand. Why they did that you don't know, who can fathom the thinking of old folks anyway?

The older I get the more I wonder about some of the things my grandparents did and the more I go and research them. The more I look into what they did, the more I discover, "hey, they knew a thing or two," especially when it came to saving money. So it is with baking soda, this is some handy stuff and it is cheap too. Baking soda can do a whole range of chores around the house, which I used to buy costly, specialized products for.

Obviously it is useful in baking where it causes dough to rise. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate which, when it reacts with other ingredients, releases carbon dioxide. This causes the dough to "rise". It can also be used as a safe, edible, fruit and vegetable scrub cleaner.

Baking soda can also be used as an anti-acid. You simply mix one half teaspoon of baking soda with one half glass of water and drink it. Since it is a base it will neutralize the acid in the stomach. You should remember that backing soda is a sodium bicarbonate and therefore a salt, in case you are on a low sodium diet.

Baking soda makes a good substitute for tooth paste. Sprinkle the powder over your toothbrush or pour some into the palm of your hand and dip your wet toothbrush bristles into it. Then brush your teeth. They will end up sparkling white. You may also use baking soda as a mouth rinse/ breath freshener.

A paste of baking soda may be used as a cleanser similar to soap both for the body and for cleaning almost any surface except aluminum which it will ruin. It will polish silver. It also leaves the skin feeling soft. A warm bath with a generous helping of baking soda mixed into the water will help with many skin irritations. Plus it is just good for a relaxing bath.

Speaking of baths, if you do not have time to bathe your dog but Fido is getting a little funky smelling, you can sprinkle some baking soda over their fur and rub it in. Then you just brush it out and you will have a fresher smelling dog in flash. Sprinkling some baking soda into the pets bed, letting it sit and then shaking it out is also a good way to freshen the bed up a bit. If your pet has a favorite chair or sofa which has begun to take on a decidedly doggy or cat like odor, just vacuum it off, sprinkle it with baking soda, rub the soda into the fabric and let it sit for several hours. Then vacuum up the excess baking soda, along with the pet odor, for a fresh smelling chair. Cat litter boxes can especially .profit from baking soda. Put about half an inch of baking soda underneath the cat litter when you clean the litter box. You will find a remarkable improvement in the level of odor coming from your litter box.

The next time you are getting ready to vacuum your carpet, sprinkle some baking soda around the room first. Let it sit about twenty minutes then vacuum as normal. It will work much like a "carpet deodorizers" which you buy in the store, most of which have baking soda as their key ingredient.

Baking soda may be used to adjust the PH level of a pool and as a quick and easy emergency fire retardant. If you have a small fire break out and you have a box of baking soda handy, just through it on the fire, the baking soda will smother the flames safely, without hazardous chemical fumes.

As mentioned earlier, baking soda may be used to clean almost anything and this is true. Either as a paste or diluted in water baking soda with provide a non-abrasive scrubbing cleanser for most surfaces and it is even good for mopping a floor. The best feature of all is that it deodorizes as it cleans. Sprinkling a little in the trash can from time to time helps keep down that garbage can odor and cleaning your garbage can with a baking soda/ water mixture will take this one step further. Bathrooms can also benefit from this clean/deodorizing action of baking soda.

The bottom line is, no matter where you are in the house, baking soda is useful. Add to that the fact that it is far cheaper than most purpose made cleansers and you have the potential to save a lot of money while doing the job the "old fashioned way." At Costco you can purchase a six pound bag of baking soda for about $7. This will go a long way compared to other cleaners/medicines/soaps/well, you get the picture. There are not a lot of things in this world as totally useful as baking soda. In today's economy, where pennies count, you are really missing the bus if you are not making the most of it.