Stop Using Baking Soda And Vinegar This Way — It Doesn't Work

When you're looking for cleaning advice online, you'll probably come across a lot of dubious claims about the efficacy of certain all-natural cleaning products. You might even find instructions for making your own household cleaner using items you have in your kitchen. While some household staples, like white vinegar, lemon juice, baking soda, and hydrogen peroxide, do have major cleaning power, that doesn't mean that mixing them together will amplify their cleaning abilities.

One tip that is often repeated in cleaning how-tos is to mix baking soda and vinegar together to make a paste. If you ever made a volcano for your science project, you may remember what happens when you mix these two ingredients together. They foam up in an exciting way. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that they will clean better or faster than using these ingredients separately.

In fact, mixing the two together renders both totally ineffective. Because baking soda (which is different from baking powder!) is a base and any of the different types of vinegar you might use is an acid, mixing them creates a chemical reaction that neutralizes the most effective cleaning properties of each. The result is essentially salt water and carbon dioxide gas, a very weak solution that isn't going to clean any better than plain water would.

There are countless ways to use baking soda to clean your kitchen. Mixing it with water makes a paste that has mildly abrasive properties. The paste can be used to get stubborn grime, grease, and stuck-on food off of cookware, sinks, and countertops. You can also use baking soda and a fresh lemon wedge to clean your butcher-block counter, wood cutting board, stainless steel sink, and copper pots. Additionally, place a lemon wedge and a little bit of baking soda in your garbage disposal to get rid of funky odors. Just don't use lemon to clean natural stone countertops or cast iron cookware. However, you can clean granite countertops with a mixture of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide.

White vinegar and apple cider vinegar are also amazing all-natural kitchen cleaning agents due to their acidity. They can break down grease, grime, soap scum, hard water, and mineral deposits, and also act as natural deodorizers. In fact, they can even kill some types of bacteria.

There are many ways to use vinegar for a cleaner kitchen. Mixing vinegar, water, and dish soap creates an all-purpose cleaner that can remove grease, grime, and soap scum from your sink, stovetop, and counters (just don't use vinegar on natural stone countertops). You can also use vinegar, soap, and water to clean your kitchen floors, or pour vinegar down your drain to get rid of odors. Just a little bit of vinegar in your coffee maker, kettle, or Keurig can descale it and kill bacteria and odors.