Cleaning with Baking Soda and Vinegar
Instead of buying more cleaning products, hoping that they will succeed in what the existing ones have failed, it may be a good idea to try with all-natural, safe and very effective ingredients that can be found in just about every kitchen: baking soda and vinegar. Both have been used as an alternative to the conventional cleaning products for a very long time and besides being all-natural and safe, they actually work. In addition to helping you save quite a lot of money as quality cleaning products aren’t inexpensive, cleaning with baking soda and vinegar will also help you reduce the use of harsh chemicals. They may do their job well but most chemical cleaning products are extremely toxic to the environment and if not handled properly, very harmful to human health as well.
What is Baking Soda Anyway?
Baking soda, a white powdery compound which is widely used in cooking – in the first place for leavening – is a naturally occurring mineral known as sodium bicarbonate. It’s uses, however, extend far beyond cooking. It is also used as a toothpaste, tooth whitener, natural deodorant, hair treatment and bug bite relief, to mention only a few. But after cooking, baking soda is probably most commonly used as all-natural alternative to chemical cleaning products.
Vinegar, Another Highly Popular All-Natural Cleaning Product
Just like baking soda, vinegar is also very popular for cleaning. And just like baking soda, vinegar is most commonly used in cooking. It’s made from fermented alcohol, while its sources range from grapes to apples and rice, to mention only a few. Hence, the many different types, colours and flavours of vinegar. However, not all are suitable for cleaning. The best results are achieved if using white distilled vinegar.
Clean Just About Anything from Mould to Carpets and Silver
With a few exceptions, baking soda and vinegar can be used to clean just about anything because they are not only safe but incredibly effective too. Some of the most popular uses (and recipes) include:
- Remove limescale deposits. Vinegar is extremely effective against limescale, including the most stubborn deposits.
- Get rid of mould and mildew. Besides being one of the easiest and safest methods to clean mould and mildew, vinegar will also help prevent their reoccurrence by killing mould spores. This, combined with its efficiency in removing limescale, makes vinegar an ideal bathroom cleaner.
- Make anything made from glass sparkle. Whether it’s your glasses, windows or anything else made from glass, vinegar will help you make them sparkle like new again. Speaking about sparkling, you can also use vinegar in mixture with water (1:1) to sparkle-clean stainless steel pots and pans.
- Unclog slowly flowing drain. For best results, however, use both vinegar and baking soda. Pour one cup of baking soda into the drain and then pour in one cup of vinegar. Wait for a few minutes and rinse with hot water.
- Get rid of crayon marks from the wall. If your kids like to create artworks on your walls, you may not need to have them repainted just yet. Mix equal parts of baking soda and water and apply it to crayon marks. When dry, simply wipe away. Obviously, this works only for white walls.
- Get rid of stubborn coffee and tea marks in your mugs. Mix baking soda and water in ratio 1:3 and make sure that the mixture covers coffee or/and tea marks. Leave it stand, ideally over night. For best results, however, you will have to do some scrubbing anyway.
- Clean burned pot and pan bottoms. Apply a generous amount of baking soda and some hot water on burned areas and leave the mixture stand overnight. Again, you probably won’t be able to avoid scrubbing but you will be very impressed by the results.
- ‘Deodorise’ smelly food containers. Mix baking soda and water, and rinse smelly food containers. If the odour persists, leave the mixture stand overnight.
- ‘Deodorise’ sofa and other upholstered furniture. To do that, sprinkle the furniture with baking soda and vacuum clean. You can also use this method to eliminate unpleasant odours from your carpet.
- Clean silver. Have tarnished silver? Mix baking soda and water and add a small piece of aluminium foil. Bring to boil and add tarnished silver. Leave it boil for a few seconds and remove. It’s as simple to make your silver shine like new again.
