DIY Baking Soda Disks

I recently started to cloth diaper. Before you roll your eyes, and decide that if I wasn't before, am now officially a hippie, hear me out. Cloth diapers are not at all like it was when our moms and grandmas were diapering their babies. They are so easy to use now, I would contend they are almost as easy as disposables. Plus, there are bunch of good reasons to cloth diaper: it is a total money saver; it is better for the environment; it is better for the Family Jewels (if you know what I mean); and to be honest, cloth diapers a so sticking cute! They can also be seriously sticky. Even though there have been improvement from the sticky diaper bin, that was full of bleach water, and stunk up the entire house, diapers still stink. I mean my wet bag does a great job containing the stink, but every time I open it up, it about knocks me over.

I read a suggestion on a cloth diapering website to place an Arm & Hammer baking soda disk in the wet bag to absorb the stink. Makes sense, I mean people use baking soda to fight odor all the time. So I sewed a mesh pocket into my wet bag, and then went to the store to get some baking soda disks.

For some reason, I was shocked when I got to the store, and discovered that said baking soda disks were nearly $3.50 for two little disks. Because, the primary reason I started to cloth diaper was to save money, I said to myself, "Self, there has to be a way to make these for significantly less dollar bills." So, I left those baking soda disks in the cleaning aisle, and went to the baking aisle and picked up a box if no-name brand baking soda for $.57. Awesome! Then I began my search for instructions on how to make these odor eating disks, all I could find was a recipe. It was actually WAY easy. I can't believe A&H charges so much for such a simple thing. So here is how you do it:

What you need:
1 box baking soda. (16 oz)
Water
Essential oils (***optional)
Muffin tin
Cup cake paper

First things first, you've gotta boil the water. (NOTE: I boiled about 2 cups, but you won't use nearly that much)

While the water is boiling, empty the entire box of baking soda in a mixing bowl.

After the water gas boiled, Measure out 1/2 to 1 cup of water. If you Want to add essential oils, added a couple of drops to the water now (I did add some oil, but the baking soda absorbed all the fragrance, I am not convinced this is a necessary step).

Slowly add the water to the baking soda while stirring. Watch out, it will get fizzy.

Add water to the mixture until it looks paste-like, wet, think and smooth. Be careful not to add to much water, or it get runny, and take forever to dry.

Once you have the paste to the consistency that looks right, start scooping it into your muffin tin until it is about 1/2 an inch thick.

When I made these, my mixture made eight disks.

(NOTE: I used a Demarle Silicon Muffin form, so I did not need to use cupcake paper. I would recommend using paper if you don't have a similar pan).

Now let it dry for a minimum of 24 hours. Once dry, pill off the cupcake paper, and voilà: You've made your very own Baking Soda Disks! And all for less then $.10 each. I bet the hardest part was waiting for them to dry.

Now, there are many places you can use these stink eating disks: in the fridge; in your sock draw; in your gym bag; anywhere. One disk should absorb odor for about a month. Make sure to store the ones you are not using in an air tight container.

And if you are using it in a wet bag, remember to remove it before you wash the bag. I would recommend adding a mesh pocket to the top of your bag, which will make it easier to take the disk out, and keep it out if all the wet diapers. Once the disk is done absorbing, just crumble it up and throw it into the wash with your next load on diapers.

Here is what my baking soda pocket looks like: