January 30, 2017

2 Ingredients : 3 Household Uses

Baking soda is one of the most versatile ingredients for DIY cleaners. It can be used in laundry soap, to deodorize, scrub, absorb odors, etc. Baking soda is also used in the kitchen as an ingredient for baking, so you know it’s non-toxic to use in your home.

I love a simple and quick cleaning tip, so this one is pretty great and I know I’ve shared these recipes on the blog over the years and in my first book, The Organically Clean Home, but I haven’t shared it quite this way. Ready? Go grab a box of baking soda and a mason jar!

 

Here’s the premise – make one basic recipe and use it 3 ways.

Mix up one recipe with one scent and use it as your universal cleaner OR mix up a couple jars with different scents for different purposes. It’s totally up to you and customizable – yay!

GATHER YOUR SIMPLE INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups baking soda
• 20-30 drops essential oil – my favorite is lemon and clove but you can use any combination that you’d like!
• container with a lid or a shaker top (I like a mason jar, this one specifically :)) – I’ve previously used a shaker top but have switched to a lid – either way works!

Then:

• put baking soda in your container (I use a piece of parchment paper like a cone to make this mess-free)
• add essential oils to the top of the baking soda

• stir and combine with a kitchen knife

• store in a cool place with a lid on the jar (or with the lid off if you need an odor absorber)

Once you have your baking soda and essential oil mixture, you’re ready to use it in your home. Here are my 3 favorite uses:

Nightly Sink Scrub

My favorite DIY recipe is also my favorite nightly ritual – the Nightly Sink Scrub. It’s a recipe I came up with a few years ago and it pretty much started my DIY cleaners obsession which also turned into my first book, The Organically Clean Home. The great thing about this recipe is that it’s so simple to whip up and it does such a great job at giving the sink a little scrub, you’ll love it! Did you know that the sink is pretty much the dirtiest spot in your whole home? Another reason to give it a nightly scrub!

SEE HOW EASY IT IS TO MIX UP AND USE…

1. wet your sink
2. sprinkle liberally in your sink
3. add a squirt or two of dish or castile soap
4. scrub with a sink-safe scrubber
5. rinse thoroughly + dry

Mattress Freshener

If you’re spring cleaning or trying to absorb and eliminate the scent of something yucky on your mattress, you’ll need about 1/4 cup of baking soda to cover the surface of a queen or king mattress. Go ahead and sprinkle from your jar or mix this up separately. I recommend using a fine sieve/sifter to evenly and lightly dispense the baking powder. Lavender essential oil makes a wonderful scent for mattress freshening. If you need something a little more powerful you might want to combine melaleuca and lemon to purify the scent a bit more.

1. LIGHTLY sprinkle over the mattress
2. Let it sit for 30+ minutes
3. Vacuum it up using an attachment on your vacuum cleaner ( I use an upholstery attachment but you can also use the hose attachment – clean it first and after you’ve used it!)

Need more info? Go to this post for all my tips on cleaning and caring for your mattresses.

Carpet Freshener

If you have pets or struggle with your carpet smelling fresh or neutral, you’ll love the carpet freshener. This is not meant to be used every time you vacuum, but anytime you need a little freshening up. I recommend using a fine sieve/sifter to evenly and lightly dispense the baking powder on your carpet. Use your favorite essential oil scent to give your home a signature scent – I use lemon and clove.

1. LIGHTLY sprinkle on carpet
2. Let sit for 15 minutes to absorb odors
3. Vacuum up – I vacuum in both directions to make sure that I got ALL the baking powder up from the carpet and into the vacuum cleaner canister or bag

There you have it, two ingredients and three cleaning solutions – which one will you try first?

Looking for a simpler approach to homekeeping? Order my book Simply Clean! It will change the way you clean!