Why People Mix Bay Leaves And Baking Soda — And Whether It Really Works

The benefits of DIY cleaning solutions, pest repellents, and deodorizers are limitless. They're safe and chemical-free, not to mention inexpensive considering you're often using things you already have in your pantry. And they're often time-tested in their effectiveness. You may already know the many brilliant ways to clean your kitchen with baking soda, for example. But did you know adding bay leaves to baking soda opens up even more household uses?

Bay leaves come from Mediterranean bay laurel trees. They're deliciously aromatic, expressing notes of thyme, pepper, clove, and oregano. That's the reason we cook with bay leaves — they're not fun to chew, so we remove them from dishes before serving, but before they go, they impart herbaceous, earthy, spiced qualities. Right there, you have a reason to use bay leaves as a deodorizer. Baking soda is absorbent enough to suck up excess moisture and unpleasant smells from the air, and it neutralizes acidic and alkaline compounds that cause those odors. Adding bay leaves to sodium bicarbonate then layers on a lovely aroma on top of the neutralizing it performs.

Place bay leaves into a cup of baking soda and put that wherever you want to lower indoor humidity and get rid of odors. Plus, bay leaves are antimicrobial and antifungal thanks to a compound they have called eugenol. So, you can also place your bay-leaf-and-baking-soda cup in your pantry to aid with preservation and keep bacteria at bay — it will even repel bugs.

Mixing it with bay leaves to suck up humidity, freshen the air, or deter insects may strike you as one of the more unexpected ways to use baking soda. But this combo has proven effective. When you consider baking soda's absorbency and neutrality, plus bay leaves' pleasant aromas and antimicrobial properties, it's quite easy to understand. Plus, it's so quick and easy to place bay leaves into baking soda, you've got nothing to lose.

In fact, you only have to gain when it comes to more handy uses. For example, you can use this duo to freshen your carpets. Mix crushed leaves with baking soda and then stir in a couple of drops of an essential oil. Dust that over your rugs, let it sit for a few minutes, and then vacuum. The bay leaves and baking soda will work their absorbing, neutralizing, and freshening power and make your carpets look like new. Or, grind bay leaves into more of a powder and mix that with baking soda to make a paste of sorts.

This creates a cleaning solution that's abrasive enough to be effective but gentle enough to not ruin surfaces — you can use it to scrub counters and tile floors in your kitchen and bathroom. Remember, you can customize your bay leaf and baking soda combination a bit when you're using it as a deodorizer. Mint, for example, only adds to the all-natural solution with pleasant aromas. In short, bay leaves and baking soda combine for the cleaning mixture you never knew you needed.