Sheets Smelling Musty? Here's The Kitchen Ingredient Just Waiting To Be Sprayed On Them

Your bedroom should be the most inviting room in the house. This area should look calm and smell clean, coaxing you in for relaxation and sleep, but unfortunately, sometimes bed linen doesn't always get the memo. Poor drying, night sweats, busy weeks where you didn't follow your usual laundry routine, and musty linen closets can leave a stale smell clinging to your sheets and pillowcases. In fact, there are many reasons rooms in your house can smell musty, and there's just nothing worse than crawling into what looks like a clean bed to find a funky odor.

Luckily, there are faster fixes than immediately stripping the sheets and putting a wash on, and lemon juice happens to be one of the more surprising solutions. Its acidity can eliminate the bacteria that cause sweat odor and remove stains, so even just a light mist of lemon juice could be all it takes to totally refresh your pillowcases and sheets between washes. While it is not a replacement for washing altogether, in a jam, it's a great solution. You just need a quick spray, blot, and a good air-dry — even better if you can get some sunlight, as that's the all-natural ingredient needed to remove musty odors. Stale smells tend to travel, so what starts in bedding can drift into closets, curtains, and throw blankets. Dealing with these odors early matters, especially in a place as important as your bedroom.

First, it's important to note that the same acidity in lemon juice that makes it so effective can also be tough on fabric if it's not watered down. Diluting the lemon juice with water is recommended, especially if you're going to spray it on darker linens, which will almost definitely be bleached if exposed to pure lemon juice. To create a diluted solution that will be gentle enough to be used on most types of bed linens, mix equal parts water and lemon juice in a spray bottle. Very lightly mist the linens with this mixture, making sure not to soak the fabric. Lemon juice will work best on everyday cotton and cotton-blend sheets, as delicate fabrics like silk, cashmere, and wool don't react as predictably, so it's better to stick to standard washing methods for those.

Beyond this between-wash use, lemon juice can also be added to the washing machine when sheets are already going in for a wash — just around ½ cup in the drum or detergent drawer can help cut through sweat buildup that sometimes survives a normal cycle, and can remove sweat and other stains from white sheets. While lemon can't replace detergent entirely, it can give it a little extra help. This is a good reminder that freshness issues aren't always about how often you are washing your sheets, but how well they're actually being cleaned and what you're doing in between washes, too.