Household Uses for Lemons
Ah, the creation of the lemon. There are so many things this surprising little fruit can do! It is a one-stop-shop little bundle in a cheerful yellow rind. Learning how to use what’s already in your home can save money and reduce waste. Plus, house cleaning with lemons can do what a lot of harsh chemicals do without the side effects! So without further ado, let me introduce you to the un-assuming little lemon….
There is an entire list of house hold uses for lemons. It’s a natural disinfectant, deodorizer, and nutritious! We’ll start with laundry. You can boost your laundry detergent by adding one cup of lemon juice during the wash cycle. The natural bleaching action helps brighten whites, remove stains, and leaves your clothes smelling fresh. It also helps remove mildew from clothes. If when unpacking some long stored shirts, you notice some mildew buildup, simply make a lemon juice and salt paste and scrub it on the stain. Let it dry in the sun and repeat until the stain is removed.
The salt and lemon juice combination also makes a very efficient scrub for removing tarnish (don’t believe me? Find an old penny!) You can use this scrub on tarnished brass, copper, or steel pots. It’s also a good house cleaning agent for your stainless steel sink, just scrub gently. If your pans just need a good shining, cut a lemon in half and rub the cut side all over the pans then buff out with a dry rag. This method can also be used to shine a chrome faucet, plus the lemon even helps remove water stains and mineral buildup!
Like baking soda, it also works as a natural deodorizer. Is the smell from your garbage disposal less than appealing? Make some lemonade then throw the lemon rind in the garbage disposal and repeat once a month for maintenance. What about the cutting board? With all the dicing of onions and crushing of garlic, no wonder it smells! Take that lemon half, and start rubbing! Not only does it deodorize the board, it also helps to sanitize it (by the way, lemon juice is also a good hand sanitizer!). Just leave the lemon juice on the cutting board for 20 minutes or so, and then rinse. Some people prefer to just let the wood soak in the juice.
What about a caked-on microwave? Put 3 tablespoons of lemon juice in a cup of water and microwave for 5 to 10 minutes. It’s like a little steam bath for your microwave. Simply wipe off with a clean cloth.
While we’re on the kitchen subject, does anyone ever get pesky summer ants? Spraying lemon juice in the cracks and holes in which they hang out repels them. While it’s a pleasant scent for us, it’s not so pleasant for most bugs and animals.
Lemons are also great to use on your hair and nails, are good for sore throats, and help restore the PH level in your body. I could go on and on about this bright little renaissance fruit, but my passion is house cleaning, so I digress. Thanks to the lemon, we do have a natural and fresh smelling alternative to abrasive and not-so-fresh smelling chemicals. So get out your citrus and start making your home shine!
-Gayle
Did this help you? Post a comment and tell us about it. You can find other time saving house cleaning tips from Maid to Shine here.
I didn’t realize just how much lemons can do. I especially like the idea of just rubbing my cutting board with it and leaving it to soak in.
Lemons are an amazing green cleaning solution. I rub them on the chrome faucets to get the mineral build up off.
Lemon has acidic nature, so we can easy to say that it has many positive effect to clean many this, but should keep in mind that it also shows negative effect on some material.
I had no idea that lemons could be used for so many cleaning methods. I have been wanting to work on using more natural methods to clean my home, and it sounds like lemons would be great! The one problem with this is that I don’t have much time anymore to clean my home on my own. It might be good for me to find a good maid to come help me clean, and hopefully I can find someone that knows about cleaning with lemons so that it is more natural!
I love lemons. Eat them, clean with them, use them to freshen foods – Everything! They’re eco-friendly on top of everything. Just amazingly helpful. Thanks for sharing your great post and reminding us all this.
The fresh scent of lemons is something I can’t get enough of. The idea of cleaning my house with lemons fills me with joy. I will definitely do it next time. Thanks for sharing.
Best way to explanation the tips of home cleaning with lemon acid, The Concept of cleaning house with lemons Pretty awesome .lemon is use for cleaning the Microwave, Floor, dishes etc. it is very useful Thanks for sharing.
Great read.
Thank you for this valuable information and tips. It’s really helpful to clean my home. Thanks lot…
These are very effective and helpful tips. Thanks for sharing this
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This article is very informative! I have been looking for more natural cleaning solutions and lemons will definitely be a regular cleaning item for me from now on!
Wow! Lemons are cool 🙂
Lemon juice has contains approximately 5% citric acid which makes it such a good cleaning solution!