Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh-what-a-relief-it-is {feel free to sing along}. That song always runs through my head whenever anyone mentions Alka Selter, but apparently Alka Seltzer provides more than just relief from indigestion. In fact, these fizzy little wonders can do all sorts of things.
Here’s my 10 favorite alternative ways to use Alka Selzter:
- Clean toilets. Drop in two tablets, wait about 20 minutes, scrub and flush.
- Clean the hard water stains, algae, etc. off of flower vases by dropping two tablets and filling the vase with water. Walk away and forget about it for an hour or two. Then rinse. {It’s such a pain to get a sponge into vases anyway, so this one makes me happy.}
- Alka-seltzer is rumored to provide relief from insect bites {I haven’t tried this one, but you better believe I’m going to}. Dissolve two tablets in warm water. Soak a wash cloth in the solution and place it on the bite for 30 minutes—like a compress.
- Polish jewelry. Drop two tablets {two is the magic number here, huh?} in warm water and let jewelry soak for 20 minutes. {As with any jewelry cleaner, don’t use this on pearls.}
- Clean your coffee maker. Drop two tablets in the water chamber, add water, and run a cycle. Make sure to run another cycle with just water before making coffee again.
- Clean pots, pans and cookware. Drop, yep, you guessed it, two tablets into the cookware and fill with hot water. Now walk away. In about 30 minutes, any burnt {what, never!} or stuck-on food should come off easily.
- Clean shower tiles. Drop three or four tablets into 8 ounces of warm water. Allow the tablets to dissolve completely, and then transfer mixture to a spray bottle. Spray tiles and wipe with a sponge. {I like to the let the spray sit for 5-10 minutes to loosen grime.}
- Clean the inside of the fridge using the same method as number 7.
- Get stains out of your plastic storage containers. A little warm water and 2 tablets of alka-seltzer lift those pesky spaghetti sauce stains.
- Clean/deodorize your cooler after a picnic or camping trip. Put six tablets in the bottom of the cooler and fill it with about 1-3 inches of water {enough to cover the drain plug—that way it will clean the plug, where gunk likes to build up}. Let it sit for about an hour and then rinse clean. As an added bonus, it also deodorizes. {Kinda sounds like I’m selling the stuff. Ha.}
How about you? Any creative ways you use Alka Seltzer?
~Mavis
See more Cool Uses for other common household items.
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Rosaleen says
Interesting uses for Alka-Seltzer. If you don’t have some that you wish to use up, most of the ideas given can be accomplished with baking or washing soda or denture cleaning tablets. I found some at a dollar store that I use to clean my hiking water bladder.
Baking soda paste is recommended for some insect bites. I wonder if crushing an aspirin tablet with the baking soda would accomplish as much as the Alka-Seltzer as far as pain relief? I have both of these in the house already…
April says
Another ‘cool’ use is at the first sign of a bladder infection dissolve 2 tablets as directed and drink with a dose of AZO or any other bladder infection pain medication. The AZO takes away the pain and makes the lining of the bladder slippery, and the Alka-Seltzer changes the PH of the urine. I’ve been using this method for years and have managed to ‘cure’ myself with out seeing a doctor or requiring antibiotics.