40+ Everyday Uses For Lemons That We Wish We Knew About Sooner

Nobody likes dull and tarnished silverware or brass. So making sure you polish them up regularly is a necessity. To do this, you can use one of the many premade polishes, or you can make your own.

Take salt and mix it with lemon juice until it forms a paste. With a toothbrush, rub it over the surface of the item. Let it sit for a few minutes, and then rinse it off with warm water. Polish the piece until it is dry.

Lemons are great for insect repellants. If you have an ant problem, you can spritz lemon around all the window sills and door jams. This will keep them from entering your house, but this will have to be done frequently.

You can also use lemon to get rid of mosquitoes outside as well. All you have to do is cut the lemon in half and stick some cloves in the flesh part of the lemon. Then set outside and you shouldn’t have any problems.

There are few things more frustrating and embarrassing than an itchy, flaky scalp. Not only will you have to fight the urge to scratch, but you will have to keep an eye on your shoulders to make sure that you don’t have a little snow there.

There are shampoos and other things out there to help you with dandruff, but you can also use lemon. Take two tablespoons of lemon juice and rub it into your scalp. Rinse it out with water. Repeat this every time you wash your hair until the dandruff is gone.

Lemon has antibacterial properties, and that means you can use it to help with infections. Infections of the ear, throat, or anywhere else are easily treated with some lemon, salt, and water. Of course, if they are serious, you should definitely see a physician, but adding lemon to the process can’t hurt.

Mix the lemon juice with a little salt in some warm or hot water. Then if for the throat, gargle with it on a regular schedule. For other infections like the ear, you may want to leave out the salt. But take the other ingredient and pour a little in the ear. Let set and then remove.

If you have problems with toothaches or bleeding gums, then you may want to grab a lemon. The acidity and antibacterial properties of the fruit can help alleviate both when used properly. So grab the fruit and head to the sink.

All you have to do is massage some lemon juice into the affected area. It might burn, and if it burns a little too much, make sure to rinse it out as soon as you can.

Cleaners that can be bought in the stores often are pricey and contain ingredients that are not the best for the people you care about. By eliminating those harsh chemicals and ingredients, you find people feeling better.

One way to save some money and protect your loved ones while still getting the house clean is to use lemons. Peel the lemons and mix the peels in with some vinegar in a spray bottle, and let it sit for a night. Then add in water to fill the bottle and shake. You are ready to clean.

The cutting board goes through a lot. They are used almost every day, and sharp implements are dragged across them while juices soak into them. All of this causes them to have a shortened life.

But you can extend the time you have with your cutting board by using lemon and some salt. Cut the lemon in half and sprinkle coarse salt on the board. Use the lemon as a sponge and scrub the whole board. Then let stand for 15 minutes and repeat afterward, rinse the board off and let air dry.

Keeping whites bright and looking brand new is hard. You can use bleach, but after a while, the harshness of that chemical will affect the fabric’s integrity. But like with everything else, there are other options, and one of those is the humble lemon.

Mix lemon juice with some baking soda and pour it into some hot water. Place the whites in it and let them sit for about 30 minutes. Then run them through the wash cycle like normal.

A manicure is one of those things for many people that is a luxury. But you can get a manicure at home by having a few things around the house. One of those is, of course, lemons. The little cup of water that they soak your hands in can be created easily with a lemon.

All you have to do is to juice a lemon and then in a small bowl large enough to get your nails in it all the way to the bed, mix it with some warm water. The lemon will clean them and also help get them some vitamins to make those beds healthier than ever.

One of the most important things to having a healthy body is good gut health. With all the processed and quick foods we eat, this is harder than ever. There are many herbal ways to help your gut be more healthy.

One of these is to simply have a glass of warm water that has had lemon, honey, and water added to it every morning. This should be done on an empty stomach so that it will be most effective.

No matter how well you keep your fridge clean, you will inevitably gather some odors. This happens because the odor soaks into the plastic. This can build up and give your fridge (or any appliance) a strange and unpleasant odor.

But a deep clean of any appliance with a sponge soaked in lemon juice will clear that right up. You won’t even have to rinse it off because the smell is what you’re looking for. On top of that, as we have mentioned, lemon is an excellent cleaner.

A lot of people love citrus-scented candles, but like many things, they can be expensive. Why go out and pay all that money when you can create one from leftover candles and some lemons at home.

Cut the lemons in half and remove the flesh of the fruit. Make sure the interior is mostly removed. Then heat up wax from old candles and pour the melted wax into the cups. Add in a wick and stick it in. Let cool, and you have a cool looking and beautiful selling candle.

When mixed with baking soda, lemon has a ton of properties that can help you get healthy. The two combine and have alkaline, digestive, and depurative capabilities. These help with cholesterol and purification of the blood.

On top of that, the lemon is high in vitamin C, which has antioxidant properties. All you have to do is take a teaspoon of baking soda and half a lemon to mineral water. Do this for two weeks every morning and then take two weeks off. Repeat the process to keep your health up.

Stainless steel tends to get dull and retains odors. So to keep everything you have that is stainless steel fresh and looking brand new, all you have to do is pull out that trusty fruit again.

Create a paste of lemon juice and baking soda. Then use a sponge or the lemon half to scrub the stainless steel. When done, wipe it off with a damp towel or rinse it off with the faucet.

Fresh berries are delicious, but if they are ripe and perfect, they also are very messy. You have probably experienced stained hands from berries and realize it is hard to get the stains out when done.

For your hands, all you have to do is take some lemon juice and wash your hands with it. This should remove the stains. If you got it on your clothes, soak the stain in lemon juice and then wash it in cold water.

If you have discoloration under your underarms, you may want to bleach it back to its previous state. Lemons are perfect for this. Not only does the acid in the fruit bleach your skin, but it gets rid of dead skin too.

Before your shower, every day, take a cut lemon and rub it on the skin in your underarm. Then when you are done with the shower, lotion the area. After about a week, there should be a noticeable difference.

Lighter colored veggies tend to brown quickly with or without heat, especially cauliflower. So to keep from having to toss any of that veggie, you can simply reach into your fruit basket and grab that lemon.

If you are storing them, you may want to consider doing it with a lemon juice dampened towel. On the other hand, if you are getting ready to cook it, simply squeeze a little lemon juice on it before it touches the heart.

There are a lot of things that affect your mood and mental health. One of these is negative and positive ions. Food gives your body positively charged ions, which combat the negative ones in your body. So certain foods will help improve your mood, and lemons are one of them.

Lemons are packed full of positively charged ions, which help your body work more efficiently. That can help remove the negative chemicals in your body that may cause negative moods. The scent of the lemon is good for this as well and also can give you energy.

Remember when you were sick, and your mom would make you drink hot tea with honey and lemon? Well, it wasn’t just because they taste better; the two ingredients are holistic ways to cure some of the side effects of being sick.

The lemon was there specifically for reducing phlegm and helping improve your respiratory issues. It also is packed with vitamin C, which has antioxidant powers that can help boost your immune system.

As you get older, many things change, and one of these is you might start experiencing aches and pains in your joints. This could be arthritis, and there are ways that you can treat the affliction other than the standard medications.

Lemon can help detoxify your body by helping make you go to the bathroom more often. It is a diuretic, and by flushing out the bad stuff, you may reduce some of the pain from arthritis or other muscular or joint afflictions. So try drinking a glass of warm water and lemon every morning.

Kidney stones are formed when there are too many crystal-forming substances like calcium. If you have too much and it can’t be watered down by your urine, kidney stones begin to form. They are very painful, and most people would like to refrain from experiencing them.

So to help prevent them, you might try to imbibe lemon juice with water regularly. This will increase your urine’s citrate levels, and that will help keep everything functioning properly.

Many people get premature wrinkles that they want to get rid of. It can be caused by extreme weight loss, consistent exposure to the sun, or many other reasons. No matter what the cause, these wrinkles bother them.

