I have used Arm & Hammer Baking Soda mostly for baking.  Baking Soda is a common ingredient in many recipes.  I have placed an open box of baking soda in my refrigerator and freezer to help absorb odors.  Sometimes I buy carpet fresheners that contain baking soda; you sprinkle it on your carpet, wait a few minutes and then vacuum.  I also have added it to my bathwater.  My aunt used to brush her teeth with it.  (Now they have toothpaste that contains baking soda.)  Other than that, I never gave much thought to baking soda – until the other day.

My mother-in-law was cleaning out her closets and passed on a few books and magazines to me.  I needed some new reading material, so I gladly accepted them.  Included in the pile of books, was one on Arm & Hammer Baking Soda.  I was puzzled.  A whole book on baking soda?  Could there really be that much to write about?  It wasn’t a really big book, only 64 pages.  But really, 64 pages on baking soda?  So, I had to find out what was on those pages.  I read it.  It’s pretty easy reading, so it didn’t take very long.  But there was some pretty amazing stuff in there.  Uses I never would have thought of.

I showed my husband the book and after he read the section on cleaning countertops, he decided to try it on ours.  We have a juicer, and the vegetables we have been juicing have left some hard to remove stains on our countertop.  One big culprit was the carrot – it left some orange stains.  Here’s what our counter looked like.

Then, my husband prepared a cleaning paste as described in the book, and proceeded to clean our counters.

Here’s the after picture.  Pretty good.  No more orange streaks.

We plan to try some of the other uses mentioned in the book.  Just thought I’d tell you about it.  If you see the book, it might be worth buying.  There are some really good tips in there.