Baking soda should have put many cleaners out of business

I will be very suspicious about some organic / environment friendly source if it says vinegar is a good cleaner.   It's not, and it's impractical and it's not cheap compared to on the self cleaners.

As an acid, it's just too weak.  So the acid I prefer is the strongest one easily found in stores, and biodegradable too.  It smells because it's an organic acid, masked a little by natural fragrant I guess.  It works well - water stains, sink, toilet bowls, faucets.

Because baking soda, sodium bicarbonate, is a weak alkaline, I don't even tried it to clean anything.

I just replaced my microwave hood combo.  The grease buildup is terrible, over a period of over 10 years.  My wife clean it everyday with detergent.  I tried everything from time to time, but can't deal with the grease using my favourite acid, hydrogen dioxide, and alcohol.

I can reduce the grease buildup, but I'm afraid to deal with it.  I can remove a bit on the surface but the grease become gluey on the surface and it's terrible to clean the cloth and brush afterwards.  The same thing goes for the grease filter.  I never can clean the thing thoroughly with whatever not so toxic chemical or cleaner I can find.

Out of desperation I searched the web again.  This time I found baking soda.  It was amazing.  I know caustic would work but it would burn your skin too.  I was amazed how a mild alkaline would work so effective.  Now my over 10 year old kitchen is shinning white, blinding my eyes.

The grease buildup on the stove and oven range simply gone by wiping with a damp cloth sprinkled with baking soda.  The plastic surface becomes a mirror.  All the finger marks are gone.  On the coated metal surface, even long ago baked in food residue are removed by repeated wiping with a scrounging pad for non-stick surfaces.  If you never damaged the surface with tough brushes, your range will look brand new again.  Black hardened grease stains around the outside of the oven are now gone.  I may clean the inside of the door too.  See the reflections on the range and contrasts to the grep metal parts that I haven't cleaned seriously for 5 years.

It works on the grill and bake racks and pans too.  They are not turning brand new, but the accumulated stains are getting out rather than getting worse.

My wash pad got contaminated with baking soda, and now my heavily stained mug are losing it's stains.  I didn't even tried to remove the stains.

I think the chemistry is that sodium bicarbonate reacts with grease to form soap, which is a cleaner of course.  Soap is soft so you can just wipe it away.

Baking soda would not work on some surfaces such as wood.  The resultant soap (or something else) got into the wood grains and stain it.

For wood the only think sensible thing is rubbing alcohol, which simply dissolves grease.  Alcohol will work well on grease, but not as dramatic or cheap as baking soda, and not much on hardened grease stains.

Baking soda is a pretty good cleaner for kitchen tiles, and works on the grout somewhat.  But hydrogen peroxide is the better whitener for grout, and you can combine them.

But much more use is written on the Arms and Hammer box.  It's a shame that they don't market it as a miracle cleaner and put some in the cleaner aisles.   And the cardboard box is laughable.  Seriously how can you clean carrying a paper box around without a cap?!