27 Clever Baking Soda Hacks

Hey there, Melissa Maker here, accidental cleaning expert, writer, and host of Clean My Space. Over the past 10 years, we’ve put out many videos and articles discussing the cleaning benefits of, one of my favorite, inexpensive cleaning products, baking soda! Rather than have you pick through all of the videos and articles, I’ve pulled 27 of my favorite baking soda hacks and put them here for all to enjoy. Most of these are simple and take no time at all, but they will make a huge difference in your cleaning routine!

DIY Magic Eraser

Our first hack is simple but useful. Scrubbing away scuff marks on walls is never easy, so try this next time. Make a 50/50 paste with baking soda and water and apply it to any wall mark with a cleaning sponge. Gently rub it in, wipe it away, and you’ll see the marks are all gone!

Shoe Deodorizer

Now, I know YOUR shoes aren’t smelly… but this is for your friend that has smelly shoes. First, find a coffee filter or a couple of pieces of paper towel, or even cut a piece of an old T-shirt. The key here is you need a piece of semipermeable cloth. Then, add half a cup of baking soda into the center of the material and gather the sides together, securing the little pouch with an elastic and tossing it into the smelly shoes.

The baking soda will eat away at the odors in the shoe. It will continue to work as a deodorizer whether you leave them in for a day, a week, or a month. You can also just toss them in anytime the shoes aren’t being worn, which will keep them consistently fresh!

Underarm Deodorant

I know this is often seen as unconventional or even gross, but baking soda works as an excellent and inexpensive deodorant for body odor. When you get out of the shower and are all dry, portion out around a quarter of a teaspoon into your hand and pat it into your underarm. It takes seconds to apply and it will stop your shirts from getting yellowed in the pit area. It’s that easy!

Try it out if you don’t believe me. Go out and for one week only, use baking soda. I promise you will be impressed at how well this solution deals with odors, with some saying that it works as a deodorizer for a whole 24 hours!

Drawer Deodorizer

Baking soda makes an excellent freshener for pretty much everything, including sock drawers and shoe closets. All you need to do is get a jar or shaker, with a slightly open top and fill it with baking soda. If you like, you can add a few drops of essential oils, then place it in the corner of the drawer, and voila! You’ve got yourself a drawer deodorizer!

Exfoliator

You can use baking soda as an exfoliator for pretty much any part of your body. If you notice you get bumps after shaving or waxing, gently massage a little bit of baking soda into the area beforehand and rinse it off with water before grooming. If you practice this routine you’ll start to find that the skin will be much softer and you won’t get bumps when shaving or waxing.

Even just a little tablespoon of baking soda in your body-wash can make a huge difference in how soft your skin feels after a shower or bath. I’ve also used it to exfoliate my hands, my feet, and even my face when needed. It is truly amazing and is so inexpensive!

HD Glass Cleaner

If you have glass surfaces at home that have a bit of a film, stickiness, or residue on it, then I have a great solution for you! Dampen a microfibre cloth and sprinkle some baking soda on it. There’s no real measurement here, but let’s just call it a teaspoon.

Begin to clean the glass surface, working in an S pattern from top to bottom, removing the sticky film. The baking soda will help lift off all of those grimy spots that will leave your glass looking streaky and dirty. You might notice that after this routine there’s a little bit of a residue left over on the glass from the baking soda, so just get it a quick rinse, wipe down, and you’re done! Personally, I like to use vinegar and water, but you can use the glass cleaner of your choice. Now you’ll never have streaky glass again!

Check out, Maker’s Clean Duo Cloth here for better microfibre action.

DIY All-Purpose Scrub

One of the things that so many people love about the Clean My Space videos and articles is that we always provide a lot of DIY cleaning recipes. One of my favourites is an all-purpose scrub that I absolutely love using in the bathroom, kitchen, or anywhere there’s a lot of buildup, grime, and soap scum. It essentially replaces cream and powdered cleaners and it works like a charm!

