Almost everyone has experienced the ‘plop, plop, fizz, fizz’ of taking Alka Seltzer. Did you know that the uses for this decades old, over the counter remedy reach far beyond settling you stomach after a party?
Alka Seltzer won’t mess with the environment, it won’t create weird chemical fumes in your house, and it isn’t expensive, so add a box to your cleaning shelf next to the baking soda, vinegar, and club soda.
Here are five ways you can use Alka Seltzer to make your life easier.
Cleaning Toilets
There are a couple of ways to clean toilets – and it is never any fun. I don’t like using the drop in tablets because of the chemicals involved – I try to stay as eco-friendly as I can. Did you know that you can just drop two Alka Seltzers into the toilet bowl for a sparkling clean potty?
Work on the rest of the bathroom, read a book, or file your nails while the fizz does its stuff. When it stops fizzing take a minute to swish the toilet bowl brush around the bowl and flush the toilet.
The inside will be clean and deodorized.
Go Fishing
It sounds weird but you can drop a tablet inside a tube jig and cast. When the jig hits the water the tablet will start bubbling and the fish will get curious about the stream of bubbles the jig leaves behind and cluster around the bait.
It’s weird but it works.
Jewelry Cleaner
If your jewelry has lost its shine and you don’t have time to take it to the jewelry store – no problem.
Add two Alka Seltzer tabs to a bowl of warm water. Put your jewelry in the fizz and leave it there. It will be clean and shiny in no time. Rinse it off, dry it gently and admire the sparkle. Do not use this method with pearls or opals!
Clean Glass Baking Dishes
Glass bakeware is great until you burn something. Burned on food usually results in overnight soaking, scrubbing, and elbow grease- and even then you may not be able to get it all off.
Alka Seltzer to the rescue! Draw hot water into the dish and drop in three or four tablets, depending on how bad the dish is. Leave it for a while. Come back to shiny, clean glassware that looks almost new.
Whiten Cotton
If your laundry whites are looking a little gray or yellow, return them to their previous pristine white with this easy trick.
Soak the whites in a solution of one gallon of warm water and two Alka Seltzer tablets. Wash and dry as usual. You will have even better results if you hang the laundry on the clothes line on a nice, sunny day. It may take a couple of treatments to get rid of all of the discoloration. This is not harmful to most antique and vintage linens but always test a small area before you put in the family heirloom tablecloth.
photo credit: RogueSun Media
