Lemon Juice: 20 Unusual Household Uses (PHOTOS)

From EcoSalon's Stephanie Rogers:

When life gives you lemons, use them to clean your house.

Juicy, aromatic and highly acidic, lemons bring out the flavor in sweet and savory foods but they nearly always play a supporting role in the kitchen. Stop relegating them to the rim of your glass and give these winter citrus fruits their due -- because they're serious cleaning and freshening powerhouses.

These 20 unusual uses for lemon juice will make your home look and smell fresh, brighten your laundry, and improve your hair, nails and skin.

Quick tip: roll a fresh lemon under your palm on the countertop to soften it up for easier juicing.

List and captions courtesy of EcoSalon.

Comments

[JustinRDouglas]

04:15 PM on 12/23/2011

I'm going to let my mother know about the nail use. She has always wanted to brighten her nails.

[Mary Lowe]

09:35 AM on 12/19/2011

I used it on my mild acne and it worked pretty good, even though it stings a little at the beginning. I apply it on the cotton ball and leave it on for about five minutes thant I wash it off. I also use it to clean my nails and make them harder. It makes wonders with my nails.

[2lib4oh]

12:50 PM on 12/15/2011

Lemon juice is great for lightening stains ,especially fruit juice stains, on clothing.Rub the lemon juice on and place it in the sun.This saved a new T-shirt for me. You may have to retreat if it still remains but don't give up. This is really a simple solution.

[tinsldr2]

12:15 PM on 12/15/2011

We have a lemon tree in the yard, one of the things we do is squeeze them into ice cube trays and freeze them. then all year long we can put a cube in with a cold drink.

[WalkForward]

06:44 PM on 12/14/2011

I swear I love lemons so much! I've tried the lightening but not the deoderant replacer. Does anyone know if the freckles work cause I don't think they do...

[bonchy23]

12:19 PM on 12/14/2011

Mixing with white vinegar and left for few minutes to removed hard stains from tiles and grout. I, used a little amount in carpet and work great, as well.

[JustEve]

12:07 PM on 12/14/2011

If your nails are really clean when you soak them in the lemon juice and olive oil, when you're done just add garlic and oregano and make Greek chicken! Now that's recycling! LOL

[SoulOfDespair]

11:51 AM on 12/14/2011

Wow, would have never guessed 90% of those uses. I just like sucking/licking the lemon. I love the taste.

[lmoncrie3]

11:17 AM on 12/14/2011

Mixing lemon juice with baking soda, pure (unprocessed honey), 1 tablespoon of Kerosene or homemade liquor(if you can find it) has always worked for me with a bad dry, gaging type cough. Some people add peppermint as well. Heat and melt the mixture. Add the Kerosene and baking soda last, after heating. Take it by the teaspoon as your throat needs it to help you stop coughing and to rest.

[cricket38401]

12:09 PM on 12/14/2011

Kerosene?

[aeph1026]

12:23 PM on 12/14/2011

My parent's doctor used as Teaspoon of sugar and 3 drops of Kerosene as a remedy for Croup when I was 7 - it worked! Coughed ;up the blockages and I could breathe easily again for the first time in a week. Wouldn't try it now - heaven knows what is in the kerosene now - that was 1949!

[penmart01]

10:20 AM on 12/14/2011

Bloody Mary of course. Never buy tomato juice, costs less than half as much to make your own from tomato paste and water... all commercially prepared tomato juice is made exactly the same, only the ingredients list calls tomato paste tomato concentrate... look at the ingredients in Heinz ketchup; tomato concentrate... tomato soup the same. Vine ripened tomatoes don't ship well, they're made into paste right in the field... produce processing equipment is trailered field to field, costs far less than trucking produce. Commercially prepared tomato juice is pricy because it's expensive to ship all that water, plus the cost of that large container. Btw, all you gardeners, you can't make tomato paste at home... tomato paste is made by extracting water in huge silos using vacuum and gentle heat, the tomatoes are not cooked. Making tomato juice yourself from paste permits you to make a richer version, your bloody mary's tomato flavor won't become so diluted by vodka and ice. The savings from not buying tomato juice will pay for your vodka.

[prettypennyiam]

10:17 AM on 12/14/2011

Those small lemons you buy in the store are picked fresh out of the flower bloom. They have not come close to maturing. A mature lemon is the double size of a grapefruit, very large and sweet, not sour. They are picked green from the blooms, shipped out and turn yellow on the way to wherever they are going. I would like to have an option of buying mature lemons. My aunt lived in AZ and grew them. I couldn't believe my eyes they were so huge along with the enormous grapefruit on her trees that we see as nearly the size of small oranges in Oklahoma because they are shipped out right after they come out of their blooms too.

[penmart01]

10:25 AM on 12/14/2011

Lemons are not yellow, the yellow ones are dyed same as orange oranges are dyed.

[eyelashviper]

08:06 PM on 12/14/2011

I have two varieties of lemon trees here in Florida, and the lemons are quite yellow.

[prettypennyiam]

10:13 AM on 12/14/2011

Lemons were used to 'cut' a fever also. My husband was running 105 fever from tick fever, I gave him lemon juice and the fever broke! The old saying it breaks a fever is often very true in most cases I have ever used it for. Plus, it purges the liver, helps clean it from toxins as well as the kidneys. A natural way to keep the body healthy.

[Chipher]

07:21 AM on 12/15/2011

The rind of half a well-squeezed lemon makes a quick and safe cervical cap when the mood hits.

[cntrybabe1562]

09:59 AM on 12/14/2011

Using salt and lemon to clean copper-clad cookware is an old trick I learned from my mother long, long ago. Rather than use a cut lemon (as the article suggests), I keep salt and a bottle of the cheapest lemon juice I can find by the kitchen sink. After washing my saucepan, I sprinkle the copper bottom liberally with salt, then pour on some lemon juice. You can see the tarnish dissolve. A quick scrub with an SOS pad and I've got the shiniest pots around. Cheap, easy, pleasant to use. I'm shocked more peole don't know this old "trick".

[Sigel]

09:35 AM on 12/14/2011

AOL's editors need to get off their lazy butts and do their job.

The top lemon in AOL's lead-in picture looks like an aroused breast nipple.

[Ted Cantu]

09:10 AM on 12/14/2011

You could also squeeze it into the eyes of someone trying to break into your house. That would be pretty unusual and not to mention a green alternative to fighting crime !!!

[Bjay0421]

02:04 PM on 12/14/2011

Ted, I hope nobody that reads your post will think it's a good idea. What do you think the criminal would be doing while you are trying to squeeze lemon juice in their eyes???
You could get someone killed just suggesting that.
There are those out there who are naive enough to think it is a good idea.
Unusual, yes. Good idea, NOT!
The only good "green alternative" would be grabbing a green phone and dialing 911.