Baking Soda Rocks?

Just a few uses for ordinary, inexpensive, non-toxic baking soda:

Kitchen
- A bowl of baking soda in your fridge will help remove excess moisture and absorb odors.
- Sprinkle some in your veggies crisper and cover with a cloth or paper towel for crisper veggies that last longer.
- Sprinkle baking soda onto a damp sponge for cleaning out your refrigerator and benchtops without scratching.
- Dissolve a couple of tablespoons of baking soda in water in a microwave safe bowl, then bring to the boil in your microwave. Allow to sit for a minute or two, then you should easily be able to wipe out any baked on stains, plus your oven will microwave will smell fresher too.
- Sprinkling baking soda in the bottom of rubbish bags will help to control odors as you add trash.
- To give your dishwasher a good clean, run it through a cycle and use baking soda instead of detergent.
- Baking soda can be thrown on stove fires to extinguish the flames. The carbon dioxide generated when the powder burns starves the fire of oxygen.
- Wash chemicals and pesticides off fruits and vegetables in a pot filled with water and 3 - 4 tablespoons of baking soda added.

On a somewhat related note, here's something interesting I came across. Baking soda is sometimes used when boiling vegetables to preserve their color. That practice is not recommended as it destroys the vitamin C content of vegetables.
General home - Anywhere that moisture is a problem, such as cupboards under sinks, place a bowl of baking soda to help control humidity. You'll need to occasionally stir the powder for maximum effective life.
- Crayon or texta marks on walls? Try applying baking soda/water paste on an old toothbrush and lightly brush the affected area.
- Water stains on wooden floors can be removed with a sponge dampened in a solution of baking soda dissolved in water.
- Sprinkle some baking soda into your vacuum bag to help reduce musty/pet smells being spread throughout your house when vacuuming.
- Sprinkle baking soda on rugs and carpets before vacuuming as a deodorising treatment. Most carpet powders you buy are baking soda based! Just a brief note on this - not recommended for areas that are very humid as the baking soda may stay in the carpet.
- Mops can really stink out areas where they are stored. If your mop is getting on the nose, don't throw it out, try soaking it in a mixture of 4 tablespoons baking soda and a gallon of water for a while.
- Stains on porcelain sinks, toilets and plastics can be removed by applying a layer of baking soda and then using a damp sponge . I found this to work particularly well on a water stain in a sink that couldn't be shifted otherwise without the use of heavy duty chemicals and scratching the surface.
Plumbing
- As an alternative to caustic soda for clearing blocked drains, throw a cup of baking soda down the drain, followed by a couple of jugs of boiling water.

Garden
- Baking soda can deter ants - pour a solid line in areas of activity and they won't cross it.
- Mix a tablespoon of baking soda, a teaspoon of (earth friendly) dish detergentent and a gallon of water to make a spray for treating roses against black spot fungus.
Laundry
- Work a baking soda and water paste onto stains prior to washing to help remove them from the fabric
- Half a cup of baking soda added to a full load of washing will help brighten your wash and remove odors.
Workshop/auto
- Mix a paste of baking soda and vinegar and apply with a pot scourer to remove light rusting
- A baking-soda/water paste applied to chrome surfaces, allowed to dry then buffed off will leave chrome shining!
- Baking soda applied to fresh grease and oil spills on your garage floor will draw away the oil, which can then be scraped off.
Pets
- Baking soda lightly sprinkled and mixed into cat litter will help control odor.
- Eliminate odor after you've cleaned up pet accidents by sprinkling over the dampened area with baking soda; allow to dry and then vacuum.
Personal
- Whoofy shoes getting you down? Get a couple of old socks, fill up the toe secitions with baking soda, place into the offending shoes and leave overnight to help remove odors.
- A thick paste of baking soda and water applied to bug bites can provide relief.
- A half teaspoon of baking soda mixed into a glass of water can act as mouthwash.
- Sprinkle baking soda onto regular toothpaste to create a whitening toothpaste
Miscellaneous
- To clean jewelry, use a paste of 3 parts baking soda to 1 part water, apply the mixture the piece, allow to sit for a couple of minutes, rinse off and then polish with a soft cloth.
- Sprinkle your Christmas tree with baking soda to mimick snow - a much more environmentally friendly alternative to some of those chemical snow sprays!
With so many uses you'll likely use a lot and buying baking soda in small boxes probably won't be too economical. Have a chat to your local baker who may be able to supply you with larger quantities or try contacting a bakery supplies company as some sell direct to the public.
You can also save money on baking soda by re-using it. For example, once it has served its purpose as a fridge deodoriser you can put it down your sink to help keep your drains clear.
Phew, that's quite a list of baking soda tips - it's such a versatile substance and certainly a greener way to get many jobs around the house done. My list is by no means exhaustive and I'm sure I've missed a bundle of ideas and applications! Please add your own tips below!

