Bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar

[Spidey66]

i keep hearing it’s great for cleaning. How do you use it? I bought some from Poundland together with white vinegar and a spray bottle. I put some together, gave the bottle a little shake and it went mad. Obviously that’s not how you use it

so how do you use it? Separate obviously, but how and for what? And how does your house not smell like a chippy if you’re using white vinegar? Do you add zoflora to it?

It effectively does nothing. Mrs Hinckley was always on about it apparently.

@Spidey66 , citric acid is cheaper than fresh lemons.

@leperol , don't you rinse the sudsy water off the plates? Why do you think there's a great big ! on the back of a Fairy Liquid bottle?

If you don't have rubbing alcohol (aka surgical spirit), hand sanitizer gel will do. Test on an inconspicuous area first.

Citric acid is much more effective than vinegar. There’s lots on the Internet. also Nancy Burtwhistle has written quite a bit and you can sometimes get her books from the library.

The other thing is sodium percarbonate, which can be very useful..

Sodium percarbonate is also known as non-chloride bleach. It's in products like Oxy and Vanish, and sterilising fluid.

Brilliant for a foot soak. Warm water plus vinegar and soak feet for ten minutes. Make a paste with some bicarbonate and liquid soap, one pump of handwash and a tablespoon of bicarbonate per foot, rub it in, back in the vinegar water and it’ll bubble off leaving you with smooth and super clean feet.

Great if you’ve been stuck wearing sweaty / damp shoes all day and your feet feel rank.

A warning re bicarbonate and vinegar for plug holes…
I did this last week on a slow draining plug hole. I was a bit over enthusiastic with the bicarb and ended up blocking the pipe completely. Everything I read online suggested it would have solidified in the u bend and I would need to dismantle the (tiled in) pipes/get a plumber to fix it. 😱. Thankfully I was able to avoid this - it was a very slow process of poking the mass with a metal barbecue skewer, using a plunger and many litres of vinegar and also boiling water… did this every 15 minutes or so until it was finally unblocked … it took SIX HOURS! What a waste of an evening - please learn from my foolishness!
(although must admit the plughole has never looked cleaner! 😂)

It’s in them, but they also contain other stuff. In my experience, you don’t need the other stuff and can just buy sodium percarbonate.

Yes, and I prefer to use the active ingredient without the 'other stuff' where possible.

Can I ask what you use sodium percarbonate for?

Of course I rinse off the suds, my mum taught me that lol!

@Shinyandnew1 , instead of bleach. It's not environmentally toxic like regular bleach.

I use white wine vinegar instead of fabric softener.
I've also checked bicarb soda straight in the washing machine tub to rid the towels of fabric softener that had turned them into cardboard. There's no smell of vinegar at all.

Re read my post 🤣 I didnt say it was. I said mixing zoflora with other chemicals could be dangerous

My mum used to make me put surgical spirit on my cold sores, she said it dried them out so they would scab up faster.

ANT KILLER:
Bicarbonate of soda and icing sugar in equal quantities. Sprinkle where there is evidence of ants, they are attracted to the sugar and ingest and take back to the nest but the BOS dehydrates and kills them.
Sprinkle along an ant trail or place in bottle lids.
Handy if you get ants in the kitchen.

Acidic smells notably sweat or food odours. Use BOS.
for alkalinic smells and limescale use vinegar.

I have to smile when some posters demonize certain cleaning products as " chemicals". All substances are chemicals, whether they are natural or synthetic. Harmful is another issue!
Answering the original poster.

1. Vinegar cuts through dirt and grime on hard inert substances like glass - it's excellent for windows. It shouldn't be used on surfaces that are suseptable to acid corrosion like rubber, metal or marble though.
2. Mixing vinegar with bicarbonate looks like an impressive fizz but the two substances neutralise each other, so it's no better than using just water.
3. Washing up liquid in hot water is a really good, safe degreaser for all surfaces.

4.Regarding disinfectants like Zoflora, they are perfectly safe to use as long as you follow the instructions and are particularly useful on surfaces that might harbour microbes like bathrooms and toilets.

1. Bleach, including perchlorates and percarbonates, should be used with caution as bleach in particular is one of the few substances sold to the public that is really dangerous at the strength given in the bottle. It has its place for killing germs, but it can damage skin and is particularly hazardous if it is injested or gets on your eyes. It can damage some surfaces too unless it is well diluted.

Yes. OP buy one of her natural cleaning books and stop guessing.

Almost true,
Whilst bicarbonate of soda and citric acid neutralise each other at the end of the reaction, the trick is how you use them. Use bicarbonate first, scrub to deal with grease and oil and bodily stains.

Then add citric acid in a slightly greater amount. The resulting carbon dioxide bubbles caused by the reaction help to lift grime and because there is more acid than alkaline, this helps deal with limescale. So whilst the end result is neutralised substances, the reaction helps cleaning. It’s not a zero sum game.

I totally agree. Everything is chemicals. Even us! Makes me eye roll when people say they only things that are chemical free. Even water is hydrogen dioxide.