5 Surprising Things To Do with Lemons
Updated: Mar. 20, 2019
Skip the lemonade and put lemons to work for everything from removing stubborn stains to masking unpleasant household odours.
Lemon-scented cleaning products are dime-a-dozen in grocery stores, but you don’t need harsh, chemical treatments to clean your home. Try these easy, natural solutions to make lemons a safe and affordable go-to cleaner for everything from laundry to dishware.
(Photo: Thinkstock)
1. Exfoliate Your Face
Clean and exfoliate your face by washing it with lemon juice. You can also dab lemon juice on blackheads to draw them out during the day. Your skin should improve after several days of treatment.
2. Clean Laundry
Ordinary bleach can cause the iron in water to precipitate out into fabrics, leaving additional stains. For a mild, stain-free bleach, soak your delicates in a mixture of lemon juice and bicarbonate of soda for at least half an hour before washing.
Diluted or straight, lemon juice is a safe and effective fabric whitener when added to your machine-washing water. Your clothes will also come out smelling lemony fresh.
To remove those yellowing stains from shirts and blouses, simply by scrub them with a mixture of equal parts lemon juice and water.
3. Brighten Aluminum
Make those dull pots and pans sparkle, inside and out. All you need to do is rub the cut side of half a lemon all over them and buff with a soft cloth.
4. Neutralize Cat-Box Odour
You don’t have to use an aerosol spray to neutralize foul-smelling cat-box odours or freshen the air in your bathroom. Just cut a couple of lemons in half. Then place them, cut side up, in a dish in the room, and the air will soon smell lemon-fresh.
(Photo: hutchyb/iStockphoto)
5. Remove Unsightly Underarm Stains
Avoid expensive dry cleaning bills. You can remove unsightly underarm stains from shirts and blouses simply by scrubbing them with a mixture of equal parts lemon juice (or white vinegar) and water.
(Photo: Candamanwasch/iStockphoto)
