Just came across your site while stumbling. It’s pretty awesome. I’ve bookmarked you for later visiting. :D Totally jealous over your design ;)

Baking Soda and vinegar ARE chemicals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baking_soda

JJ, you beat me to it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baking_soda

Sodium Bicarbonate, to be exact (baking soda)

Everything is a chemical…water is a chemical for Christ’s sake. Please be informed before sounding like a dumbass.

Vinegar is an acid, baking soda an alkali. They combine to create carbon dioxide – fizzy! I knew you could power bottles around the bath with the mix – I never thought of cleaning with them!

haha, love the ingredients. Baking soda, baby, and a liberal splash of vinegar. where will I find a baby?

AKA Jack and Jum (explanation should arrive shortly)

I think this title’s better (it’s crystal clear).

I loved the pics and the how-to. Boo & Hiss to the nay-sayers. You can’t do a good thing on the internet without someone getting their panties in a wad. Well done, ma’am, and thanks again!

@ Robert

She said “Baking soda, baby!” Not… baby as one of the ingredients…

It works! Thank You

Finally, someone who loves baking soda as much as I do!!

What does “Bonzai” mean? That’s not a word…it’s either “bonsai” or “banzai”.

Why must people criticise her every single word?

Thanks for the great tip/’recipe’.

“stumbled” across your site and I love it! Don’t understand why people go out of their way to criticize, rather than take the good or just move on! Constructive criticism is one thing, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Anyway, justwant to thank you for reminding me of the 2 best cleaning products in the world! They’re inexpensive, natural and do a great job. I keep a spray bottle of white vinegar to clean my granite countertops. No chemicals near my food either. :) I’m looking forward to your other blogs and will be back often. thanks for sharing this!

10 points for use of word “janky”

I’ve tried this many times, and it’s only ever had a slight impact; always had to go to draino or some other high powered chemical.
:(

Thanks for the tip. I stumbled upon this and, coincidentally, my sink needs unclogging, but I don’t have any Drano handy.

yes, beautiful design!!

HAHA
Baking soda, baby, and a liberal splash of vinegar.

after thorough search still couldn’t find the second ingredient lurking around in my cabinets ..

hey hey. I stumbled to your site a week ago and loveee it. i noticed some people were commenting that it didn’t always work. I this approach with sucsess, only difference is i add salt (i;ve used kosher and sea salt) just siphon salt down with the baking soda and follow the above method. works like a charm.

Yep, I’ve been doing this for years. I think it works better for kitchens than bathrooms through, where the clogs tend to be grease, not hair.

Lifehacker’s featuring your article, so I dropped by. Looks really useful! I’ll be sure to test it out later! =D

I have done this in the past and have had great success with it, as well. The only variation is that I use boiling hot vinegar. I have to admit I never tried to cover the drain, forcing the reaction downward instead of upward. Next time!

I saw your article on Lifehacker and this totally worked! You put in the soda, and then cover the hole with your hand, air tight. Then you put in the vinegar, keeping it separated by your hand. Lift your hand a tiny bit, just a crack, to let the vinegar in, and as soon as the fizz starts coming up clamp it back down.

I felt the pressure building and building and I totally thought that I was going to have a huge mess when my hand gave way, but there was a satisfying pop when the clog gave way first! =)

Our plumber told us that boiling water was the best thing for clogged pipes so you could eleminate the vinigar and baking soda.

I’m deeply disturbed by your use of the word ‘magic’ as in “the magic is in the fizz” As a right thinking person, I hope you realize that, indeed, chemistry is not magic. It follows strict, physical laws. Magic on the other hand, is a powerful force unbound by nature, fueled by the bones of the dead, and intensified by the screaming wind from a giant demonic octopus-shaped bellows with itty bitty tongues that go “ia ia! thppth thppth” in the night.

Get your facts straight.

btw, thanks for the tip. I think I’m gonna put the kids to bed early tonight, and go all Arm and Hammer on my bathtub. Yeeow!

…And don’t forget, this will also take the funk out of your disposal! ;)

I’ve been happily unclogging my drains this way for a few years now…
I do have a question, though-how do you go about ’siphoning’ the baking soda down the drain? I’ve always had trouble with that part since my drain isn’t just open for the pouring. I usually end up stabbing the excess with a chopstick :P

THANK YOU, goddess of creativity! I’ve actually been hmmm-ing and ha-ing over my nearly clogged bathroom sink for a couple of weeks trying to figure out what to do about it. Luckily I didn’t buy some harmful chemicals (he he) Can’t wait to try it out when I get back home!

How do you get it down the toilet??

Flush it?

Very very true. It is like gold. I once melted some cosmetic wax all over the microwave and beyond. The ONLY thing that got it off it was baking soda and vinegar.

What do you mean by “omit for toilets” and how do you “siphon” it.

