Home DIY {Natural Bleach Alternative}

My husband is a cook and with that comes the standard chef uniform...a white chef coat, which makes my husband look pretty swanky if I do say so myself :)

But white chef coats and  kitchens don't really seem to go hand in hand.  Martin's always coming home with strange stains on his coat. We've tried lots of different concoctions to keep his coats white...bleach, oxiclean, soaking in the washing machine for hours.  But all we get are dingy coats that smell like bleach.  

While perusing Pinterest the other day I came across a natural bleach alternative from One Good Thing by Jillee...I've pinned lots of her ideas for natural cleaning solutions and they work! So I thought I would whip up a batch of natural bleach and give it a try on some of our white linens around the house (there's just something about white sheets and towels that make everything look crisp and clean...unless they're not really 'white' anymore)

The Recipe:

12 cups of water

1/4 cup of lemon juice

1/2 cup of hydrogen peroxide

Add 2 cups per wash load along with your regular detergent.  Let the load agitate and then soak for about an hour. 

 Here are my results! These are Martin's bar cloths that he uses in our kitchen, mostly stained by coffee. The difference is amazing!  Plus the laundry had a hint of fresh lemon when I was all done. 

I've washed all of our towels and sheets and next will be Martin's coats.  All the other cooks are going to be secretly jealous wondering how he got his coats so white :)