Saturday, July 21, 2012

Pinterest FAIL: Cleaning Old Bottles with Alka Seltzer

I saw on pinterest (and a few other sources) that Alka Seltzer can be used as a cleaning agent.  One pin specifically, claimed that it could be used to clean the gunk out of a narrow vase.  Hmm, vase..old bottles..similar right?  I had a few old glass bottles that my dad found on our property in "the country", and a box of Alka Seltzer that I couldn't stomach, so I thought I'd give it a try.  



1. Fill bottle/vase half full with warm water.
2. Drop in 2 Alka Seltzer tablets.  These are the kind I had:


I had to break the tablets into pieces to fit into the opening.  


3. Cover the opening and give the bottle/vase a good shake.
*Use caution.  My shirt looked like this after shaking:



According to the internet, you just rinse and voila, it's miraculously clean.  Since these bottles have been sitting on the side of Highway P for Godonlyknowshowlong, I let them soak for about 30 minutes.  After changing my shirt, I went back to my bottles and repeated steps 1-3.  Round 1 had loosened a little bit of the gunk, but nothing noticeable.  After round 2, I decided to use a q-tip to wipe out what I could reach.  This helped, but still no miracle was happening.  I squirted dishwashing soap and hot water in each bottle and let that sit for another 30 minutes.  Looks like I'll be buying a bottle brush.  :)



This may work better on a freshly used vase, and maybe it was the type of Alka Seltzer that I used.  I also found a pin that said it could be used to clean your toilet.  Guess what I'll be trying next!  And no, I will not be sharing those before pics.








4 comments:

Helen said...

I saw on Pinterest you can tear off a piece of a Mr. Clean Eraserm leave in it your toilet over night and it is spotless. Maybe that will work on the bottles....maybe??

Jenny said...

LOL about your toilet! I wonder if it works?

Bummer about the bottles.

Dalia said...

Thank you for your visit:-) I'm following your lovely blog and I am so glad that you shared this, very good to know. I always read of simple cleaning methods in Pinterest and sometimes wonder. I usually use a dinner/butter knife with a cloth that will fit in, slide in & out to get the dirt off and it works for me. It doesn't come out super perfect, but close. Give it a shot & let me know if it works for you.

Amber said...

Half white vinegar and half water. Microwave until it boils over. Let sit until it cools completely,then rinse.. Voila. (It's worked for me in the past, so I hope it helps!)

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