15 Ingenious Uses for Baking Soda, Beyond the Kitchen!

Baking soda is great for cleaning Ever find yourself searching for secret tricks to get something clean? Well, I do. I found myself wondering a few weeks ago how to get the metal smell off of costume jewelry and how to get the stains off memory foam mattresses. In my searching I ran across secret formulas using baking soda as the cure-all. I gave both recipes a shot and to my surprise my problems were solved. So I hit the world wide web to find out what other uses good ol’ baking soda had. Here are some ingenious uses that have me wanting to load up on baking soda. Here’s the kicker … it’s green! 1. Removing the Metal Smell From Jewelry Add ¼ cup baking soda and hot water to a medium-sized mixing bowl and soak jewelry for 24 hours. Smell is gone and jewelry has a new shine! 2. Removing Urine Stains From Mattresses Add ¼ cup baking soda to 1 quart hydrogen peroxide. Add one squirt of dish soap to a bowl. Mix gently to avoid creating bubbles. Pour mixture into a squirt bottle and spray mattress stains. You don’t need to scrub: as the solution dries, your stains disappear! We tried this trick on our memory foam mattress after failed attempts to scrub with various cleaners. 3. Polish Silver Using three parts baking soda, one part water, and a clean sponge, rub mixture onto your silver and flatware. Rinse and dry thoroughly. 4. Coffee Pots and Tea Pots Use ¼ cup of baking soda in 1 quart warm water. Soak or scrub coffee/tea pots, cups, and machines to remove build up and stains. Nothing like a fresh (and clean) cup of coffee! 5. Remove Crayon From Walls Sprinkle some baking soda on a damp sponge and gently rub on walls. Can also be used on furniture to polish and remove grime … and it’s nonabrasive. 6. Enhance Laundry Detergent Add ½ cup of baking soda to your washing machine along with your normal detergent for an extra boost in cleaning, freshening, and brightening your clothes. 7. Oil Stains on Concrete Remove light oil spots in the garage or driveway by sprinkling baking soda and scrubbing with a wet brush. 8. De-stink the Sports Gear Using ¼ cup baking soda and 1 quart warm water, you can deodorize sports equipment. Rub or squirt mixture on and rinse thoroughly. 9. Deodorize Almost Anything Sprinkle or place open box of baking soda in refrigerator, freezers, lunch boxes, shoes, closets, drains — you name it — to help remove unwanted odors. 10. Carpets Help eliminate the odors and freshen the carpet. Sprinkle liberally and let sit for as long as possible — hours or overnight — then vacuum. Try this on your kids’ mattresses, too. Just sprinkle and vacuum! 11. Toothpaste Boost Sprinkle baking soda on your toothpaste before brushing for an extra boost, or just brush with pure baking soda to help whiten. 12. Body Scrub Use three parts baking soda and one part water for a gentle exfoliator on your face and body in the shower. 13. Hair Cleanser Add a pinch to your shampoo once or twice a week to remove product buildup. 14. Drain Unclogger Pour ½ cup baking soda and ½ cup vinegar down a clogged drain, cover with a wet cloth, and wait five minutes. Then flush with steaming hot water. 15. Linen Closet Freshener Store a box or two of opened baking soda in your linen closet to ward off the mustiness caused by time. These are just a few of the many uses for baking soda beyond the kitchen. I’m always curious to hear about more. What cleaning secrets do you have?

7 Things Parents Say (You’ll Say Them, Too!) You will be surprised at what comes out of your mouth sometimes Before I became a parent, there were so many things I swore I’d never say to my child — many of which I’ve already uttered, even though my child just barely turned two. Below is my list of clichéd things parents say, coming soon to a home near you

1. “Mommy loves/wants/would like you to” etc. Ah, yes — speaking in the third person. It’s not just for Bob Dole anymore. 2. “See, that’s why I told you not to…” Because after-the-fact rationalizations are so effective with a toddler. 3. “Do you want apple juice, orange juice, or grape juice?” This one is a two-fer in that I always swore that a) I wouldn’t give my children oodles of choices about what to eat and drink, and b) I would largely keep them away from the intensive sugar delivery system that is a sippy cup full of juice.

4. “Do you want to pick up your toys now?” Shockingly, the only answer I ever get to this one is “no.” 5. “We don’t hit.” I guess I thought I’d get a perfectly behaved child for whom this admonition wouldn’t be necessary — or maybe that I’d just hypocritically smack her across the bottom if she smacked someone else. Not sure, really, but this statement is part of my repertoire now.