Now for this recipe, you need to make it when you need it, on demand. This isn’t something to make in bulk ahead of time or to make in big batches. Take a bowl and mix equal parts dish soap and baking soda. Then, slowly add a few drops of water, here and there, until it reaches a pudding-like consistency, and feel free to throw in any essential oils you might enjoy. When it comes to cleaning the bathroom, I always like to pack an extra mold and mildew-resistant, antibacterial punch! So I put in 10 drops of tea tree essential oil. Have fun with it and be creative! The point is that it’s an incredibly effective scrub that is easy to make and very inexpensive.

Once you have your solution, apply it to a dampened sponge and begin to clean dirty surfaces, using the famous S pattern. Let the solution soak in a bit, then flip your sponge over to the scrubby side and wipe it down, making sure to finish off with a nice rinse and polish dry. Now you can clean like a pro for pennies with your perfect DIY, all-purpose scrub!

Clean Your Drain

When you combine baking soda with vinegar, magic happens and it can clean almost anything in your house. It can even clean and unclog the smelliest of sinks! Add a cup of baking soda to any drain and let it sit for an hour. Then, boil two cups of plain white vinegar and dump it down the drain, finally finishing it off by rinsing the drain with hot water. Freshen up your kitchen and never live with a stinky drain again!

DIY Hand and Foot Scrub

To make a really effective hand or foot scrub, use baking soda and coconut oil. An unlikely combination I know, but mix equal parts together and give your skin a scrub. Rinse it off and you’ll see that your hands and feet will be softer from the scrub and moisturized from the oil.

Toilet Refresher

There’s no pleasant way to say this, but you might have a smelly toilet from time to time. If you do here is a perfect solution for you!

Before you start your bathroom cleaning routine, take a toilet brush and lightly moisten the sides of the bowl. Then, sprinkle a cup of baking soda around the inside walls of the toilet bowl and let it sit to do its thing. While it sits there it will deodorize, solve problems, and tackle grime.

Do all your other bathroom cleaning and then come back in about 30 minutes and give the toilet a good scrubbing, before flushing and proceeding with your regular toilet cleaning routine. This pre-clean with baking soda is going to help get rid of any odors and tough stains, leaving you with a cleaner toilet and bathroom.

Clean Grout

It is often times forgotten, but it’s important to make sure you remember to clean the grout in your bathroom. It’s as easy as sprinkling some baking soda on the grout line, spraying it with water, and then scrubbing it clean, using a toothbrush or cleaning sponge.

Laundry Brightener

Now, we’ve talked about abrasion and we’ve talked about deodorizing, but what about brightening? Some may not know, but baking soda works as a fantastic laundry brightener! Whenever you do a load of whites or colors, try throwing half a cup of baking soda directly into the drum. This will help bring out the colors and whiten your whites. Don’t forget that tossing some baking soda into a particularly smelly load of laundry will help curb the odors and leave you with fresher and cleaner laundry!

Nail Whitening Scrub

If you’re a nail polish junkie, like me, you’ll most likely know about that annoying, yellowish tint that nail polish can leave behind on your nails. All you need to whiten your nails is a plastic bowl or container, 3 tablespoons of magic baking soda, and a tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide.

Add both to the bowl and mix until it forms a paste, which you then apply to your nails with a cotton swab or fingertip. Make sure to also get it under your fingernails, leaving the solution on for about 5 minutes. Then, take a cleaning toothbrush and scrub, scrub, scrub. Finally, rinse the solution away with warm water and you’re nails will look as good as new!

Dish, Pot, and Pan Washing Additive

If you hand wash your dishes, baking soda can be your best friend. Before doing your regular routine, fill your sink with warm water, adding a squirt of dish soap and 2 tablespoons of baking soda. Now let your dirty dishes and cutlery soak for about 10 to 15 minutes. Once you start washing the dishes you’ll notice that the dirt slides right off! In fact, even when I wash only pots and pans, I’ll throw some baking soda on there, just to boost the abrasion and make things move along a little quicker.

Label Remover

Baking soda is the perfect solution to get rid of labels from jars, cans, or bottles. Start by filling a pot, with enough water so that you can fully submerge the label. Then, fill a third of your container with water to weigh it down when it goes into the pot.

Now, add a quarter cup of baking soda to the water in the pot, give it a good stir, and turn the stove onto medium heat. Bring it to a light simmer and then turn the stove off, placing the container in the pot and letting the label soak in the solution for about 15 minutes. Be very careful when you take the container out as it will be quite hot. Once it’s finished soaking, take it out, and you’ll notice that the label comes off very easily.

