The Baking Soda Solution

Well, I guess an old dog can indeed learn new tricks... Today I discovered that a. baking soda works better than Soft Scrub for cleaning burned on gunk off the stove b. that it works as well as Comet for cleaning stains off the counters c. it works better than stainless steel cleaner for cleaning the teapot and d. it works better than anything else I've tried for cleaning the shower. What's more it's a. cheaper than all those other products and b. far less toxic. It also doesn't leave any noxious odors around. I suspect that those "green" cleaners that you can buy for oodles of bucks at the health food store don't work any better either. Since I've been using vinegar for cleaning the microwave anyway, I'm suddenly realizing that I may actually begin saving money on cleaners. Now if I can only find a way to wash clothes that doesn't involve laundry detergent which is getting more expensive every trip to the store. Good old Ivory Soap Flakes don't seem to be available around here. If they were I'd go back to Ivory and Borax (which is what I used to use on the kids diapers). My husband says maybe we need to start making our own soap. After all we have the wood ashes and we could easily get the fat from the next sheep we slaughter... I'm not sure about that, it sounds pretty complicated. The baking soda solution, however, is quite simple.