12 everyday items from the past

[Outsider]

Bluebags!  I remember them for bee stings.  I wonder what was in them, something alkaline, perhaps baking soda.  Am I right to think that washing soda was a thing?  What was it?

Yes, my mother always had washing soda available (they were in crystal form in a box), but not sure how she used it. I do remember that if she burnt something in the saucepans, she would put washing soda in with some water, boil it up and the burnt-on stuff came off easily. But it must have had other uses.