During all my research for the different household uses for baking soda, I would be lying if I said I was not completely impressed by the humble white powder that comes in the bright orange box. From what I’ve seen and read, it can be used in just about any room in your house.
I’ve used baking soda before in an unusual way when I did the no-poo experiment, but after seeing all the uses for baking soda in the kitchen, laundry room, and bathroom, I’m sold on it’s effectiveness around the house!
Household Uses for Baking Soda
Beauty
Homemade Toothpaste: With just three ingredients, you can make your own homemade toothpaste using baking soda. And it’s much cheaper than the tubes you can buy at the store.
Homemade Facial Scrub: Turns out baking soda is a gentle exfoliant and can help correct the pH imbalance of the skin that contributes to acne formation. Together with coconut oil and tea tree oil you have an acne fighting homemade facial scrub.
Fight Blackheads: Seriously, I hate blackheads. But I recently learned you could fight those little devils with baking soda. Add a little water with some apple cider vinegar and it’s battle time.
Homemade Exfoliating Mask: Gently rub onto your face in a circular motion and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Gently rinse and slather on your favorite moisturizer. Super simple!
Detox Bath: In under thirty minutes you can remove some of the toxins from your body to boost your health and overall well being.
Cleaning
Fresh Smelling Towels: Throw about 1/4th of the box of baking soda in with your towels, and during the rinse cycle add in some vinegar. An all-natural method to washing your towels!
Air Freshener: With baking soda and essential oils of your choice, you can make your own air freshener.
Sparkling Bathtub: The bathtub is awkward to clean, especially when you have to scrub and scrub and scrub. Save your knees, back and arms by using this DIY bathtub cleaner.
Garbage Disposal Tablets: After you’ve made these tablets for your garbage disposal, don’t forget to grab your box of baking soda before throwing one down the sink. The baking soda and vinegar will react giving you a frizzy clean.
Unclog Drains: The combination of baking soda and vinegar can unclog those drains without any harsh chemicals.
Grout Cleaner: Two ingredients is all you need to get your grout looking new again.
Get Crafty
Handprint Keepsakes: If you have baking soda, cornstarch and water in your house, you have all you need to make these cute handprint keepsakes.
Make your own snow: Since we live in Texas, we never see snow. But with just a couple ingredients we can make and play with our own.
Play Dough: With ingredients you probably have in your home right this second, you can make your own homemade play dough.
Ornaments: I know it’s not Christmas, but you could make all kinds of ornaments. I’m thinking a small Valentine’s tree in the entry, or a cute Easter tree on the hall table. The possibilities are endless.
I’m seriously impressed by all the uses for baking soda. For about a $1 a box, it’s probably one of the cheapest items at the store, but yet it can do so much around the house. I see many little orange boxes coming home with me to help me around the house.
Do you use baking soda in any unique ways around your house?
Debbie L. says
Baking Soda is a staple at my house. So many great uses!
Felicia says
These are all great tips. We use baking soda for cleaning all of the time. Mix it with vinegar and the resluts are powerful!
Dawn says
See, these are the kinds of posts that I just adore! I knew about a few of these uses for baking soda, but I had no idea about several of them. Thanks!
Robin Rue (@massholemommy) says
I had no idea I could use it to unclog my drains. What a neat idea.
Jessica says
We sprinkle baking soda in the bottom of the cat litter box to help control smells. It helps a lot!
Amber C. says
I LOVE Baking soda! I use it in everything from the obvious baking, to keeping the kiddie pool water clear! I think my favorite use is putting it down my drain then adding vinegar to clean out my kitchen and bathroom drains!
Kelly Hutchinson says
I use baking soda to brush my teeth and to clean the house. Of course their is a box in the fridge too!
Michele says
Well-there had to be a reason that baking soda is still around and has been for generations! I did know some of these uses but not all–Thank you!!
Debbie Denny says
Baking soda is so useful. I use it all the time.
Shop with Me Mama (Kim) says
We always have a box in the fridge and freezer and I am starting to use it for more things too now.
Kecia says
I have been wanting to try the beauty uses for baking soda. So far, most of the baking soda that comes in our home lives in the fridge to keep it fresh!
Heather says
I had no idea all the uses for baking soda. I know you could clean with it, but ornaments are cool!
Pam says
I knew baking soda was multipurpose, but I had no clue it could do all that. I definitely want to make my own air freshener.
Erica (@Erica's Recipes) says
yes it is completely amazing what can be accomplished by the humble sodium bicarbonate 🙂 I didn’t know about using it to freshen towels – totally taking that suggestion thanks!
Liz Mays says
Every household needs to have a good supply of baking soda. There are so many practical uses for it!
Tracie says
I didn’t know there was so much you could do with baking soda. My mom always kept an open box of it in the back of the fridge, and that is pretty much all I’ve done with it, too. Thanks for this list.
Theresa says
I love to keep it in my bathroom for teeth whitening. I also use it in my shampoo to rid my hair of product build up. It really is a wonder product!
Debra says
I LOVE using baking soda in my beauty routine! It’s the best!
Jaime says
I love baking soda- I use it to clean EVERYTHING. It’s magical, especially with vinegar!
Meagan @ A Zesty Bite says
Such great tips for baking soda. It’s so neat that one product can do so many things.
Rosey says
I knew it was good for so many things. I never thought to use it for a facial scrub!
Kay Adeola says
I love all of these ideas it is so good for a lot I am going to be doing some of these with our excess baking soda.
Christie says
So many great uses! i’ll have to try to make snow with the kids
Jeanine says
Wow all such great ideas! I use baking soda quite often so I always have it in the house! I will Have to try a few of these!
