Baking Soda: Over 500 Fabulous, Fun, and Frugal Uses You've Probably Never Thought Of (Lansky, Vicki) [Paperback]

Vicki Lansky (Author)

Book Description

Series: Lansky, Vicki | Publication Date: November 25, 2003

Baking soda gets its due in this fun collection gathered by Vicki Lansky and her readers over more than twenty years. From making an omelette extra fluffy or deodorizing those musty household smells, to improving flossing and mouth freshness or washing clay flower pots without leaving residue, the book offers hundreds of tips for making the most of this environmentally friendly and inexpensive product.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This is not simply a useful and informative book about the innumerable uses for good old baking soda, saving tons of money, and in the process not harming the environment. It is also entertaining and sometimes downright funny--it would be a great gift for anyone, including yourself. I expect that Vicki Lansky had a blast putting this book together, and her enthusiasm is evident in the text. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

You might wearily expect that a book with a title like this one is just another Hints from Heloise clone (which is not necessarily a bad thing), but in this case it's far better than that. For, besides an incredible accumulation of recipes and other uses for baking soda, this book contains an entertaining history of the baking soda industry and the story of how and why this wonderful substance came to be invented. Baking soda, Lansky says, is a wildly successful instance of a product developed to fill one specific need (i.e., "for an affordable, clean, consistent leavening agent") being found to have myriad other uses. Charming as this background is, the promised 500-plus uses of baking soda constitute the book's raison d'etre. Lansky easily fulfills the promise without resorting to list extenders of any kind, in the end producing a thoroughly enjoyable, useful little volume. Mike Tribby --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Book Peddlers, The; 2nd edition (November 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0916773418
• ISBN-13: 978-0916773410
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,104 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Home & Garden > How-to & Home Improvements > Cleaning, Caretaking & Relocating
  • #5 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Business & Investing > Personal Finance > General
  • #23 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > How-to & Home Improvements > Cleaning, Caretaking & Relocating

More About the Author

Feed Me I'm Yours, my first book, began as a local fund raising cookbook in 1974 and turned me into an author. I thought it was the only book I'd ever write and then for a while, I thought that each new book would be my last. Was I wrong!

Along the way I also became a publisher. Feed Me I'm Yours was first published from my husband's and my home on Meadowbrook Lane (i.e., Meadowbrook Press). Our company grew very fast as we learned the publishing business. After our divorce 8 years later, I left Meadowbook Press with no plans of being a publisher again. However, as the books I wrote for others went out of print, I established my own imprint, Book Peddlers, which now publishes over half of my 30 titles...including (naturally) Vicki Lansky's Divorce Book for Parents.

When you write parenting books, everyone glances critically at your children. Thank goodness mine had the good grace to turn out well. Despite my mistakes (and they'll be the first to point them out) my thirty-something twosome have survived and thrived in spite of having had a "professional" mother. Lucky me!

I think my mother would be astonished to know that I give out cleaning and household advice to millions of people as a columnist for Family Circle magazine. After all, she 'not I' had made a career of homemaking. In 1988, when Family Circle asked me to be a contributing editor to their "Help" column, I was delighted. This would be a place for me to share "grown-up" tips. I was now moving beyond the days of needing to know that peanut butter removes gum from children's hair!

Writing about household hints has been more of an education than I ever dreamt. I'm often asked what my favorite tip is. Usually it's the one I've not heard before, which is what keeps my work so interesting. My books on Baking Soda tips and Vinegar tips have sold in the hundreds of thousands copies. Amazing. How lucky I am to be able to share so many helpful ideas...and it is good, clean FUN too.

I'm not sure of my next projects as I've decided to cut back a bit on my book life and work a little more on just my life. But I'm never far from my computer and I know there are idea gremlins scrambling around my brain waiting to escape. Stay tuned.....

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

110 of 113 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The wonders of Baking Soda, October 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Baking Soda: Over 500 Fabulous, Fun, and Frugal Uses You've Probably Never Thought of (Paperback)

I never really used baking soda, until I've read how every day things could be harmful, from soap to household cleaners. This book is so informative, who knew that you could use baking soda as deoderant or that it could be a fabric softner, and a drain cleaner?

I've tried many of the suggestions on this book and they work, they really work! Baking soda is not only for baking but for cleaning so many things. Baking soda works great as a fabric softener, I've tried it and my clothes came out very soft and much cleaner!

Very informative, this book is small about 100 something pages, but filled with so many tips, its worth the money. Using baking soda as a cleaner is frugal and much more better for your health and the environment.

Many household cleaners now contain chemicals that are toxic to the body; and baking soda is very environmental friendly, frugal, and fun to use, and it really works as a cleaner.

61 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The combination of tips and recipes has saved me a fortune!, February 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Baking Soda: Over 500 Fabulous, Fun, and Frugal Uses You've Probably Never Thought of (Paperback)

I absolutely loved this book! I am searching for ways to live frugally while also saving time and this book offers many, many useful tips on ways to use Baking Soda for products I usually spent a fortune on. My favorite is the recipe for automatic dishwasher soap. I went from spending approximately .08 a load when detergent was on sale cheap to less than a penny a load. This is the kind of information I need. If you are wanting to cut costs in running your house, the savings from cleaning solutions alone will pay for the book several times over!

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Home Product Pre-Pleasantville, January 9, 2007

By 

Barbara St Aubrey "Curiousity" (Austin, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Baking Soda: Over 500 Fabulous, Fun, and Frugal Uses You've Probably Never Thought Of (Lansky, Vicki) (Paperback)

Remember when Arm & Hammer was high on our grocery list?

Down memory lane with all the old household advise for using Baking Soda in cooking, laundry, gardening, dental care, grooming, pet care and a few new ones, for use in our vehicle, while camping, and as play projects. I'm reminded again, there really is no need to spend so many dollars on oil based products with 'grab me' names and colorful packaging. Just keep on hand Baking Soda, vinegar, ammonia, lemon juice, peroxide and clorax - can do it all.

The book is well laid out with a cartoon on the first page of each section. Easy to read big print, lots of bullets, a dark font heading for each area of tips... from making your own low acid coffee to, making dirty windows sparkle or, clean your suade skirt.

This is one book I wish each chapter included a pull-out laminated chart that I could slip into places like the laundry, medicine cabinet or kitchen drawer.