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5 Great Ways to Use Baking Soda

You see the product featured on this page, right?

Well, we don’t know about you, but we feel badly for it – even though it’s an inanimate object. This object, you see, serves multiple purposes. As such, it has an identity crisis, never knowing how or when it will next be needed.

So, assuming you have a box or two of baking soda on hand, talk to it, nurture it, and let it know how much you appreciate all it can do. That might cheer it up a little. Come to think of it, it might cheer you up too if you didn’t already know it can serve each of the purposes listed below.

Drain Cleaning

Whether you’re reacting to a blocked drain problem or simply performing routine preventive maintenance, you’ll find baking soda wonderfully effective at keeping your household drains running free and clear. The recipe is simple enough: pour half a cup of baking soda followed by an equal amount of white vinegar, let that sit for 30 minutes, and then rinse with boiling water.  If necessary, repeat the process.

Cleaner Laundry

Working together with your favorite laundry detergent, baking soda helps clothes smell better while removing dirt and stains.  For those tough stains, pre-treat soiled items with a paste made from three parts baking soda to one part water.

Fresh Scent

From stinky trash cans to nasty smelling shoes or lunch bags, unpleasant odors have a way of making their presence known.  Now you can send them packing by sprinkling dry baking soda directly onto the reeking object, provided it’s dry, unlike a toilet bowl. In that and similar instances, dissolve one cup of baking soda in a gallon of water, pour it in the bowl, and leave it for an hour before flushing or rinsing, depending on the object.

Stains Be Gone

Need some extra scrubbing power in your dishwasher? Add two tablespoons of baking soda to your normal amount of dish detergent.  If you have a particularly stained pot, pan, or dish, soak it in a mixture of 1-2 tablespoons of baking soda and warm water for at least an hour before placing it in the dishwasher.

Scrub Without Scratching

Sprinkle some dry baking soda on a sponge, wet it, and scrub counters, sinks, tubs, toilets, and more without fear of scratching any of the surfaces, including your chrome faucets.

It all sounds supremely easy, doesn’t it?  Well, it usually is, but there are exceptions.  When, for example, no amount of DIY effort is enough to clear up a blocked drain or toilet, contact Messmer Mechanical for fast and effective service.