Whitening Linens with Lemon Juice

Who here has had a terrible cleaning experience with bleach? I know I have. Bleach is harsh, and really destructive if not used properly. For this reason, I use anything other than bleach as often as possible (unless there are some hard-core bacteria that really need to be killed for good). 

A lot of materials, like white linens, say on their care labels that they are not to be bleached, despite the fact that they are white. Apparently these materials have a tendency to turn yellow if bleached, rather than being whitened. I was surprised to find that out, because I associate bleach with white things, not yellowed things, but I didn’t want to chance it. 

I had some white bed sheets that got peed on by this girl: 

Of course, I didn’t find her golden gift until it was well dried and set. Seeing as they were relatively new sheets, I was a little peeved. I Googled how to whiten sheets without bleach, and found the easiest, no-scrubbing, already-had-supplies-at-home method was lemon juice. 

So away I went. I used a full 500mL (2 cups) bottle of lemon juice, and diluted it in a 44L (about 10 gallons) tote filled with steaming hot water. I dumped in all my sheets, pillow cases, and mattress cover, and pushed them under the water using a broom stick – I don’t like hot water... it hurts. 

I got a jumbo garbage bag and covered the top of the tote so the water would keep hot longer and not evaporate so quickly. And I taped the bag in place using painter’s tape. 

Then it sat. Overnight. 

In the morning, I dumped the tote into my bathtub. I rung out each of the sheets, pillow cases, and the mattress cover so that they were still quite wet, but not dripping. Then I loaded everything into the washer, sending it through the warm cycle with my regular laundry detergent. 

Apparently the best way to dry white linens is outside on a sunny day, because the sun itself has bleaching properties, but I live in a sketchy neighbourhood, where I wouldn’t dare leave my personal belongings outside unattended. I’ve had windshield wipers stolen off my car in my driveway... and I’m one of the only people on my block who own a car! Honestly, who steals a windshield wiper?? 

Anyways, the lemon juice worked wonders. The sheets are like new once again, and the girl has been banished from the bedroom for the next little while. 

*Note: The bleach I talk about in this post is chlorine bleach. The other common type of bleach is oxygen bleach, which is colour safe and less destructive. I’ve never used this kind of bleach, so I can’t speak to its effectiveness.