Baking Soda is AMAZING!

Baking soda does not feature prominently in my memories from growing up (perhaps if it did, there would be reason to be concerned). There was the occasional box that lived in the back of the refrigerator, and there was always a box in the kitchen that my mom would use in her baking. But these uses were evidently just scratching the surface, because as it turns out, baking soda is amazing!

I had come across some references to the abrasive power of baking soda, and while cleaning the sink in the kitchen a thought struck my mind as I stared at a difficult stain around the drain. Grabbing the baking soda from the cabinet, I made quick work of the stain and discovered that our sink could actually shine--something I had never been able to achieve no matter how hard I cleaned it.

Reveling in my achievement, I turned my gaze to our stove. Now to those unfamiliar with the subject, the stove in our apartment  is the worst kind of rental unit stove. When we first moved in, it was caked in layers of baked on grease, was missing temperature markings on its oven dial, and had difficulty maintaining a constant temperature or lighting the front left burner. Over the few years that we have been in our apartment, we had addressed many of these issues (although the front left burner still won't light by itself) and through successive attacks with strong degreasing cleaners, had cut through the layers of grease that encrusted many of its surfaces. The one exception was a large stain that extended up from the largely non-functional front left burner and into the middle of the stove. No amount of effort on our part had ever succeeded in removing that mark.

Inspired by success, I grabbed my box of baking soda and sprinkled it all over the top of the stove and went to work with nothing more than a wet scrubbing sponge. In less than 15 minutes, there was no trace of the impossible stain, the stove top looked almost new, and I had used nothing more caustic than baking soda and water. Baking soda, is there nothing that you cannot do?

Here are some other uses for baking soda I found on Apartment Therapy. If you have other baking soda uses, or green cleaning tips, share them with us!