Produce Wash

Sometimes when you pick up produce, you’ll notice a sort of coating or waxiness on the food. This, of course, is from the use of pesticides and other preservatives used to protect farm crops. This is why it is always good to give everything a good wash before cooking with it, to get rid of any pesticides, coatings, dirt, or any other unmentionables, that might be existing on the surface.

Now, baking soda can be used here in a variety of ways, but don’t worry, I’ll walk you through each process. Something really simple that you can do is sprinkle a little bit of baking soda on your produce, splash it with a bit of water, and give it a gentle little massage and cleaning. You can also mix the baking soda and water to make a paste, rubbing it into the food, followed by a good rinse. This method works so well that you’ll hear a squeak when you run your fingers along the food.

Now, if you have a lot of things to wash or if you’re doing something like cleaning grapes or berries, you can add water and baking soda to a bowl. Toss in the produce, and mix it around, giving it a little swirl. Let it sit for a little while, then strain out the bowl, giving it all a good rinse, and you’re done! Squeaky clean produce ready for eating!

Add Abrasion to Cleaning Solutions

When baking soda is mixed with a cleaning solution, it creates an abrasive solution that can battle, even the most powerful of products, like Vim or Comet. Try it out sometime and see the amazing difference it makes!

Hair-Brush Cleaner

I will admit, right here and now, that I often forget to clean my hairbrush for so long that… Well, let’s just say it’s not within the generally recommended window of how long one is supposed to let their hairbrush go without cleaning. My brush can be, in a word, gross. Because it is a plastic brush, the process will be quite easy.

Pour 2 cups of water into a bowl and add 3 tablespoons of baking soda. If you’re like me, you’ll want to add a few drops of tea tree oil, or any other essential oil, to the mixture, but this isn’t absolutely necessary. Mix the solution together with a cleaning toothbrush and then start picking all the hairs out of your brush or comb. Once you’ve picked it all out, you will probably notice there is some residue left behind by the hair and skin.

If your brush is hard plastic, you can soak the brush in the solution for a good period of time before beginning to scrub away all of that nasty residue. If your brush has one of those pads, then it’s better not to soak it. Instead, put the solution on a cleaning toothbrush and start scrubbing the brush. Make sure to remove all of the residue from the pad, the bristles, and even the side of the brush. Then you’re going to give everything a good rinse and you’re done!

Sink Polisher and Cleaner

Baking soda serves many purposes in cleaning and it can make your sink sparkle like a diamond! Ever go into a person’s house and see that they have an absolutely perfect sink and think to yourself, “what is their secret?”. Well, here is the raw truth. The secret here is baking soda because it has the ability to provide mild abrasion, which means it can scrape off dirt caked onto surfaces. Whether it is thick grime or dirt that is very fine and hard to see, the baking soda won’t leave anything behind once rinsed and you will notice you have a beautifully polished, stainless steel sink!

Start by sprinkling some baking soda into the dirty sink. Next, put some dish soap on a wet dish wand, cloth, or sponge, and give the sink a good scrubbing, making sure to incorporate all of the ingredients. I like to work from top to bottom, in almost a circular like motion, making sure not to miss any spots. I like to get right down into the drain if I can, giving it a few good scrubs. Then, turn on some warm water, give everything a rinse, polish it all up, and I promise you, your newly cleaned sink will blow your mind!

Luggage Deodorizer

If, you’re looking for a hand tip to keep your luggage smelling fresh while you’re traveling, try using this creative little baking soda trick! Simply fill a small sachet with baking soda and toss it into your luggage. It’s especially helpful for long trips where you are carrying a lot of clothes, some of which will be dirty. You can also use some essential oils if you want, to replace the odor with something a little more pleasing.

Look here for more quick tips and cleaning hacks!

Dishwasher Refresher

If, when you open your dishwasher, you notice that it hits you with a bit of an odor, then there are a few things you need to think about. First off, check if your filter needs to be cleaned. It’s a commonly overlooked problem but it can leave an awful stench in your dishwasher.

