Baking Soda: A Love Story

I learned of this trick from Jo, who read it on some online bastion of crunchiness to which she is hopelessly addicted. Which one, I can't remember.

Throw a few cups of baking soda into the tub. You could even throw in an entire 12 lb bag and sweep most of it up before turning the water on. Toss the kids in the tub and let them play sandbox while you are in the other room doing something Important That Has To Be Done, like putting laundry away or finishing up those damn gloves or sitting on the bed wearing one sock and a bra and staring into space. They are almost guaranteed not to shit, cry, fight or get hungry for at least 15 minutes.

Proceed with bathtime as normal. For us, that means we all pile into  the water and pretend to wash each others' hair. I try to get some personal grooming done and the girls do their best to negotiate toys. (a future post will include a picture of the bath toys dujour, Ariel and Ariel's [cross-dressing] Daddy, which are actually not bath toys at all, but a barbie and a plush mermaid, which has to be wrung dry in a towel or s/he will take days to dry. I am putting this here mainly to remind myself to do this post soon, because it's been over a year that I've been meaning to tell you about Ariel's Cross-Dressing Daddy, and I don't want to forget).

Enough baking soda will clean the tub and all of us as well. While being immediatly present to attend to drowning disasters, I occupy myself by rubbing baking soda around the edges of the tub, where there is many months accumulation of unscrubbed people-dirt.

Mixed with honey it makes a great all-purpose cleanser for faces and babies and hair* and everything else. The honey is a humectant that attracts and seals in moisture. The baking soda gently exfoliates. It leaves skin clean and fresh but without the dryness necessitating a moisturizer. Great for my sensitively skinned daughters who dry out and redden after one good soaping.

For the love of all things bicarbonated, I'll tell you that I also brush my teeth with it, clean my sink with it, put it in my laundry, rub it on my feet, sprinkle it on my carpet before vaccuuming,  and cover "pet stains" (courtesy of my neurotic cat) with it before drowning the whole area in white vinegar and scrubbing with one of these until the foaming stops (it doesn't quite get rid of the stain, but it sure as hell neutralizes the smell. A little lemon and tea tree essential oils in a diffuser and it's like I don't even have a cat, much less a crazy one who stakes out her territory around the stairs.)

As you can imagine, I buy the biggest bags of baking soda they sell at the giant store which only sells giant things. Considering everything I do with it, the bags last a long time.

*I've heard it strips color from dyed hair. I'm afraid to test it on my artificially ravenned tresses.

Comments

[Jo]

It was HipMama, punk.

[Lilian]

I'VE GOT TO TRY THIS!!

And please please please, hurry up with Ariel's cross dressing's dad post, will'ya? Don't forget photos ;)

[Jo]

Oooh, and you know, I bet you're right about the hair. I remember the old remedy for stripping dye was to wash with baby shampoo -- because the ph was high for no-more-tears-ness.

So same thing, I betcha.

[kim.kim]

I forgot about using baking soda to exfoliate. Honey face masks are wonderful too.

I am so jealous of your babies, they are adorable. Please do not make us wait long to read about Ariel's cross dressing father.....

[Nicole]

you may have just changed my life. i am sitting in a cloud of catstink right now, but as soon as i can peel the sleeping nursling from me, i'm bustin' out the baking soda.

and i love the sandbox idea.

it also works great to scrub stainless steel sinks and pots/pans.

[raven]

I love your blog. I have one at ravenwonder.blogspot.com and I seem to blog about quite similar things (mainly mothering I guess)....some of your posts have been so helpful to me and I love your honesty.