Elizabeth@ Food Ramblings says
I always forget how many things you can use baking soda for!
Melissa says
I had no idea you could use it for so many different things. I am going to try some!
Beth@FrugalFroggie says
I have used to clear a backed up sink. I haven’t tried for my beauty routine but it sounds like I should.
April Decheine says
Great list, I truly need to use Baking Soda more around the house and get back to living a bit more sustainable. I add into my water every morning.
Penelope says
What a great list! I LOVE to use baking soda, to clean and for beauty, but these are so many more great ideas for me. It’s such an amazing items to have in the home that does so much! It’s the best scouring agent for cookware too.
kristi@ishouldbemoppingthefloor says
I love using baking soda for cleaning…it does such an amazing job!!
Andrea Kruse says
Love this. I buy it in big bags at Costco.. so many great uses! But, I haven’t tried my own toothpaste, or snow for that matter. We are having a sad ski year, so it might be a fun experiment to do.
Little Miss Kate says
I love using baking soda for cleaning!
Amy Kelsch says
I have not heard of all of these great uses! Thanks for sharing!
tammileetips says
I love to use baking soda to clean in the kitchen! I never used it in laundry though I will have to try that one.
Chrystal @ YUM eating says
I use baking soda for so many things. It’s so cheap and a lot better than some of the chemicals are the market.
Chrysa Duran says
LOVE your post. I’m always amazed at all of the uses for baking soda. I had no clue about the Handprint Keepsakes and will go check that out.
Jessica (Savory Experiments) says
I knew using it for cleaning, but for crafts is new. Thanks for sharing!
Shanaka says
I keep baking soda stocked in my pantry. I knew many of your listed uses but my boys will be glad to add diy snow to our list. Thanks!
Caitlin says
I always see the different ways you can use baking soda around your house – now I just need to go use it. haha
Mary O'Malley says
I’d never thought of using it as a bathtub cleaner before. I’ll have to try that sometime.
Jody says
I love the baking soda/essential oils combination – one of my favorites for sure!
Baking soda has so many fantastic uses and it is safe, great ideas here, thanks!
Tiffany (A Mom's Take) says
I didn’t realize you could use baking soda for so much. This is very useful. Thanks!
Emily says
We use it for cleaning! I didn’t know about some of these others! Thank you!
Kait says
It also is a great soak for diaper rash! We use it quite often during teething!
Karen W says
I don’t use baking soda in any way different than you’ve listed BUT I now have a new thing to use it for… to clean my garbage disposer. I hate when it smells and while I’ve tossed a lemon down there from time to time to clean and freshen it, I think the cubes will work better, along with baking soda of course. Thanks for the ideas!
Camesha says
I’m impressed. Most of these I knew nothing about. It seems with baking soda and vinegar, you could replace almost every cleaning supply in the house.
Gabriel Bregg says
Our personal favorite is baking soda volcanoes – they never get old. Cleaning up after them does, however.
Cat Davis says
I pretty much hoard boxes of baking soda in this house. We add it to the wash to deoderize clothes. I bathe my dog in it. I even sprinkle it around my son’s toilet to absorb odors before cleaning the floor.
Jeannette says
I never knew there were so many uses for baking soda! I have tons of it in my house and can’t wait to start trying out some of these suggestions.
Melissa says
I love using things I already have around the house for other uses. Lots of great ideas!
Anne - Mommy Has to Work says
I use it in the litter boxes and in the laundry and sometimes I’ll cover the carpet and let it set, then vacuum.
Shell Feis says
Thanks for the ideas! I may have to make some of that play-dough after school!
Avry Byington says
Interesting as a crafter I never would have thought to make crafts out of it!!
Raijean says
I’ve heard some great things about using baking soda at home. I’m going to try to incorporate it more in my household.
Tammy says
I didn’t know you could make air freshener with it, I’m going to have to read that post and make me some!
HilLesha says
The drains (tub and sink) get clogged so easily. I never thought of using a combination of vinegar and baking soda, but I will definitely try it next time, though.
Donna says
I use baking soda and vinegar down my kitchen sink drains and baking soda and a half of a lemon to clean my stainless steel sinks. I’m going to try baking soda as an exfoliate soon! Thanks for the ideas!
Colleen says
This is one of those things that still amazes me how many uses it has LOL
Vanessa: The Queen of Swag says
I use it to clean with all the time especially the fridge.
Ty says
We have so many uses for baking soda in our home, especially cleaning!
Sara P. (@SensiblySara) says
Garbage disposal tablets?! Now THAT is SMART! I will definitely be making those!
Cheron Y/Live List Repeat says
Very helpful! Didn’t know the many uses!
Valerie Remy-Milora says
I absolutely love baking soda and have been using it for years … I use it as a natural scrub for dirty pots and pans or for homemade toothpaste… to give laundry a boost of clean power … I’d never have thought of using it for a mask… I’m going to give that a try and my girls will be thrilled to have a new, effective way to battle those blackheads. 🙂
Matea says
Wow, I love baking soda and this article was so useful and informative. I kind of want to try it all at once, I’m overwhelmed :). Thank you for inspiratin!
HilLesha says
Blackheads are my nemesis. I usually use Aztec Healing Clay + Apple Cider Vinegar to help get rid of them since it seemingly works for everyone else, alas it seems to make mine worse lately. Therefore, I’ll definitely have to try the baking soda + ACV method.
Ty says
I have some old towels that were starting to smell a little so I tossed in some vinegar and baking soda and it freshened them right up. Thanks for the tip!
Tisha Berg | Biz Mommy says
I’ve done a few of these things on the list, but some things here are completely new to me. I’m definitely bookmarking this (and your vinegar post) for future use. Thanks for the tips!