The Muse of Baking Soda

I was musing in a post the other day about the branding of baking soda. The box was on the counter, because I had to remind myself, or my husband, to pick up more. Even though it is a cleaner, the symbol of the arm and hammer was just a little too industrial for my liking. I was also not very fond of their choice of orange as a company colour. It has overtones of prison uniforms and well, enough said.

OK, the symbol and the colour just got bigger. My husband remembered to pick up baking soda on Saturday. However, he didn’t just buy one of those small little boxes that fit in the fridge or on a shelf in the cupboard, for the few times that you need it for baking. No, he bought the giant economy sized package, which is the size of a small cereal box!!

Nothing says cleaning more than two kilos of bicarbonate of soda. Now I don’t have to use it sparingly!!! I can just shovel it into sinks, tubs and basins with gay abandon – when has cleaning been this much fun!! You see I really have gone mad with Cabin Fever!!

In fact, I immediately went into a cleaning frenzy. My first target was the fridge. I turned it off, emptied out the food, took out every rack and bin and scrubbed the interior. Next, I cleaned each rack and bin, before putting it back in place. Finally, I threw out old dressings, sauces and everything else that was past its best before date, as I restocked the shelves and drawers. I even cleaned the freezer. What a catharsis!  I still may be a little mad, but, I am cleaner and happier.

Ironically, I didn’t use an ounce of baking soda. I will though, when I soak the oven racks, while I clean the oven. Then it’s on to the dishwasher. Now, I know that you can use baking soda to clean an empty dishwasher. In fact according the box – it’s bigger now so there is more information - I can -

1.     Use it with a septic tank – don’t have one.

2.     Use it to clean silver – don’t have any

3.     Use it to maintain my swimming pool – don’t have one

4.     Use it in the bathtub to soften my skin. Hmmm then I would have to forgo my shower.

Maybe I’ll just let the kids make a volcano or two. Or I could go on the internet and look up a few more uses for baking soda. This might take the rest of the day. Now who said that Arm and Hammer was just about cleaning – maybe it’s more about how to brighten a cold grey winter’s day. Perhaps their symbol should be a ray or two of sunshine. Then they could change the colour of the box to yellow and voila – put the sparkle back into cleaning.