10 WONDERFUL HOME USES FOR SODIUM BICARBONATE (BAKING SODA)

First, before we go on, let me quickly give a brief explanation of what sodium bicarbonate is. I know the name doesn't sound like something common or something we are familiar with and some people may even be thinking it's not something within our reach but I tell you, that is not true.

Ok, Sodium bicarbonate also known as or commonly known as baking soda is obtained/derived from a naturally occurring mineral called trona. Sodium bicarbonate has its chemical formula as NaHCO3. Which simply means, it contains: sodium, hydrogen, carbon and oxygen. Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) is said to be hundred Percent (100 0/0) pure, safe and natural. Sorry, this is not some sort of chemistry class, just trying to give us an idea of what sodium bicarbonate is.

How and where can we get sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)?
You can get sodium bicarbonate from almost anywhere in a chemical store and very cheap.

USES

1. To eliminate odour from room (especially when water is mistakenly poured on your rug or carpet):
Just sprinkle some sodium bicarbonate on the rug and allow to sit for sometimes/hours, then sweep away later.
To keep your room or anywhere in the house smelling natural, just sprinkle around.
Sodium bicarbonate absorbs odors and help to keep things smelling fresh.

2. To eliminate bad smell or odours from shoes.
I know this would be very helpful to guys that use shoes. You know how it feels when you visit someone or when you get home and have to pull your shoes after a long day. Ouch! That awful smell that oozes from your shoes.
To keep your shoes smelling fresh, get 2 pieces of clothe, pour some sodium bicarbonate, let's say 3-4 spoonfuls in each, tie and stuck them into the shoes and leave for sometime. You can also use your old stocks for this. Do this every time, the sodium bicarbonate will absorb the bad smell from the shoes and keep them fresh. I don't mean to brag here, but I can proudly tell you that my shoes don't smell bad, no matter how long I wear them. Hehehe.

3. Keep bad odour from your fridge
You know sometimes, the fridge can smell really bad when light goes off for a while, especially if you usually keep things like meat and other fresh things in your fridge. One good way to stop your fridge from smelling bad in this case is by using sodium bicarbonate.
Just get a very big cup, could be plastic cup. Put in some sodium bicarbonate and leave it there in the fridge. You may use 2-3 cups for this, depending on the size of the cup and your fridge. This works great.

4. For cleansing purpose.
Ok, if you don't want scratches on your sweet looking ties or marbles, always use bicarbonate to clean them.
Simply sprinkle some sodium bicarbonate on the ties, use a mild damp rag to mob it off. It leaves your ties clean and shiny.


5. To clean burnt pot.
You know that awkward time when your food got badly burnt underneath, maybe because you slept off or your attention was carried away by something. This happened to me a lot, back then in school. Apart from realising you've just burnt your last beans, another night mare is how to clean up the pot. In this case, just pour some sodium bicarbonate and soak with hot water, leave for some hours. The black stain will easily and amazingly come off from the pot.

6. To remove grease stain.
If you ever have to remove grease stain from any item, don't struggle much, just sprinkle sodium bicarbonate over the stain and rinse or wash off easily.

7. As deodorant or to neutralise body odour.
If you have body odor, please try this. It works great. Just sprinkle sodium bicarbonate under your arms. If you also sweat a lot, maybe under your arms, do try this and you'll thank me later. Sodium bicarbonate absorbs sweat and leave you feeling fresh all day. In case you have a very strong body odour, I can help you with a stronger formula.


8. To relieve pain or treat insect bites.
If you ever get bitten by insects, just make a sodium bicarbonate paste (like your calamine lotion) and apply to the bitten area.
This is also very helpful in curing itching body. If your body itches you, just try this and you'll be relieved soon.

9. To cure dandruff.
Dandruff can be completely cured with the help of sodium bicarbonate. For ladies, this can be very helpful to you. Get your hair wet with water, apply a handful amount of sodium bicarbonate down to your scap. Rinse your hair thoroughly with water, after sometime. You may stop using hair shampoo for a while and concentrate on this.

10.Lastly, for mothers in the house, you can clean your babies' diapers (and other diapers) with sodium bicarbonate. Dissolve sodium bicarbonate in water and soak the diapers in them.


Other uses for bicarbonate( medical uses).
Research has shown that sodium bicarbonate can be used in treating or curing sicknesses like: cancer, flu, diabete, heartburn, kidney diseases and many more.
I can't give the dosage for use in this case because I'm not a doctor. Doctors in the house could help throw more light on this.
Sodium bicarbonate is also used in cooking and in baking.

The post is getting too long, I should just stop here.
You can ask me any question on the use of sodium bicarbonate(with the exception of oral administration of it). Thanks.

Most of your enumerated uses at home revolved around cleaning mostly.

I will want to go tangential and state one under-utilized function of baking powder which women seeking male children would like.

The birth canal is mostly acidic until around the ovulation period when it becomes alkaline. However, in some women, the activity of certain bacterium called the doderlain bacilli promotes increased acidity which hampers the activity of Y-Spermatozoon. Therefore, women seeking male heirs can wash the birth canal with baking powder to make it alkaline coupled with ovulation timing to improve their chances of having a male child.

SEE, YOU CAN PLAY GOD AT HOME WITH BAKING SODA .

matify:

Most of your enumerated uses at home revolved around cleaning mostly.