7 Reasons a 1950s Housewife Had it Made Petticoats aside, it was definitely a simpler motherhood

Recently on this very site, a blogger buddy of mine waxed philosophic about how she would have stunk as a 1950s housewife. I totally agree. I definitely am happy to see my husband when he gets home. But as a steeped-in-feminism Gen Xer, the daily lead-up to his arrival, as if he were some combination of George Clooney and the Pope, makes me want to throw up a little. Still, lipstick and petticoats aside, being a housewife back then seems like a far simpler life than now. There are some definite pluses to the 1950s housewife thing. Big ones like these: 1. Letting Yourself Go While I’m sure there was a 1950s-housewife version of letting yourself go, it was nothing like today’s model. If you walked around in a tracksuit the sausage casing industry would envy for its hold and stretch properties, you’d be brought up on indecency charges. 2. Discipline and Spanking Mrs. Fifties Housewife did not agonize over discipline. No poring over the child-rearing literature of the day. No wishing she had a Ph. D. in child psychology. Johnny did something bad. Mommy got pissed off. Johnny got a spanking, either from Mommy, or it was a “wait until your father gets home” kind of deal. All Johnny’s friends got spankings and grew up to be normal men with normal issues. Period, end of report. 3. Simple Food Food was way simpler for our ’50s counterparts. They went to the grocery store and bought food. No worrying about killing the fam with processed food. No need to take out bank loans to eat organic. If they lived a farm-to-table lifestyle, it was because they lived on a FARM, went out back and picked or killed something, and put it on their TABLE. Even the Martha Stewarts of the time didn’t make a home-cooked meal look like something from a Civil War prison camp. 4. Going to Bed Hungry Mrs. Fifties Housewife served her family their simple food. Everyone was expected to eat it (except, presumably, the King of the Castle.) If a child was sent away from the table, he went to bed hungry. If a child refused to eat, she went to bed hungry. No confusion and delay for a 9 p.m. snack. If a kid made his hungry bed, he lay in it. All night long. Because it was that or else he got one of those definitely-not-a-catalyst-for-therapy-in-20-years spankings. 5. Being Honest With Your Child If your kid did something bad, wrong, or stupid, you said it was bad, wrong, or stupid. And while this might have been bad, wrong, and stupid parenting, no one did any differently. You just told your kids the God’s honest and went off to play canasta with your buddies Joyce, Myrtle, and Phyllis. There were things to stress over, but this wasn’t one of them. 6. Men and Housework Back then men and housework were like oil and water — they simply didn’t mix. Men weren’t expected to do much in the way of housework, so most didn’t. No cooking, no cleaning, and very little childcare. Many contemporary women are seething because they expect so much from their husbands. The 1950s housewife knew it was all her show — she wasn’t expecting a co-star. Way easier on the emotions. You can’t be disappointed when you don’t expect anything, right? 7. Supermom Had it Easy To the 1950s housewife, being Supermom would have meant keeping her house clean, and keeping herself, her children, and her husband well-dressed, well-fed, and well-groomed. Supermom led a simpler life. It did not mean keeping a home worthy of HGTV, while rocking the body of a 19-year-old. Nor did it mean having having an income generating “hobby,” and gorgeous, designer-clad, organically-fed, involved-in-a-minimum-of-five-activities kids. That was science fiction.

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The History of Father’s Day It would be interesting to know how Father's Day came into practice and celebrated worldwide with an equal sincerity and respect as any other significant holidays. Here's a short history on the holiday, and meaning of the different colors of roses to be worn that Day. You may even refer the page to others to share the information by clicking on the link given below. About 4,000 years ago a young boy named Elmusu wished his Babylonian father good health and a long life by carving a Father's Day message on a card made out of clay. No one knows what happened to Elmesu or his father, but the tradition of having a special day honoring fathers has continued through the years in countries across the world. The Countries, where the Catholic Church were of significant influence on the culture of the society, Father's Day is celebrated on St. Joseph's Day (March 19). However, a more secular celebration which is not associated with any religion is followed in recent times to highlight the increased diversity among people from all over the globe coexisting together in one place. Father's Day is celebrated popularly on 3rd Sunday in June in many parts of the world. The idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington. A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909. Having been raised by her father, Henry Jackson Smart, after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man. Sonora's father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910. In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. President Nixon, in 1972, established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the third Sunday of June. So Father's Day was born as a token of love and gratitude that a daughter cherishes for her beloved father. Roses are the Father's Day flowers: red to be worn for a living father and white if the father has died.

Remember True Meaning Of Mother’s Day The birth of Mother’s Day in our country came about following the culmination of the Civil War. Mothers at that time were distressed having witnessed the brutal wartime slayings of men and boys on both sides of the battle. One woman, Julia Ward Howe, was incensed by the countless deaths of sons of all mothers, Confederate and Union alike, and she was outraged at the futility of it all. In 1870, she called for a Mother’s Day Proclamation in the United States for the purpose of celebrating peace and motherhood. June 2 was designated as the day and for the following 10 years she funded and celebrated this day in several east coast U.S. cities. Ultimately, the holiday died out, but another woman, Anna Reeves Jarvis, began to celebrated an adaptation of Julia Ward Howe’s day, calling it Mother’s Friendship Day. Her purpose was to create peace and help unite families and neighbors in West Virginia who lived in the same communities but had been on divided sides during the Civil War. She was successful in her own small town bringing together people who had once been firmly divided in their political views and social opinions. Following Anna’s death, her daughter Anna M. Jarvis began a long campaign petitioning government, civic and business leaders in an effort to secure an official Mother’s Day as an honor to her mother and in honor of peace. In 1912, West Virginia became the first state to recognize Mother’s Day and in 1914 then President Woodrow Wilson signed it into National Observance. Since then, Mother’s Day has lost much of its original meaning and purpose. Consumerism has taken over the holiday and much of it has to do with buying gifts, flowers and dinners for our mothers and grandmothers. As a mother, it is wonderful to be honored in this way. Nonetheless, I think I can say for most of us mothers, what we desire more than anything else is the implementation of the principle these women from our past so strongly desired and fought for -- peace in this world for our children and grandchildren. So maybe for the mothers of America, this year on May 8, all of us can take a moment to envision how our own God given talents can be used to accomplish a more peaceful existence for the children of every mother on earth. And perhaps, we can take a moment to say a prayer for peace in our neighborhoods, towns and schools. I know myself and the mothers of America would be truly grateful. Written by: Michelle Fager Posted By: Multi Services Residential & Commercial Cleaning www.multiservices-janitorial.com