Borax Vs Baking Soda: When To Use Each For A Sparkling Clean Home

Baking soda and Borax are like cousins — they're similar in many ways, but their differences shouldn't be ignored. Because Borax is stronger and poses more health risks, it can be reserved for tasks like stripping laundry, removing rust, or killing mold. Meanwhile, baking soda is great for daily cleaning tasks like scrubbing the kitchen or deodorizing the fridge.

Both baking soda and Borax are naturally occurring salts that come in a white powder form and are popular for household cleaning. They're effective in some of the same ways: as mild abrasives, they're helpful for scrubbing, and their alkaline pH allows them to neutralize odor molecules and break down oil or grease. But baking soda and Borax have different chemical compositions. Borax is even more alkaline than baking soda, so it can be more effective at cleaning, but it's not safe to ingest or touch like baking soda. Despite their similarities, the two shouldn't be used interchangeably without some precautions.

Baking soda is one of the most ubiquitous natural cleaning products out there. It's cheap, versatile, and safe. It's common to use baking soda as a deodorizer — who hasn't had a container in their fridge or freezer? — but the same properties that make it effective at neutralizing odors also make it useful for many other tasks.

You can mix baking soda and water to create an all-purpose cleaning paste for kitchens and bathrooms. Because it's so gentle and safe, you can use it on most cookware and appliances, including microwaves, refrigerators, and ovens. Add dish soap for extra scrubbing power. Baking soda can also unclog drains while removing any strange smells. As an odor absorber, it works on smelly trash cans, closets, carpets, washing machines, furniture, and more. You can even add it to a laundry load to help remove stubborn smells.

Baking soda's gentleness is one of its main benefits, but it can also be a downside. Sometimes a gentle product is exactly what you need. Other times, a stronger product can do the job better and more efficiently. That's where Borax comes in.

Borax can be used in many of the same ways at baking soda, but it's a harsher product that also requires some extra safety precautions. Borax is not safe to ingest, and it's not safe to use around children or pets. Additionally, it can cause skin and eye irritation. To use Borax safely, wear gloves, rinse it off thoroughly, and keep it away from kids or animals.

It's most practical to use Borax when you don't have to worry about accidentally consuming or touching it, and when its extra cleaning power comes in handy. One popular use for Borax is in laundry: it can boost the effectiveness of your laundry detergent, bleach out stains, and even help keep the fabric clean after washing by repelling dirt. It's common to use Borax for laundry stripping, which involves deep cleaning clothes to remove leftover soil that regular wash cycles don't reach. You may also reach for Borax instead of baking soda when scrubbing grimy bathrooms, killing mold and removing rust from metal — all situations where stronger is often better.