With thanks to Michael Bloch from Green Living Tips.com Green Living Tips is an online resource powered by renewable energy offering a wide variety of earth friendly tips, green guides, advice and environment related news to help consumers and business reduce costs, consumption and environmental impact .  Please take a good look at his site and think about subscribing to the newsletter.

Do You Really Need.....?

Do you really need that specialized power tool forever, or just for the day? Should you invest in a full set of camping equipment, even if you’re not sure your family will enjoy it? Isn’t there someone out there who wants to trade those size 8 ice skates for a size 9?
If you ever find yourself pondering questions like this, welcome to collaborative consumption–a concept of organized sharing and swapping. Although peer-to-peer sharing may have been a tenet in communities of lore, our modern this-is-mine culture has taken us away from what seems like such practical common sense. But times, they are a-changin’.

Privately-held clothing and book swaps have become a very practical social pastime among freinds, but now the premise is spreading into more official capacities. Sites and services are popping up to facilitate the simple concept: You can get what you need without buying it.  The arrangements are manifested in a number of ways. SnapGoods, for instance, helps to connect people with stuff to lend with people who wish to borrow; while Neighborhood Fruit lets people swap garden bounty or distribute fruit harvested from public trees. Some places arrange rentals, some create swaps, while others create communities of sharers.

It’s a brilliant model of sustainability–no new stuff to clutter the landfill, yay!–but according to an article in Time magazine, there is a beneficial emotional aspect as well. Not only in the community-building, but in that the lending element requires trust, and being trusted feels good. Paul Zak, founding director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University, has shown that people get a spike of the pleasant neurotransmitter oxytocin when they’re entrusted with another person’s goods. “We’re gregariously social creatures, and one way we can exhibit that sociability is by sharing our things,” he says.

With a little research, you can find pretty much anything, there are even sites that allow you to borrow cars. But perhaps my favorite are those that are charity-inspired, such as Swap for Good.  This site helps people  set up clothing swaps and collect donations from participants  (who are saving money by swapping not shopping) to give to domestic-violence shelters and other organizations.
Collaborative consumption is at once so simple, yet so revolutionary. It replaces “beg, steal and borrow” with “lend, share and swap.” It’s green, the sense of community feels great, and that little rush of oxytocin doesn’t hurt either.

With thanks to:   http://www.care2.com

It's Me With the Soap Again!

Soap - the deal with castile.  I have talked about this before and put out some recipes, but trust me, I am using:  castile soap (shampoo, body wash, dish soap, hand soap, mixed with water and vinegar for counter cleaner.  Vinegar is a disinfectant....you can spray it on food, the sink, toilet, mix it with baking soda and/or cornstarch to clean windows).

If you've been dabbling into going green, you're likely to have seen castile soap mentioned in books and various web sites.

What is castile soap?
Castile soap isn't a brand but a type of soap made exclusively from vegetable oil rather than animal fat or synthetic substances. The purists feel it should be made from olive oil but there's a wide variety of castile variants that use oil from plants such as coconut and jojoba. The simple nature of the soap means a lesser enviromental impact due to reduced waste stream during manufacture and also faster biodegradability.
While castile soaps can have additional synthetic ingredients, usually you'll find if it's marketed under that name, it's a fairly natural sort of product.

Castile soap - so versatile
Castile soap has many uses aside from washing your skin - it's also known as seafarer's soap due to its versatility.
I use an olive oil based one in place of shampoo - works great for me and I don't need to use a conditioner. I also don't have to wade through the dozens of shampoo brands at the local supermarket trying to translate what all the darned chemicals they use are any more - I tried that once and gave up in total confusion. As the soap I use comes in a simple paper based box, that also saves on packaging. Another benefit is that castile soap is far cheaper than other fancy label soaps and shampoos!
If you've ever tried using normal soap to wash your hair, you would have likely found your hair very dry afterwards, but for some reason I haven't experienced that with castile soap - it's likely because the glycerin content is retained, whereaas in normal soaps much of the glycerin is removed and sold separately in moisturizers.

Liquid castile soap uses
While bar castile soap is pretty amazing stuff, in a liquid form it's even more versatile.
- Liquid castille soap can be used for a shaving lather
- It can be used as a pet shampoo
- Great for washing clothes and diapers
- General cleaning, diluted and used in a spray bottle
- Heavy duty degreasing
- I've heard that pure liquid castile soap can even be used for brushing your teeth! But of course, don't swallow the stuff. I don't think it would kill you in small doses but I'm sure it would taste pretty yuk.
- It can also be used in place of dishwashing detergent and even in your automatic dishwasher! "Green" automatic dishwasher detergents are hard to come by, but a Green Living Tips reader, Kathy Stevens, contributed this recipe (Thanks Kathy!):
Ingredients:
1/2 cup liquid castile soap
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
3 drops tea tree oil
1/2 cup white vinegar
Method:
stir all ingredients together until blended. Store in a squirt top bottle. Use 2 tablespoons per load of dishes, shake well before use.

