8 Clever Ways to Use Lemons All Around the House

The experts at MerryMaids recommend slicing a lemon in half and leaving it in a bowl in your fridge to keep it smelling fresh rather than a mish-mash of all the other food in there. You’ll just need to be sure and switch out a fresh lemon on a weekly basis. 

Another tip from the MerryMaids recommends using a simple mixture of the juice from two lemons and water to spritz on your windows or other glass items in your home. They also suggest rubbing a fresh lemon half directly onto metal fixtures to polish them up again, too. 

After using lemons in a recipe or for cleaning other items around the house, don’t toss them into the trash. Run them through your sink’s garbage disposal instead to let the citric acid eat away at any lingering crumbs while leaving behind a pleasant aroma.

The citrusy smell of a lemon rind can deter bugs like ants and cockroaches from making themselves cozy in your home or garden. Hello Homestead suggests placing a few slices of the peel around where they’re most likely gathering.

Mary Findley, co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Green Cleaning ($9.99, Amazon) recommends a DIY cleansing and conditioning mixture of olive oil, white vinegar, and lemon juice for wood furniture. Start with a one-to-one mixture of the oil and vinegar, then add half a tablespoon of lemon juice. “The olive oil polishes while the vinegar disinfects, and the citric acid in the lemon juice lifts stains,” Findley explained.

The laundry experts at SpeedQueen recommend lemon juice as an alternative to bleach for fighting stains on white clothing. Start by soaking stains in one-third cup of lemon juice diluted into two-thirds cup water. Then run them through the washing machine with one-quarter to one-half cup of lemon juice, which you can also use on whites that aren’t stained to brighten them without bleach.

A combination of lemon and salt is one of the most popular methods of making copper shine again. According to the Kitchn, you can sprinkle salt onto one half of a lemon and scrub that directly on the pot or pan. If you’re worried about salt crystals scratching the surface, you can also create a paste from salt and lemon juice by mixing them together in a bowl.

No need to scrub away at your microwave with chemical sprays. Instead, fill a bowl with half a cup of water and squeeze the juice of one lemon into it. Don’t toss out the peels though — add those to the water and then let it all heat up for three minutes in the microwave. Wait five more minutes after that to let the steam work on the food splatter, then use a regular rag to easily wipe it all away.