Improve muscle performance
High-intensity exercise signals your muscles to produce lactic acid, which makes your muscles burn and lowers the pH of your cells, leading to muscle fatigue. Baking soda’s high pH may delay fatigue so you can power through your workout longer.
Treat skin woes
The pain and itch of bug bites, bee stings, and sunburn find welcome relief with a baking soda bath or a paste made with water and baking soda and applied to the skin. You can also add cornstarch or oatmeal to the recipe for more soothing relief.
Reduce odors
Baking soda interacts with acidic odor particles and neutralizes them, which is why people stick an open box of baking soda in the back of the fridge.
You can also pour some into the bottom of your trash can, or make baking soda pouches to deodorize your shoes or car. Musty smell? Throw some baking soda at it.
Kill weeds
Step away from the Roundup! To create a hostile environment for weeds in the cracks of your sidewalk or driveway without contributing to catastrophic environmental damage, sprinkle abundant baking soda over the intruders. But keep it out of your flower beds and veggie garden.
Kill roaches
God forbid you’ve got roaches, but if you do, mix up a toxic little cocktail of baking soda and sugar, and put it in a jar lid for them to feast upon. It’ll cause their internal organs to explode, eek.
Clean produce
A 2017 study found that immersing apples for 15 minutes in a solution of one teaspoon of baking powder to two cups of water removes all traces of pesticides from the surface of the peel. That’s because sodium bicarbonate quickly breaks down the pesticides and makes them easy to rinse away.
Unclog a drain
To clear mild clogs, pour about a half-cup of baking soda down the drain and chase that with a cup of vinegar. Let it work for a half hour, then pour boiling water down the drain.
If that doesn’t work, read up on some more ways to make stronger drain cleaners here.