Baking Soda is awesome, y’all.
I use it all the time to clean stains off my counter tops. My somewhat-old-fashioned, non-granite counter tops.
Y’all convinced me here, and then I became a believer here.
But even though baking soda is perfect for cleaning a lot of things and is safe enough to use in cookies (which means you actually EAT it!) or for brushing teeth (Hubby tried this recently when we were out of toothpaste, yuck!), there’s a downside.
I’m not knocking cleaning with baking soda, but I think it’s important to understand what you’re getting yourself into before you start sprinkling everything in sight with the stuff.
I’d hate for someone to think they’re doing a quick kitchen clean up before a guest shows up and not leave time for the endless wiping required to remove the film left behind before the doorbell is due to ring.
Oh. I just gave the downside away. Oops.
There’s a film. A film that doesn’t go away in one wipe, y’all. Or two wipes. Or sometimes even three.
I can deal with it on my baking-soda-colored countertops, but my shiny (other than the burnt on stuff that looks significantly worse in the picture than I ever noticed while doing this and which is therefore a project and post for another day) black stove, not so much.
I thought I was being all Cleaning Blogger Awesome when I cleaned that stove.
And then it dried.
And I wiped it off again.
And then it dried again.
And I had to wipe it off again.
And then it dried yet again.
And my daughter exclaimed how terrible it looked and wiped it down again. And then again. She experienced that strange satisfaction that comes over you when you wipe away visible mess. And then she experienced the frustration of seeing the mess reappear when it dried.
Yes, crusty stuff had come off, but the magically re-appearing white film was getting ridiculous.
Finally, it looked ok.
But I’ve decided to stick to cleaning with baking soda on baking soda colored surfaces.
Especially after I used baking soda to easily clean this severely-water-spotted-and-long-neglected water dispenser tray on my fridge. It worked, and the mineral deposits (aka ickiness) were mostly gone. But then, when I stepped back to admire my work, I saw the the area around the area I’d just cleaned. Ugh. Did you read the post about cleaning that stainless steel? I’d just cleaned it about an hour before this!
Yay for natural cleaners that really do scrub out stains and get rid of tough built-up messes. Boo for the mess baking soda leaves behind.
Do y’all have any tricks for me? Do you know the absolute best way to get rid of the film in one or two (or even three) wipes?
Obligatory Amazon affiliate links:
Baking Soda. Really. You can get all sorts of household goods on Amazon. Go here to see how I use it to save my sanity!
I use baking soda for a deodorizer in my bathroom, shoes, and the cat litter box. I also make a paste with it and clean out the inside of my tea cups so they don’t have that brown tint that comes from drinking black tea all the time.
Kiersten @ Autumn Country Girl
Vinegar rinse? Or really really hot water?
Wipe down with a little bit of vinegar on a rag or paper towel. Just a little, you don’t want a foamy reaction, but just enough to dampen the rag. Vinegar is awesome for all streaks!
I use baking soda to clean my ceramic stove top too, and I do get a film (and it does make a big mess with baking soda…but it’s the best way to get it clean for me!).
But, then I spray my homemade glass cleaner on it, and the film goes away. I just add 2 cups water, 1/2 teaspoon Dawn Dish Detergent, and 1/4 cup Distilled White Vinegar to a spray bottle to make the cleaner.
I actually use this glass cleaner to clean the stove when it’s not a complete mess (and not in complete need to baking soda).
I love your idea for DIY windex.. I live in a place where it is very expensive. I’m always looking for an alternative.
Fire hose!
Thankfully, all my kitchen and bath stuff’s white besides the stainless steel sink, and it’s a whole lot easier to just rinse the hell out of that. Now that you’ve made me think about it, I’m now wondering just how much of that film’s all over my stove, bathroom sink, bathtub, etc. that I just don’t notice.
