Tuesday, May 08, 2007

My favourite white powder

Ahem. I've been neglecting my plastic free reporting, haven't I? So sorry about that. It's just that, well, I've met somebody new. And all I can think about is him! He's great in the kitchen, never smells, always cleans up after himself, and I've even found a use for him in the bedroom* (blush!). That's right - it's Mr BiCarb Soda!
I really need to work on taking a straight photo. Excuse the slant!

Bwahahahahah! Did I have any of you going? Nah, thought not. But seriously, I'm so amazed over how powerful a cleaning agent bicarb is turning out to be. I needed to clean the bath on the weekend, so I made a paste of bicarb and water, with a few drops of tea tree oil thrown in for nice smelling/antibacterial action (thanks for the tip, Herhimnbryn!) and then smeared it on the bath ring with a knife. Waited 15 minutes, and then scrubbed it off, and my goodness! It seriously made all the grime disappear right before my eyes, without any hardcore elbow grease required from me. Really, it was like magic! And the best bit was that I hardly needed to use any water (rather an important consideration in these days of water restrictions) to rinse it off the bath walls. In the past, when I'd used cream cleansers, I'd spend most of my time trying to rinse the gunk off, including all those pesky bubbles which just seem to keep foaming and forming the more you try to swat them down the plug hole, so having the job done so quickly and with a minimum of fuss and water was fabulous.

I've also used it to get rid of the curry stains on my yukky white kitchen benchtop, and once again - pow! Gone! Seriously, I'm so impressed that if I could have any more children, I might have to bestow the name 'Bicarb' on one of them. Heh heh, just as well I can't!
Ummm, what else? I cleaned the toilet using vinegar and tea tree. That was a little weird. I'm more used to dipping chips in vinegar, not toilet brushes, so there was a bit of odd gagging going on from my end, but it too worked a treat. And now our bathroom smells like a fish and chip shop - huzzah!

* Apparently, it's good to sprinkle some on the carpet before vaccumming to deodorise. So the handy hints on the back of the packet tell me!

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:16 pm

    I use the very same bicarb instead of laundry powder and instead of dishwasher powder - works just fine - and so very cheap!

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  2. It is bleedin' amazing stuff in'it?

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  3. Ps. Another great lav. cleaner is....mix in a spray bottle the following.....
    2 tbs of eucalyptus oil
    2 tbs white vinegar
    1 tbs washing up liquid
    fill to top of bottle with water and shake before use.

    I t works a treat. If you don't like Euc. oil tea-tree works well too.

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  4. Anonymous8:31 pm

    It seems that Mr Bicarb gets himself around because he's always visiting me too! Ahem.
    I have a spray bottle filled with tea tree oil, vinegar and water that i use to clean pretty much everything, including the loo.
    I made my own laundry soap yesterday (see my Greener by the Day post) and i discovered that washing soda is great for washing the dishes. So, no more buying laundry liquid or washing up liquid for me.

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  5. Bicarb soda has to be one of the miracles of the modern world... I remember hearing once that you can even whiten your teeth with it (mixed with iodized salt, I think)...but urghhh...won't be trying that myself!

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  6. I use bicarb instead of dishwashing powder. Cheap and easy! Never thought of using it for laundry powder though, hmmmm. Must try.

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  7. In the uk the council collect all our plastic packaging to be recycled, do they do that where you are?

    The thing with recycling, I always hate wasting water to wash all the bins, bottles, cans etc first before you can leave them out for the recyling colletiopn lorry - love Julia x

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  8. Julia,

    The councils here do recycle the plastic packing, however I'd still prefer not to be buying it in the first place ;-P

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  9. better than vinegar for the loss is flat coke. well, i'm sure fizzy coke works too, but i wait till Badly Coloured Boy buys a bottle and only drinks half then i gleefully pour the rest down the toilet. it's fun. and it bleaches like nothin' else.

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