We tried it: Cleaning 5 common stains with baking soda.

Baking soda is a multipurpose powder used for baking, cleaning, pest control, internal ailments, external woes — and science fair volcanoes. This almighty alkali can take the place of — or add muscle to — a whole slew of common, everyday cleaning products.

Today I’m going to try cleaning all the things with baking soda. Well, five of the things.

Baking soda, or “sodium bicarbonate,” is a crystalline salt. When it breaks down in a solution like water or blood, it forms sodium and bicarbonate, making the solution highly alkaline. As you might remember from 5th grade science, alkaline neutralizes acid.

So when baking soda meets an acid inside a liquid — or it’s exposed to high heat — it’ll produce fizzy carbon dioxide bubbles that give doughs and batters an airy texture and dissolve dirt and stains around the house.

Baking soda is a great household cleaner for a variety of reasons.

Pretty much anything you can clean with a general-purpose commercial cleaner, you can clean with baking soda, except for things like:

• Aluminum pots and pans — baking soda can cause oxidation
• Marble — it may wear away the marble sealant

It may scratch the following materials due to its abrasive nature.

• Antique silver
• Gold
• Glass
• Hardwood floors
• Stainless steel

If you’re in doubt, try it out — test your concoction on a small, inconspicuous spot to see what happens.

For some jobs, you can apply baking soda right out of the box — sprinkle it on mattresses, carpets, upholstery, and other soft surfaces to absorb moisture, odors, and fresh stains.

You can also apply baking soda directly to these surfaces, and then use a spray bottle with a 1:1 vinegar and water solution to activate it.

In many instances, a paste works best. A paste adheres to vertical surfaces like walls, and as it dries, it absorbs stains. The thickness of the paste will depend on the type of job you’re doing.

Wow, that was a bad, nasty stain, and baking soda took care of it — a little too well. I’ll never use a commercial carpet cleaner again, and someday, maybe, I’ll finish the job with the baking soda — or pay my kid to do it.

Baking soda is an alkali that interacts with acidic ingredients or stains — including coffee, condiments, and body fluids — to help remove them. In fact, sodium bicarbonate is added to many laundry detergents as a “builder” that softens the wash water, which improves the overall effectiveness of any detergent.

And that means you can use less detergent and save some dough.

Can baking soda ruin clothes?

It’s very doubtful, but if the baking soda isn’t thoroughly rinsed from your clothes, it may leave a white residue, which is easy to remove with a damp microfiber cloth.

How do you wash clothes with baking soda?

Use your laundry detergent as you normally would, then add 1/2–1 cup of baking soda to the load.

For this test, I washed two equally sized small loads on a short cycle in cold water and tossed in the appropriate stain samples. I poured 1 tablespoon of natural laundry detergent in each load and a 1/2 cup of baking soda in the +BS load.

Here are the results:

There’s hardly a job baking soda can’t tackle. It’s the duct tape of naturally occurring salts. Here’s a brief sampling of what else you can do with baking soda.

Treat heartburn

Baking soda neutralizes stomach acid. When I was pregnant and suffering mightily from heartburn, a couple teaspoons of baking soda in six ounces of water was the only thing that did the trick.

Mix the baking soda with lemon juice for some extra vitamin C and some more neutralization.

Whiten teeth

Baking soda is mildly abrasive and breaks the bonds of molecules that stain your teeth — and it fights mouth bacteria with antimicrobial and antibacterial properties, keeping your teeth healthy and your breath fresh.

Lemon juice can also up the whitening power and give the treatment a better flavor.

Deodorize your stinky pits

Armpit sweat only smells once it’s broken down by bacteria into acidic waste products. Baking soda neutralizes the acidity to help reduce odors. Lots of deodorants contain baking soda, but in a pinch, you can just toss a handful of it at your armpits and call it good.

Improve muscle performance

High-intensity exercise signals your muscles to produce lactic acid, which makes your muscles burn and lowers the pH of your cells, leading to muscle fatigue. Baking soda’s high pH may delay fatigue so you can power through your workout longer.

Treat skin woes

The pain and itch of bug bites, bee stings, and sunburn find welcome relief with a baking soda bath or a paste made with water and baking soda and applied to the skin. You can also add cornstarch or oatmeal to the recipe for more soothing relief.

Reduce odors

Baking soda interacts with acidic odor particles and neutralizes them, which is why people stick an open box of baking soda in the back of the fridge.

You can also pour some into the bottom of your trash can, or make baking soda pouches to deodorize your shoes or car. Musty smell? Throw some baking soda at it.

Kill weeds

Step away from the Roundup! To create a hostile environment for weeds in the cracks of your sidewalk or driveway without contributing to catastrophic environmental damage, sprinkle abundant baking soda over the intruders. But keep it out of your flower beds and veggie garden.

Kill roaches

God forbid you’ve got roaches, but if you do, mix up a toxic little cocktail of baking soda and sugar, and put it in a jar lid for them to feast upon. It’ll cause their internal organs to explode, eek.

Clean produce

A 2017 study found that immersing apples for 15 minutes in a solution of one teaspoon of baking powder to two cups of water removes all traces of pesticides from the surface of the peel. That’s because sodium bicarbonate quickly breaks down the pesticides and makes them easy to rinse away.

Unclog a drain

To clear mild clogs, pour about a half-cup of baking soda down the drain and chase that with a cup of vinegar. Let it work for a half hour, then pour boiling water down the drain.

If that doesn’t work, read up on some more ways to make stronger drain cleaners here.