When Life Hands You Lemons

Have you ever needed to get a little mess cleaned up only to realize you were out of cleaner? 

The busier I get the more I find these things happen. However, recently during one of my pampering times, (I was reading a magazine) I came across a nice tip to add to my arsenal of ways to use lemons. That tip has become my number one use for lemons mentioned in the short listed below:

Interesting Uses for Lemons

1. Clean your house  My new favorite way to use lemons is as a cleaner (since reading the above mentioned article). According to Real Simple magazine's September 2012 issue, “lemons can effectively be used to clean everything from countertops to cutting boards, the garbage disposal to tile grout”.

Here is why it works: Lemon juice has the ability break down grease and grime because of it's high citric acid content (8% of a lemons dry weight is citric acid). 

2. Keep fruit looking fresh  When preparing fruits such as apples, lemon juice will keep them from turning brown. If you don't want your apples tasting so tart you can substitute lemon lime soda ( I'm sure the reason this works is because there is some amount of lemon in it so that lets me include it in this list). Here's what you do; soak the fruit in lemon juice or lemon lime soda for a few seconds.  An hour later your apples will still look fresh.

3. Cure thrush  Thrush is caused by an overgrowth of Fungus Candida Albicans. When my second child was an infant he contracted oral thrush. This is not uncommon, as many of you know. Thankfully, I had a good friend from Peru who gave me this tip. Coat the baby's mouth with lemon juice several times a day and it will eventually go away. She was a wellspring of over the counter remedies that actually work. I did as she said, the thrush went away and never returned.

Let's recap: Lemon juice equals 1. Nice smelling grout, 2. Fresh fruit and 3. Cured Thrush. So the next time life hands you lemons clean the counters after you've made lemonade. If you have any other awesome lemon uses please share them with the rest of us so we can expand the list. Thanks for reading!


Robin Liner is a wife, mother of six, and the female mind behind the plus size women's brand, TheCasualWoman.com. Her busy lifestyle makes her a champion for quality casual clothing that can stand the test of time.