Lemons can help combat and decrease free radicals, which are the big culprit for wrinkles. They are present everywhere, but if you drink water and lemon consistently, your body can combat them. You can also create a face wash with lemon to help.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are great for your health. But you have to clean them as you don’t know if there are any pesticides or even dirt left on them. You can buy premade washes at the grocery store, but why do that when you can DIY your own?

Squeeze lemon juice into a spray bottle and add warm water. Then you can spritz your fruit and wash it off. This should get rid of all that gunk and leave a pleasant smell in the kitchen too.

Garages are never a place that smells good. You have a mixture of gasoline, dust, and oil, along with odors from your garbage. Together, they make a pretty unique and not fantastic smell. So if you want to make your garage smell better, try some lemon.

The trick is going to be finding someplace you can get to that has a central location. Once you do, you can add some fresh lemon peels into a vessel and let them be. Make sure to change them out every two weeks.

The minute you cut an avocado, the air begins oxidizing it. This leads to a browning of the flesh and a loss of that beautiful green color. This can be very off-putting when it happens. When making guac, it often sits out, and that leaves it ripe for oxidation.

If you don’t want that to happen, you might want to squeeze some fresh lemon over the top, and you should be good for a while.

It is hard to eat a whole head of lettuce before it gets all withered and soggy. So often, many people wind up throwing it out. This wastes money and food, so why not try to save it before you do that. Lemon is the answer here as well.

Fill a bowl half full of cold water and squeeze some lemon juice into it. Then place the lettuce in that water and let it sit in the fridge for about an hour. You will need to dry the leaves very well before using them, but they should be brought back to life.

Some people, no matter how careful they are, just have stinky feet. The odor can build up and create a very unpleasant smell from the shoes, even when not being used. But you can get rid of the odor easily.

Take a lemon and peel the rind off of it. Then take those lemon peels and set them in the shoe. Let them sit overnight, and they will absorb the smell.

As you get older, you may experience age spots. This means changing up your skincare regime, which could lead to a lot of money being spent. But there are other ways to treat these blemishes that pop up.

You can use lemon to lighten the age spots. All you will do is cut the lemon and run it over the spot. Let the juice sit on the skin for about 15 minutes and then wash it off.

Finding the time and money to head to the salon to get highlights may be a challenge for you. The good news is that you don’t have to do all that; you have an agent in the house that can give you some great highlights if used properly.

You will need to juice lemons until you get a quarter cup of juice and then add water until that becomes a full cup. Now all you will have to do is rinse your hair with the mixture. Head outside and sit in the sun until your hair is completely dry. You might need to repeat a few times to get the desired look.

During the winter months, the air gets dry and can be a little musty as you are unable to open the doors and let fresh air in. This can lead to feeling down and stifled. So why not freshen and moisturize the air.

You can create a stovetop humidifier and diffuser. Fill a pot full of water and add lemon rinds along with other herbs and spices. You can choose whatever scents you like. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer.

Many people don’t realize that marble is porous. It is actually calcium that is petrified, and that means that it can stain. But after spending all that money to have marble put in, the last this you want is for it to be stained.

You can use a lemon, though. Cut it in half and dip it in coarse salt. Then rub that half of lemon over the stain vigorously. Rinse immediately as the acid can damage the marble as well if exposed for too long to it.

Having dry and itchy elbows can be pretty annoying. Not to mention they don’t look very good, and no matter how much lotion you use, some still have the problem. But you can make a paste using lemon and fix the problem.

Combine lemon juice with baking soda and then rub the paste into your elbows. It will exfoliate the area, and then you will want to rinse the area with water and lemon juice. After all of that, rub in some olive oil and dab it dry with a soft towel.

For many of us, the first thing we reach for when we have a headache is the pain reliever. No matter which one you use, you are putting a drug into your system, but if you want an herbal remedy that works, you may want to look no farther than lemon.

A little squeeze of lemon juice into a hot tea like chamomile or green tea can help soothe the pain of a headache.

Have you been out in the wilderness and come home to realize you are very itchy and have a rash everywhere? This is most likely poison ivy rash, and most of the time, people bath themselves in calamine lotion.

