The Alka-Seltzer Hack That'll Keep Your Dirty Floors Looking Like New

Some of the best cleaning hacks are bouncing around on social media.You may be wondering how anyone ever came up with them, and more importantly, why? At first glance, cleaning your floors with Alka-Seltzer seems like one of these out-there hacks that had to be discovered by accident. However, when you look at the ingredients found in the fizzy heartburn reliever, it seems like a good option as an alternative to your regular cleaning choice if you're in a pinch.

Alka-Seltzer is made of three ingredients: sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, and aspirin. Sodium bicarbonate, better known as baking soda, has gained popularity as a cleaning agent over the past few decades. It seems there's not much it can't do, such as treat mold around the house, remove rust, whiten teeth, deodorize, and produce fluffy pancakes. Baking soda is often seen in homemade cleaner recipes alongside lemon juice, which contains citric acid ... Alka-Seltzer's next ingredient. Another known cleaning agent, citric acid work to brighten, disinfect, and remove tough, dirty offenders like grime, grease, and scum. 

And finally, we have aspirin, the ingredient which is found only in the original or Hangover Relief varieties. Like the two previous ingredients, aspirin has been known to remove stains and grime. With the powerful combo of baking soda, citric acid, and aspirin, cleaning your home with Alka-Seltzer is definitely a good option for some (not all) types of flooring.

To clean your floors with Alka-Seltzer, first thoroughly sweep or vacuum (using the bare floor setting) to remove large crumbs, dust bunnies, and other debris. Then, add four to five Alka-Seltzer tablets to the warm water in your mop bucket and wait for the fizzing to stop. Alka-Seltzer's famous effervescence only adds to the cleaning power by getting into crevices and breaking up dirt. Finally, mop your floors as usual. Your floors should be clean and shiny.

So why use Alka-Seltzer instead of floor cleaner? It's a fair question. Economically, it has only a slight advantage over mop bucket floor cleaner pacs. The cheapest option on Amazon was from O-Cedar, which sells a 10-count for around $8, compared to a box of Alka-Seltzer which offers 72 tablets (or between 15 to 18 total uses for floor cleaning) at around $10. But really, these kinds of hacks are best when you need to clean, but don't have cleaner — which is formulated specifically for the job. It's nice to know you can find another solution sitting in your medicine cabinet. Even nicer if your heartburn-laden roommate just moved out, leaving behind his bulk-size box of Alka-Seltzer. 

Not much research has been done on the subject of Alka-Seltzer against various types of flooring, so we had to take a look at its individual ingredients. Both sodium bicarbonate and citric acid should not be used to clean hardwood floors, including raw wood, and sealed, stained, or painted wood. Citric acid is corrosive, and could eat away at the protective coating on natural wood. You should also avoid using it on porous or delicate surfaces, such as marble, granite, or natural stone. 

Feel free to try the Alka-Seltzer hack when cleaning vinyl and laminate flooring, and on tiles (that aren't raw stone) with sealed grout. Speaking of tiles, the effervescent medicinal tablet also makes a great cleaner for bathrooms, including toilets and shower tiles, and can even be used to unclog drains. 

Others have argued that Alka-Seltzer helps bring out the shine in hardwood floors and is perfectly safe for use. This is because the citric acid's pH is neutralized when mixed with baking soda. But without enough evidence to support it, we say better safe than sorry when it comes to expensive flooring.