I love lemons! The perfect glass of sweet lemonade is ideal on a hot summer day. But did you know there are tons of other uses besides making lemonade? It’s true!
Check out some of these amazing non-lemonade uses for lemons:
- Removing strong odors in sinks or trash cans – drop leftover lemon peels or squeeze lemon juice directly in the drain or trash can to erase strong odors
- Natural cleaner – simply add some lemon juice to a sponge or cloth and wipe away stains. For really tough stains, add to a little vinegar and watch stains disappear.
- Skin care – rubbing a lemon cut in half on dry areas can help rehyrdate them. Just be careful of rubbing on cracked skin.
- Treatment for sore throat – add some lemon to hot water when you’ve got a sore throat and let the soothing begin.
- Natural preservative – squeeze a little lemon juice on foods like salad or avocado to stretch it a little further and keep it from browning.
- Add highlights to hair – adding lemon juice to your hair just before going out in the sun can help add natural highlights to your hair (and avoid those expensive salon bills)
- Kill weeds – no need for harmful chemicals to kill those pesky weeks! Just apply some lemon juice and watch the weeds disappear.
- Brighten nails – lemons can be used to brighten nails the same way as adding highlights to your hair. Just rub a little on your nails.
- Natural ant repellent – ants don’t like lemon juice. Spraying lemon juice to ant piles or around areas where they may be entering your home will repel them naturally.
- Hand sanitizer – lemon is great for killing germs and leaves your hands smelling great.
- Refresh cutting boards – sometimes all the onions, garlic and fish you cut on the cutting board leaves it smelling less than fresh. Rub half a lemon over it to freshen the smell and remove the germs.
- Prevent kidney stones – regular consumption of lemon juice has been shown to break up the compound that leads to the formation of painful kidney stones.
- Neutralize cat box odor – place a couple of cut lemons in a small dish near the litter box and freshen the air around Fluffy’s litter box.
- Boost laundry detergent – add a cup of lemon juice during the wash cycle and watch your clothes come out brighter, stain free and smelling great!
What other household uses do you know of for lemons? Tell us in the comments below!
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Robin Rue (@massholemommy) says
August 7, 2015 at 5:27 amI knew a few of these, but I definitely learned a few new tricks today. I am going to try to kill some weeds later this morning 🙂
Joanne T Ferguson says
August 7, 2015 at 6:48 amThank you for this great list as some of them I honestly did not know! I was not aware could use lemons with weeds and that were good for the kidneys!
Joanne T Ferguson recently posted…What Is New At The Party Down Under Today
Jacob Fu says
August 7, 2015 at 10:53 amWow! I had no idea you could use it for all of this. I’ll have to try the laundry detergent one sometime.
Jacob Fu recently posted…DIY Morning Sickness Care Package
Lisa Jones says
August 7, 2015 at 4:25 pmThank You Much For ALL The Different Ways To Use Lemon Who Would Of THUNK!! LOL!
Liz Mays says
August 7, 2015 at 5:02 pmI’ll have to try some of these out. There are a lot of fire ants in our area so hopefully lemon juice works.
Liz Mays recently posted…Ricki and The Flash Movie Review
Jeanine says
August 7, 2015 at 5:48 pmI love lemons. These are amazing uses and all so awesome. It’s so funny when I learned how great they were for other things besides cooking and baking they’ve changed how I clean and do things around the house!
Felicita Moncada says
August 7, 2015 at 9:46 pmI didn’t know it helped kill weeds! I like this natural treatment especially where out fruit trees are because we don’t want to use harsh chemicals.
Felicita Moncada recently posted…Back to School Guide – Lunchbox Ideas
rika says
August 7, 2015 at 9:50 pmI love lemon . I stock up on lemons because i need them . Great for recipes and skin
rika recently posted…Mâché Salad with Homemade Blueberry Coconut Dressing
Mykidsguide says
August 8, 2015 at 1:59 amA lemon has many uses and I know some of this. What I didn’t know is you can use it to add highlights to your hair. I will try this.
Mykidsguide recently posted…7 Classics You Actually Want To Read
Rosey says
August 8, 2015 at 7:59 amI have a toenail that’s slight discolored for whatever reason. I’m going to try a lemon. couldn’t hurt. 🙂
Wendy says
August 8, 2015 at 10:20 amMy brother has hot water with lemon and honey every morning and swears by it. I will have to get some to try that and the litter box. So many great uses!!
Maria-Teresa A. says
August 9, 2015 at 6:57 amI never knew about the garbage can odours or the ant repeller! Those are great natural tips – especially for the summer.
Michele D says
August 9, 2015 at 6:59 amWow! What a great list! I’ve tried a few before and some didn’t work. Definitely need to try it on weeds.
Penny Struebig says
August 9, 2015 at 7:43 amI love lemons too!! Thanks for the list of other uses. Some of them (like the weed one) I had never heard of before.
Penny Struebig recently posted…Five on Friday – August 7, 2015
Tatanisha Pitts-Worthey says
August 9, 2015 at 8:11 pmLemons are very versatile! I love that they are very handy for multiple purposes around the home, plus they smell amazing too! I LOVE lemons!
Tatanisha Pitts-Worthey recently posted…25 Ways for College Students to Save Moneyâ¨â¨
Adrienne says
August 10, 2015 at 6:18 amGreat tips! Lemons are definitely great for a lot of different things. I use them for soothing sore throats, and also boosting laundry detergent.
Adrienne recently posted…Cruises are for Elderly People and Party Animals
Jennifer says
August 11, 2015 at 2:07 pmI learned something new today. I had no idea lemons would kill weeds and could be an ant repellent!
Jennifer recently posted…Big Kids Can Wear Carter’s Too! #8IsGreat #IC #ad