Baking Soda As A Kitchen Cleaner

Hello again everyone!

Last week I talked about using baking soda to deter ants from entering the house. Today I want to show some of the cleaning powers of baking soda. Like I said last week, I try to use more natural cleaners. I use them more because I don't want to endanger Jianna and the boy I babysit than any other reason. I feel like if I use cleaners that can be found in a kitchen cabinet, if the kids happen to ingest a little bit it won't harm them as much as some of the chemicals we used before we became parents.

So baking soda as a cleaner... hmm. does it work? I will only share the things that I know work from experience. I will also share how effective I believe it to be. I love to use baking soda in the kitchen, bathrooms and even on carpeted areas. Today, I'll share my favorite kitchen uses.

In the Kitchen

• Bake-ware/pots and pans: I make a baking soda paste with a little bit of water and a dot of dish detergent and spread it on burned/baked on food. Let it sit for at least 10-15 minutes, although an hour or even a day works well, too. :-) It may not work if the pot is completely scorched (like if you forget about the rice you're cooking - not once, but several different days - and the bottom becomes a completely black surface more than once. Yes, that really did happen to me.) :-) , but it works pretty well on things that would be rather difficult to get off without using a lot of elbow grease. I grade this one as 85% effective.
• Stove/Oven: For an oven that just needs a little bit of a touch up or on the stove top it works well. On an oven that has seen better days, it doesn't work so well. I think it still works, but it isn't as effective as a store-bought oven cleaner. Make a paste and rub it over the eye,  stove or oven surface. For the oven, I scrub the baking soda mix into the grimiest parts of the oven. Then, I pour just a bit of vinegar onto the baking soda mix to amp up the cleaning power. The chemical reaction between the vinegar and baking soda makes it bubble and fizz. Then, I let it sit for a while (normally on the oven 1 1/2-2 hours). At this point I scrub the oven some more and see how clean it is by using a sponge to sop up the extra. If it isn't clean enough for my tastes, I rinse and repeat until it is nice and clean. It leaves a streak-free shine! I would rate this as 90% effective on a lightly soiled oven and on just about any stove top. 
• Clean That Sink!: Again making a paste of water and soda, I use a sponge or wash cloth to scrub the sink. I add a bit of vinegar, and it is disinfected. I wipe down the faucet and fixtures and then I rinse it all. Shine up the faucet with a dry cloth, towel or paper towel and no water spots! This one comes out at 95% effective. An added benefit of this is that any baking soda that "happens" to fall down the drain will also help unclog your drain when the vinegar is poured down it! :) Double duty!

Well, that's how I use baking soda in the kitchen. Do you have any other uses for baking soda that you have tried? What is your favorite kitchen cleaner?