I was gonna suggest to try either dish soapy water or diluted vinegar. I would also suggest to first wipe of the main residue of the baking soda and gunk it cleaned and then use a fresh cloth with plenty of water to wipe down. In some cases where I used lots of baking soda it took me also a few wipes but not what you described… Maybe you just used a lot of baking soda. Using less b. soda with vinegar (for doubled effect on surfaces suitable for this) and letting it soak longer may give you the same cleaning results without that much residue. For my oven which is usually the worst case baking soda requiring task I also use a plastic scraper first to get as much baked on gunk off as possible, followed by a couple hour long or overnight soak with baking soda and vinegar. Then it’s mostly just wiping it off, scrub a little bit where necessary and clean up with a fresh very wet cloth.
The vinegar solution sounds like a good rinsing method. After rinsing and drying, try wiping away any remaining residue with a DRY microfiber or terry cloth towel.
After cleaning, dry the surface and buff it. No more film.
I’ve only ever used it with vinegar, truth be told. I think that would probably work since I’ve not had the residue issue happen before. Best of luck!
I was going to say spray it down with vinegar (ESPECIALLY on your glass stove top), because as awesome as baking soda is, it’s double awesome when you use with vinegar. Promise.
I use Oxi-Clean laundry spray to clean especially greasy stuff off of my glass stovetop, works great and it leaves it beautifully shiny!
Norwex cleaning paste is the best for glass cook tops!!
The key to getting rid of the film after you’ve wiped and rinsed (with water or vinegar) is to wipe the cooktop with a clean dry cloth. Even the cooktop cleaner leaves a film like the baking soda if you don’t buff it with a dry cloth after cleaning and rinsing.
I used to clean with baking soda and vinegar too. Cheap and natural but dang that stuff is the herpes of cleaning! I learned about Norwex! Cleaning the majority of my home with high quality microfiber and water and get 99% bacteria off the surface instantly! Wam Bam. Winner in my book.
I have not read all the comments, but NORWEX microfiber cloths work amazing wonders. They clean better than ANYTHING I’ve ever seen. I have no doubt that the residue would be gone with 2 swipes of an Envirocloth and one swipe of the glass cloth to dry it to a shine. And I don’t even sell them, but I’m a true believer! Totally worth the cost. BEST RAGS EVER!!!
I have to recommend using vinegar to rinse too. I think the vinegar dissolves the baking soda. I use baking soda and Dawn dish liquid to clean my glass top stove and then rinse with vinegar and water. The addition of Dawn really gives the baking soda extra cleaning power. It’s great on baked on grease, such as gets on the glass pane of the oven door.
For stainless steel try olive oil! Shines it up like nobodies business!
skip the baking soda for that kind of stuff, baking soda is best used as a scouring powder (like, for your bathtub). for kitchen counters and stove, spray it with peroxide and wipe (this is not only cleaning, but also disinfecting). if you have nasty burned/stuck on stuff on your stove, spray it with peroxide and let it sit while you clean the rest of the kitchen, then wipe it off. for the fridge/mineral deposit mess, vinegar is best. i promise you, i have 90% of my household cleaning supplies down to peroxide, baking soda, and blue Dawn.
I too love love love baking soda. I go baking soda crazy and sprinkle it all over my house. I believe in its anti fungal properties and abhor fungi. Anywho after baking soda was literally everywhere in everything I turned to my other favorite VINEGAR. Just mist it or use a vinegar dampened rag and POOF chemistry at its finest. Baking soda gone. Spic and sparkly surface left behind. Just not on natural stone. I use my dr bronner dish soap mixture there with a microfiber cloth.
Norwex fans, I found e-cloth is a very similar product but much less expensive! The polishing cloth is a dream for things like this.
Finally someone who tells the truth about how difficult it is to rinse baking soda! A vinegar rinse, as other people suggested, should work fine. Also, use as little baking soda as required in the first place.
You know how vinegar and baking soda fizz? Spray it with vinegar! It will break down the baking soda and make it easier to clean off.
I tried cleaning my oven with the baking soda and you are 100% right, no, 500% right!!! All I had was this huge mess that by the time I was maybe halfway thru I was in tears….literally. I will clean with something totally different next time….if there is a next time! Hahaha
Just peroxide. Spray it on my wipe off.
I need advice about cleaning car seats and carpet is baking soda going to work as i would like to use it on its own.