But you don’t have to. Instead, try to take a lemon, cut it, and apply the juice to the affected area. It will sting a little at first, but eventually, it will soothe the itching and begin getting rid of the rash.

Warts are a nuisance. You can try tons of things and still not be able to get rid of them. So why not try one more thing that we think will work really well for you? You will need a lemon, a cotton swab, and patience.

Squeeze some of the lemon juice onto the swab and then dab it on the wart. You will need to repeat this for about a week. The acid from the lemon will gradually dissolve the wart.

Just like with the toothaches and bleeding gums, lemon could be the answer to bad breath as well. You can use it to make a DIY mouthwash. But with this mouthwash, you can swallow and have it work even better.

Juice a lemon and put it in a screw-top bottle. Then use that juice to rinse your mouth. The citric acid will kill the bacteria that cause bad breath by altering the mouth pH levels. Make sure to rinse your mouth with water after, though, as the acid doesn’t play well with the enamel on your teeth.

Having a little herb garden or sprout garden is nice if you are trying to eat more healthily. But all the extra things you need to pick up may be too pricey. But perhaps we can help you out a bit and knock one thing off.

You can cut a lemon in half and squeeze the lemon and lemon seeds for each half. Then put the seeds you are looking to grow in some soil, then plant the lemon half. The rind will rot away, almost making a little compost for the plant.

There are a lot of people that have wardrobes for certain seasons. Sometimes when unpacking the clothes for the season, they have a musty mildew smell. This is from not having ventilation and can be fixed with that precious yellow fruit.

Often the mildew shows up as stains, so create a paste of salt and lemon juice and rub it into the affected area. Let those clothes dry in the sun. You may have to repeat more than once. Then wash as per regular, and the mildew smell and stain should be gone.

Table etiquette has so many rules, and often we don’t follow them or know them at all. One of the big rules is that you should have a finger bowl handy if you are serving finger foods. This allows the guests to wash their hands off after partaking.

This bowl shouldn’t just have water in it, though. That water should have a little lemon juice so that their hands are super clean and smell nice too.

Some people don’t like their freckles. If you have a lot of them or find that they become more prominent during the summer, you may search for a way to cover them up. This can be done with makeup, or you can lighten them with lemon.

If you choose to try the lemon remedy, then all you have to do is cut it into slices. Then take those slices and rub them on the freckled area. You will see an immediate change as the acid in the lemon begins to remove the color of the freckle.

On those cold nights in the fall and winter, there is nothing better than settling down with a nice crackling fire. But sometimes, for whatever reason, the fire doesn’t smell that great. This can ruin the atmosphere and make that relaxing evening not so much fun.

If this happens to you, it is pretty easy to solve the problem. Run into the kitchen and grab a few lemons. Simply throw them on the open flames. Or you can add lemon peels to the batch to ensure the fire smells good all the time.

If you have a cat, you love the little furball with all your heart. That is until you walk into the room where the litter box is, and you get a whiff of what they have been doing while you were away.

You can buy the litter that controls those odors, but some of those use unfriendly things, so why not just use the good old lemon? Place a couple of cut lemons on a plate in the room and let them perfume the air.

After a while, even a humidifier may begin to smell a little mildewy. Anytime you deal with water that stands for any amount of time, this can happen. That means keeping your humidifier fresh and clean is very important.

If this happens, when you are done cleaning it out and adding fresh water, make sure to have a few tablespoons of lemon juice. You will have to do this for a little while until the odor leaves completely.

Asthma is a respiratory disease that many people live with every day. Though you definitely need to treat asthma with medication, you can also do other things to further reduce the symptoms.

One of these is to follow a detoxification regime that includes 2 tablespoons of lemon juice before each meal. The antioxidants and other properties of the lemon will help get rid of toxins that might cause asthma attacks to come on.

Moths are a problem when it comes to clothes. The insects often will begin eating away at the fabric and cause some serious issues in the wardrobe. But in France, they have a much better answer than the mothballs many people use.

The answer is to take a lemon and stick the rind with cloves. Then place it in the closet. As the lemon dries out, the lemon and cloves release a beautiful smell that the moths don’t seem to like very much.