Next, make sure to leave your dishwashing door slightly ajar as often as you can. This will help circulate all of those odors and will help prevent moisture to build-up.

Now, if neither of these methods is working, here is what you do. Take a cup of baking soda and toss it to the bottom of the dishwasher. Nothing fancy. Make sure to do this when the dishwasher is empty and leave it for 30 minutes, or as long as you can. Then, when it is finished pre-treating, run your dishwasher on its hottest cycle. That’s all there is to it! Simple and easy, without leaving any lingering odors.

Stainless Steel Mug Deodorizer

If you’re stainless-steel mug looks and smells a little bit funky then you know it’s time to give it a good clean. Fill the mug up halfway with hot water and add a tablespoon of baking soda. Then, fill the rest of the mug up and let it soak overnight. The next morning take a sponge, bottle cleaning brush, or even just a microfibre cloth, and dampen it slightly before you scrub away at your mug. The baking soda solution will help lift out any old coffee stains and deodorize the funky smell.

Tooth Stain Remover

Now, here’s a baking soda tip that’s got to be one of the most popular hacks of all time and yet, we’ve never talked about it before. If you are trying to get rid of some stains on your teeth, try adding a dab of baking soda to your toothpaste before you start brushing! This is great for anyone who drinks a lot of coffee, tea, sodas, or red wine, and the results are truly amazing!

Now, you should talk to your dentist about how frequently you can brush with baking soda because everybody has different teeth and different enamel but it definitely works. It’s also good to be aware that the baking soda might give your toothpaste a slightly salty taste, but it will do wonders with those stains!

Scalp and Hair Clarifier

I think I read about using baking soda to clarify your hair and scalp, close to 15 years ago, in one of those girly magazines, 17 or Cosmo, and it’s something that I have done ever since. Now, what does it even mean to clarify your hair? If you think about what goes on in the average person’s head of hair, they’re putting products on there which are mixing with dead skin cells, oils, and dirt over time. This happens even when a person is regularly shampooing their hair and it makes it important to do a proper scalp cleanse.

Take some baking soda and place it on a tissue, leaving it right next to the shower. The amount of baking soda needed can range from a teaspoon to a tablespoon and should be determined by how much hair you have. When you’re ready to clean your hair put some shampoo in your hand and then dump the baking soda into your hand and begin to give your scalp a really good scrub. You don’t need to do this for the rest of your hair but it’s something that’s really nice for your scalp.

When you rinse it out, finish your shower routine, and dry out your hair, you will notice an amazing change in your scalp’s feel and overall health. No longer will it be dirty, greasy, and heavy. If you’re someone who uses a lot of products or you feel like you work in an environment where your hair and scalp get quite dirty or greasy often, then you will love this easy home remedy.

Now, I understand if you are a bit skeptical, I was too at first, but 15 years later I can say with confidence that this works beautifully. It’s like getting a facial but for your scalp!

Deodorize Kitty Litter

Kitties are lovely, but kitty litter and its smell are certainly not. To help with this, simply sprinkle some baking soda into the litter box every time you change it. This will make a big difference to your kitty litter’s odor and the overall smell of your bathroom.

Get Rid of Ants

For all of you, Clean My Space community members, who have asked me, “How do I get rid of ants?”, here is your answer! Simply mix equal parts baking soda and powdered sugar. Put a couple of tablespoons into a jar or a similar shallow dish. The ants will be attracted to the sweet, sweet call of sugar and will eventually be killed by the reaction that takes place in their intestines from the baking soda.

Microwave Cleaner

Have you ever had a plate of food explode on you while in the microwave? No judging at all, we’ve all been there. But if you have, then you’ll know what a pain it is! Don’t fret, instead mix 2 tablespoons of baking soda with a cup of water in a microwave-safe bowl. Then, put it on high for 5 minutes and watch as the steam builds up, transporting little granules of baking soda onto the side of the microwave. Once that is complete, give the microwave a good wipe with a microfibre cloth and you’re done!

Well, if that didn’t encourage you to go out and buy a box of baking soda then I don’t know what will! Use these solutions whenever you are cleaning and you will see amazing results faster then you expect.

Here are some more cleaning tips that will help you take your cleaning game to the next level!