When you read books about environmentally friendly cleaning techniques or search the web, you often come across two popular products: Vinegar and Baking Soda. You may already have both of these common household products in your house.
On the pH scale, baking soda is on the opposite side of vinegar. Vinegar is slightly acidic while baking soda is a base. Water is considered neutral with a pH of 7, vinegar is acidic with a pH of 2.4 and baking soda is on the other side of the scale at 8.4. So as you can see, while neither vinegar nor baking soda are strong, they do have different qualities.
VINEGAR: Since vinegar is slightly acidic, this means it is good for getting rid of hard water spots in your shower, but there are some things you would not want to clean with an acid. You need to make sure you know when and where to spray it. You might also find the smell to be somewhat of a problem. I used to spray straight white distilled vinegar in my shower and my wife would complain that the bathroom smelled like ketchup. Although the smell will go away after a few hours, if you buy a little lemon oil and add a few drops to the vinegar you might find the smell less offensive.
BAKING SODA: You've probably heard that baking soda is good for getting rid of smells in the refrigerator. It can also be used in other places where smells accumulate. Anything with a high pH is also a whitening agent. By comparison, bleach has a pH of about 13. This means that while it can be used to get stains out of your carpet or off your counter, you should be careful and test it first in an inconspicuous spot because it could also discolor that nice rug of yours.
Since vinegar smells bad and baking soda gets rid of bad smells, couldn't you just combine them and get a super cleaning agent that smells nice? Well, not really. The cleaning power of each of these substances has to do with their pH. But if you combine them the pH becomes neutral, meaning that it would clean just like water does. This isn't bad, but it might not be what you are looking for. However, there are a few instances where you might want to combine them. You see, if you put baking soda in vinegar it will bubble up. Some people recommend pouring baking soda into a clogged drain and then put vinegar into it. The bubbling might help break up the clog. Next time you have a clog you might give it a try. Although I haven't had much success with this tip, it's definitely worth trying before you go dumping lye into your drain.
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