Cleaning with Baking Soda
BAKING SODA
One of the Key Ingredients In Making your homemade natural cleaning solutions is baking soda.
Baking Soda is also known as Sodium bicarbonate. (NaHCO3) – It is one of the most useful items in cleaning the home naturally. It is inexpensive and it is non-toxic.
Uses:
- A paste made from baking soda with cold water ( hot water can corrode steel) can be used as a gentle scouring powder
- It is an effective cleaner of bathtubs and sinks
- A solution in warm water will remove the tarnish from silver when the silver is in contact with a piece of aluminium foil
- Baking soda can also be added to washing machines to remove odors from clothes
- It is an odor reducer/deodorizer for the refrigerator
- It is also effective in removing tea or coffee stains from cups when diluted with warm water
- Baking soda can be used as a multipurpose odor remover
An interesting anecdote about baking soda (from Wikipedia):
During the Manhattan Project to develop the nuclear bomb in the early 1940s, the chemical toxicity of uranium was an issue. Uranium oxides were found to stick very well to a cotton cloth and did not wash out with soap or laundry detergent. However, the uranium would wash out with a 2% solution of sodium bicarbonate. Clothing can become contaminated with the toxic dust of depleted uranium (DU), which is very dense, hence used for counterweights in a civilian context, and in armor-piercing projectiles. DU is not removed by normal laundering; washing with about 6 ounces (170 g) of baking soda in 2 gallons (7.5 l) of water will help to wash it out.[66]
Baking Soda remains as one of the most important ingredients for cleaning your house without using toxic chemicals.