51 Fantastic Uses for Baking Soda

I don’t mean to sound seditious here, but I have a rebellious plan to combat the ills that many corporations are perpetrating in the name of fighting grime and germs. My main gripe is about the environmental pollutants from cleaning and personal care products that we wash down our drains and into our water systems, resulting in situations like the chemical triclosan (a pesticide added to many products as an antibacterial agent) being found in dolphins.

So the simple plan is to encourage everyone to use baking soda in any of these 51 applications. Besides showing kindness to aquatic life, we can also protect ourselves from the array of toxins in household cleaning products. Conventional cleansers can expose us to multiple chemicals linked to asthma, cancer and other documented health problems.

Baking soda also makes a perfect stand-in for many personal care products, which are adding their own twist to the toxic tangle of pollutants and personal health (mainly in the form of synthetic fragrance (and it’s almost all synthetic), sodium laurel sulfate, and parabens).

So exactly how does baking soda fit into my scheme to make the world a better place? Baking soda, aka sodium bicarbonate, helps regulate pH—keeping a substance neither too acidic nor too alkaline. When baking soda comes in contact with either an acidic or an alkaline substance, its natural effect is to neutralize that pH. Beyond that, baking soda has the ability to retard further changes in the pH balance, known as buffering. This dual capability of neutralizing and buffering allows baking soda to do things such as neutralize acidic odors (like in the refrigerator) as well as maintain neutral pH (like in your laundry water, which helps boost your detergent’s power). It’s a simple reaction, but one that has far-reaching effects for a number of cleaning and deodorizing tasks. And so without further ado, I’ll remove my scientist cap, put on my rebellious housekeeper’s cap, and get this folk-wisdom revolution rolling…

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Tiffany R.

11:54AM PDT on May 21, 2013

love it!!!! i just shared to my new FB page about living cleaner cheaper!!

11:54AM
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Elizabeth S.

11:13PM PDT on May 17, 2013

Alot of good ideas! Thanks!

May 17
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Frances D.

3:05AM PDT on May 16, 2013

Great stuff...learned some new uses .

May 16
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barbara k.

5:25AM PDT on May 15, 2013

I knew it had a lot of uses. Learned a few more

May 15
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Carole T.

3:07PM PDT on May 5, 2013

If you burn your hand by touching a hot oven or pot handle, a good way to relieve the pain is to make a paste of baking soda with a little water added and leave it on to dry. If necessary cover with a gauze. The effect is immediate and you don't get blisters forming if you apply it early enough.

May 5
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Mary T.

6:33PM PDT on May 1, 2013

Thank you, found new usages for baking soda

May 1
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Amar A.

4:10AM PDT on Apr 25, 2013

We have completely replaced all the commercial cleaners with only vinegar and baking soda. We use it for cleaning, cooking (especially when making our own bread, add just 1 tsp of baking soda and some honey, instead of yeast), unclogging drains, and tons of other uses. Vinegar is a perfect companion for baking soda, if used rationally.

References: http://www.bakingsodavinegar.com/

April 25
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codruta O.

6:55PM PDT on Apr 23, 2013

Fantastic! I already use in many ways but there is more there that I have known. thanks!

April 23
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Darshana L.

7:01PM PDT on Apr 14, 2013

I intend to try all these ways to be a clever and green homemaker :) I would like to suggest that for vegans and animal-lovers out there, we can choose to get baking soda brands that are not tested on animals. One brand that comes up when i googled 'baking soda not tested on animals' is Bob's Red Mill Baking Soda.