In EcoThrifty, baking soda is mentioned in several chapters as an inexpensive substitute for many commercial products. Here is a sample —
Facial scrub — Put a little baking soda in your wet hand, rub your palms together and then gently apply the baking soda paste to your face. Rinse off and pat skin dry. It’s a great exfoliator, and your skin will feel so soft!
Scouring powder — Sprinkle a little in your sink or on your stove or whatever kitchen space needs a little extra elbow grease. Use a wet cloth to scrub the area and then wipe off.
Drain cleaner — After scrubbing the sink with baking soda, sprinkle a couple tablespoons more into the drain and pour a cup of vinegar over it. This is a great science lesson for children also, as it shows what happens when you mix a base and an acid. If there is any chance you have a grease build-up in the drain, pour boiling water down the drain a couple minutes after the bubbling of the vinegar subsides.
Toothpaste — Some people swear by using baking soda as a toothpaste.
Antacid — My mother used to take a small spoonful of baking soda with water whenever she had heartburn. You can find instructions on most boxes of baking soda today!
Bath — Adding baking soda to bath water softens the water and your skin.
Deodorizer — Most people know that baking soda can absorb odors. You can put an open box in your refrigerator or sprinkle it on carpets before vacuuming. Vacuuming it up also eliminates odor from your vacuum cleaner bag.
Do you have some favorite uses for baking soda?
Baking soda is a miracle in cleaning. I use it to clean my oven. I make a relatively thick paste and spread it throughout. After leaving it on for about 20 minutes, it wipes pretty clean. 🙂
I make my own toothpaste and deodorant with baking soda. I also use it in the dish washer with a little borax when I run out of dish washer soap. I clean with a mixture of baking soda and borax, or straight baking soda.
Toothpaste: baking soda (as much or as little as you want your batch of toothpaste to be), a few drops of essential oils of your choice. I like peppermint (for fresh breath), tea tree, lavender and grapefruit (all excellent antibacterial agents), some stevia powder, and enough coconut oil to make it into a paste. To make a re-mineralizing toothpaste, add some liquid trace minerals and/or calcium and magnesium powder. I also add some natural salt with trace minerals in it.
Deodorant: As much baking soda as you want for the size batch you want to make, a few drops of tea tree or lavender oil, and any other essential oils you want to use for scent, and enough coconut oil to make a thick paste.
It is a wonderful thing to be able to open the cupboard and make some more deodorant or toothpaste when a family member runs out, and never to have to put those things on a grocery list! 🙂 Every item it the deodorant and toothpaste is something that is it the baking cupboard or medicine chest already.
I'd like too see if baking powder can actually be used for wrinkle creams in the future, just to see if it will just as well as the scrub.
Grease and wet dust can create clog in the pipe that can easily removed by Baking Soda and Vinegar but sometimes clog is that much thick that we can call the Drain Cleaner in Dublin.
I give baking soda to my goats everyday in their feed. I had a goat that had bloat. I thought I was going to loose her but my aunt told me to give her baking soda. she said it works for humans and it works for goats. And so it does.
It is really a better idea to leave out the baking soda free choice so that if the goat gets an upset stomach, they can access it when they need it. You don't really want to put it in their feed because they don't need it every day — just as you don't need to take Tums every day. It's almost pure sodium so if it's in their feed, it will probably decrease their intake of minerals, so you could wind up with some mineral deficiencies at some point.