3 Easy Ways to Help Your Body and the Environment

The following is from a post by Beth Greer, Super Natural Mom®, who is a syndicated radio talk show host, former president and co-owner of The Learning Annex, Certified Build It Green® healthy home makeover specialist and author of Super Natural Home: Improve Your Health, Home, and Planet--One Room at a Time
by Beth Greer

If you're like most people, a little voice inside your head has probably been telling you for a while that it's time to get back to a more natural way of living and take a more serious look at the toxins in your everyday life. Even so, you may feel confused about the simple, practical things you can do to minimize your exposure and maximize not only your health, but your contribution to a cleaner planet.
What if I told you that making small, simple changes in your everyday routine could make a huge impact on your health and well-being, as well as the health of our planet?
Studies are coming out frequently about how everyday chemicals in our bodies are resulting in health problems like learning disabilities, autism, cancer and infertility. Often, the impact chemicals have doesn't show up for decades, like with tobacco, for example. What is also unclear is what happens inside our bodies when we come into contact with different chemicals from lots of different sources. What are the risks for us and our children? Don't wait to find out! You can do something today, right in your own home. Become aware of what goes IN you, what goes ON you, and what SURROUNDS you.

IN YOU: Your drinking water

If you think the water coming out of your tap is clean and health-giving ... you'd be mistaken. In 2008, an investigation by the Associated Press showed that America's tap water is contaminated with prescription and over-the-counter drugs, including antibiotics, pain medications, antidepressants and sex hormones "in significant quantities." Scientists are concerned that, even in small concentrations, these drugs could harm us over time because water is consumed in such large amounts every day. Our bodies may be able to deal with a big one-time dose of a chemical, but if a small amount is consumed continuously over years ... no one really knows what can happen to our health.

Green Tip #1:
Play it safe: Buy a water filter and fill up your own reusable metal or glass water bottles at home. Get off plastic bottles. 8 out of 10 plastic water bottles used in the U.S. become garbage or end up in a landfill, contributing to global warming.
(To check your local water quality, go to the Natural Resources Defense Council's site at www.nrdc.org and then go to "What's on Tap"? You should be able to access your community's Annual Quality Report, or you can ask your water utility company for a copy of its annual water quality report.)
ON You: Your personal care products
Most of us use at least 10 cosmetic and personal care products a day and according to the Environmental Working Group, people apply an average of 126 unique ingredients to their skin daily. No one really knows what happens in our bodies when we repeatedly expose ourselves to minute amounts of synthetic chemicals from a variety sources. Another way to absorb chemicals in our personal care products is through the mouth. When a drug like nitroglycerine is administered for a heart condition, it is given under the tongue for fast absorption. So are natural homeopathic remedies. So what happens with your toothpaste?

Green Tip #2:
Switch one thing you use most often in your bathroom. Your toothpaste, for example.
Chemicals like fluoride, saccharin, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), triclosan and acetylpyridium chloride are in there. Switch to a natural brand that doesn't contain these chemicals.

SURROUNDS You: Your household cleaners

If you've ever walked down the household-cleanser aisle at the market and your eyes began to burn or your nose became irritated, it's because common cleaning products contain chemicals that can be more dangerous than the germs themselves. Every time your children roll around on the carpet or your pets lick crumbs off the floor, they are being exposed to noxious chemicals. Don't make the assumption that if it's on the grocery shelf it's been tested and is safe. Most of us, unwittingly, buy products for our home with ingredients that are either poorly studied, not studied at all, or are known to pose potentially serious health risks. Of the roughly 17,000 chemicals found in common household products, only 3 in 10 have been tested for their effects on human health. Why? Because the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission does not require manufacturers to test household cleaning products before they appear on store shelves.

 

Green Tip #3:
Use hydrogen peroxide, vinegar and baking soda to clean your home. Fill one spray bottle with a 3 percent solution of hydrogen peroxide and a second one with vinegar. Spray one right after the other. Use it to wipe kill salmonella and bacteria on counter tops, appliances, and cutting boards. Do the same for the shower to kill bacteria and viruses. Use baking soda instead of commercial abrasive cleaners. Put it in a grated cheese container made of glass with a stainless steel top that has holes in it, and just sprinkle it on the surfaces and scrub.