I will want to go tangential and state one under-utilized function of baking powder which women seeking male children would like.

The birth canal is mostly acidic until around the ovulation period when it becomes alkaline. However, in some women, the activity of certain bacterium called the doderlain bacilli promotes increased acidity which hampers the activity of Y-Spermatozoon. Therefore, women seeking male heirs can wash the birth canal with baking powder to make it alkaline coupled with ovulation timing to improve their chances of having a male child.

SEE, YOU CAN PLAY GOD AT HOME WITH BAKING SODA .

Wow, thanks for your brilliant contribution sir. You know, I just learnt something new from you now.

I actually wanted to limit it to common use.

Wondering if this post has really been of any help to some one. Please, feel free to share your experience on the use of bicarbonate. I intentionally put the post here for people to learn and contribute also.

I need more of Oga Matify here. I
would post more uses for bicarbonate only if I know some one is learning.

Wow ...Just seen this now!
You guys should not stop Ooo!
Thanks for this

Strongbest: I need more of Oga Matify here. I
would post more uses for bicarbonate only if I know some one is learning.

Guess i would not need to buy air fresheners n deodorants again,a spoon of NaHCo3 got me covered.

Guess it would not be necessary for me to buy air freshener n deodorants cause a spoon of NaHCo3 got me covered.

TRADELYN: Wow ...Just seen this now!
You guys should not stop Ooo!
Thanks for this

Noted!

Danieltaiwo: Guess i would not need to buy air fresheners n deodorants again,a spoon of NaHCo3 got me covered.

Lols....yes o! Just a little modification and you are good to go.

Wow! Good thread

Juliana7: Wow! Good thread

Thanks.

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Good write up

It's all about being informed..

Knowledge is power...

Thumbs up..
O.p

Thanks @ ERCROSS.

Nice work!!!

Thanks @Chibyksveejay and nice to have you around.

anoda1:
Good write up

Thanks.

Increase In Absorbance For Substrate And Blank (Carbonate Bicorbonate)

Procedure: 0.1ml of the serum was added to the tubes containing 0.75ml of ethanol and 0.15ml of chloroform under chilled condition and centrifuged. To 0.5ml of supernatant, 0.5ml of 0.6mM EDTA solution and 1.0ml of 0.1M carbonate-bicorbonate (pH 10.2) were added. The reaction was initiated by the addition of 0.5ml of 1.8mM epinephrine and the increase in absorbance at 30 seconds interval for 3 minutes was measured at 480nm in a Shimadu UV spectrophotometer.

Calculation:
Increase in absorbance for substrate = A3 – A0
2.5
where
A3 = Absorbance after 150 secs
A0 = Absorbance after 30 secs.
% inhibition
= 100 – {(increase in absorbance for substrate)/(increase in absorbance for blank)} x 100/1
One unit of SOD activity was given as the amount of SOD activity to cause 50% inhibition of the oxidation of adrenaline.
SOD activity = (% inhibition)/50
Unit is in I.U.

3.2.6.2 Catalase Activity
Method: Calatase was aasayed according to the method of Takahara et al. (1960).
Principle:
In the UV range, H2O2 shows a continued increase in absorbance with decreasing wavelength. The decomposition of H2O2 can be followed directly by decrease in extinction at 240nm. The difference in extinctions, DE240 per unit time is a measure of the activity of catalase.
Reaction
2H2O2 2H2O + O2

Procedure:
To 1.2ml of 0.01mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), 0.5ml of serum was added. The enzyme reaction was started by the addition of 1.0ml of 0.2mM hydrogen peroxide solution. The decrease in absorbance was measured at 240nm for every 30 seconds up to 3 minutes. the enzyme blank was run simultaneously with 1.0ml of distilled water instead of H2O2.

Calculation:
K = 2.303/∆t x (Log E_1)/E_2
where
t = Change in time
E1 = Absorbance at t6 i.e 180 sec
E2 = Absorbance at t1 i.e 30 secs.
K = Reaction rate.
Unit is iu/mg of protein.

Glutathione peroxidase (GPX) Activity
Method: The Rotouck et al. (1973) method was used.
Principle:
The increase in absorbance of the solution was measured when 1.0ml of dithionitrobenzene (DTNB) was added and read at 420nm immediately.

Procedure:

The reaction mixture consisting of 0.2ml of 0.8mM EDTA, 0.1ml of 10mM sodium azide, 0.1ml of 2.5mM H2O2, 0.2ml of GSH, 0.4ml of 0.4mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) and 0.2ml of serum was incubated at 370C for 10 minutes. The reaction was arrested by the addition of 0.5ml of 10% TCA and the tubes were centrifuged at 2000 rpm. To the supernatant, 3.0ml of 0.3m disodium hydrogen phosphate and 1.0ml of DTNB were added and the colour developed was read at 420nm immediately. The activity of glutathione peroxidase was expressed as µmoles of glutathione oxidized/minutes/mg of protein.
Calculation:
GPX activity = (Absorbance of the sample/minute)/(0.840 X 10)
where
0.840 = Absorbance of the standard
10 = Absorbance of the standard

Glutathione-s-Transferase (GSTs) Assay
Method: GSTs was assayed by the method of Habig et al. (1974).
http://www.prestarticles.com/increase-in-absorbance-for-substrate-and-blank-carbonate-bicorbonate/