What about clogging caused by hair? I have a problematic bathroom sink that’s getting clogged more and more every day. I don’t understand what to do since it’s one of those drains with those middle plugs. any suggestions? :)

Nice write up, I would like to add however that one should use care when putting boiling water down a drain. Most pvc is rated at 140 degrees. Water boils at a nice 212 degrees. You can easily cause leaks you didn’t want. Most abs can handle those kind of temperatures however.

This worked like a charm on my cat-hair clogged bathroom sink (No, I don’t wash my cats in the sink, but it gets clogged with cat hair anyway). I didn’t use boiling water, just hot-Hot-HOT tap water, letting in run for a minute or two.

Just worked on our very slowly draining bathtub/shower. Thanks for the how to (and to Lifehacker for the reference).

I had a kitchen sink that was really clogged, running hot, hot water did not seem to work. So I reached for my baking soda and apple cider vinegar……..It worked! Cleared the Clog…..But the consequence of that was an under-the-sink avalanche of water,vinegar, and baking soda. Word to the wise,here, Make sure the P-trap is tightened…….seems I had an explosion in the P-trap due to the pressure of the stuff and weakly tightened rings………….

thanks to you, i just unclogged my drain! thank you so much. enjoying your blog very much.

I love your site! I am going to try this tomorrow. Our bathtub drain is draining very slowly… my hubby wants me to just go and buy draino… but not if I can help. All those yucky chemicals, who needs ‘em.

I just stumbled across this and I love the idea. Luckily I don’t have any reason to try it our right now, but I’m bookmarking this site for future reference. Thanks a ton!

bless this post with love,peace and success.

just let love be

I run vinegar through my coffeepot to clean it once a month. Before pouring out the hot vinegar, I funnel some baking soda down the drain and grab the drain stopper so I can slap it over the drain opening as soon as it starts foaming. Rubber gloves are helpful.

Who is the chick on your shoulder?

BTW: Your are great.

Excellent! It worked! Thanks for the help and for us avoiding a poopy mess! I said poopy!

thank you so much!! it worked!! my plumber told me not to use draino, my pipes are too old, and this worked the first time!you saved me the cal of a plumber (starting rate 120 dollars), and /or a trip to home depot on my day off!! thank you again!!

In response to Pete’s comment to leave out the baking soda and vinegar: When I tried this, the drain didn’t clear until I poured the hot water down, and I thought maybe all that was needed was the hot water too. Then I saw how the baking soda and vinegar had removed all of the gunky build up on the sink plug and had SCOURED it clean. I had no idea it was white! Clearly that was the work of the (harmless, of course) chemical reaction; hot water wouldn’t have done that. Lord only know how much gunk it scoured off the insides of the pipes further down where I can’t see.
Sayward, might I suggest you mention the paper funnel in the body of your post? That would have really helped me since I didn’t read the comments until after. I resorted to spooning soda a bit at a time and using a Q-tip to shove it down. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for the unclogged sink!

Thanks for tips on how to avoid having to use Draino. I loathe the stuff and don’t like to have it in the house.

I’m still a little unclear on how you would go about unclogging a toilet safely with this method. I tried it myself yesterday with a stubborn clog. I put a huge scoop of baking soda into the toilet and then poured in the boiling water. I guess I did it in the wrong order because no reaction took place.

I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but all of a sudden- I had to go to the bathroom really bad. We only have one bathroom so I really had no choice.
When it happened, it was bad. Worse than you could imagine. I like to eat a lot of balsamic vinegar with my pasta. When the reaction finally did take place it forced the water upward and hot gaseous toilet water bubbled up onto me burning my legs and feet. I stood up screamed in pain and in my rush to escape the scalding foam from the toilet I slipped on my linoleum floor and burned my frontside as well.

I hope that my experience can serve as a lesson to those who would attempt this method. Remember- baking soda first, then vinegar, then boiling water. And don’t the toilet while the reaction is taking place.

IT W0RKS!! this is awesome. The same thing i used in the third grade to make a volcanoe works to unclog my toilet. hahaha
REally

Oh thanks for this. I am trying to start going green as they would say by reducing the number of harmful chemicals i use in my home. I am the Bleach and Lysol girl. Don’t think anything is clean without it. So its great to get these tips. Plus it saves money. So thanks!

Howdy!! Lifehacker mentioned your post about making candles in a crockpot so I started browsing around. I LOVE your site. I am fortunate to have gotten a new lease on life lately (divorce, bleh!) and I’m ready to move on to “greener” pastures.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! for the stuff you post.

(Maybe I missed it but have you done posts on make-up recommendations?)

Much love!
(Sorry if the HTML doesn’t work…..)

What is more interesting than a smart woman? Nothing.

Christmas morning and my tub drain is clogged, but not for long!

Thanks for this post.