It has probably seen you through indigestion and hangovers, but Alka-Seltzer can do more than settle your stomach: It can also help clean your home. In addition to aspirin, two of its other main ingredients are cleaning powerhouses: Sodium bicarbonate (better known as baking soda) and citric acid—which works like white vinegar or lemon juice, only stronger. Here are a few of the ways Alka-Seltzer can come in handy and get your home sparkling clean.
How to clean with Alka-Seltzer
Whether you’ve run out of your usual supplies, or simply want to try something new, here are some of the ways you can clean with Alka-Seltzer (or its generic equivalent):
Clean the toilet
Lifehacker covered this tip back in 2011, and it still holds up. According to the post: “Just drop two Alka-Seltzer tablets in the bowl and come back a few minutes later with the toilet brush to finish the job.”
Getting rid of stains on mugs
No matter how much you scrub them, it can be hard to remove coffee and tea stains on the bottom of light-colored mugs. All you need to do is fill each mug with hot water, pop in an Alka-Seltzer tablet, let it sit for 15 minutes, then wipe and rinse it out.
Clean the coffee maker
Speaking of coffee stains, Alka-Seltzer is the key to a sparkling clean coffee maker—especially if you don’t love the smell of hot vinegar. Dissolve three or four tablets in about 10 ounces of water, then run the solution through the coffee maker. When that’s done, run a few cycles of clean water to rinse the machine out.
Make a cleaning solution
If you’re in need of an all-purpose cleaner, add two or three tablets to about six ounces of warm water, pour it in a spray bottle, and spritz away.