After the amazing response I got from writing How To Clean Your Entire House With Vinegar, I decided to expand my healthy cleaning tips and show you how to clean your entire kitchen with lemons! After all, lemons are amazing natural disinfectants and who doesn’t love the fresh smell of lemon in their home?
Why Use Lemons?
The lemon oil in lemons acts as a natural antibacterial disinfectant. Lemons also contain D-Limonene, which is a degreaser and solvent and citric acid, which fights water spots and hard water film.
How To Use Lemons:
- Lemon Disinfectant – If you’ve read How To Clean Your Entire House With Vinegar or How To Clean Naturally And Make Your House Smell Great, then you know that lemons and vinegar are both natural disinfectants. You can use lemon peels to infuse vinegar and create your own disinfectant spray. Just infuse your vinegar and then mix it with equal parts water. Clean your counters and make them smell great at the same time!
- Wooden Cutting Boards – Wooden cutting boards drive me nuts because they can be a breeding ground for germs if you don’t clean and store them properly. That’s where lemons come in. Take half a lemon and dip it in sea salt. Use it to scrub your cutting boards and then just rinse them clean. As an added bonus, the lemon oil will also help condition the wood.
- Stained plasticware – Containers like tupperware are notorious for getting disgusting-looking stains after using them to store pasta sauce and other similar dishes. They are impossible to clean and no body wants to eat out of a container that looks like it’s already dirty. This tip came from Real Simple and all you have to do is squeeze half a lemon into the container, and rub the juice on the stain with the lemon. Then, just put the container in the sun. After a few hours, wash it as you normally would and the stain should disappear.
- Garbage Disposal – Do you have a smelly garbage disposal? Just grind up some lemon peels and freshen and disinfect it in no time!
- Remove Rust On Silverware – Ever get rusty silverware, especially knives, from putting them in the dishwasher? Yeah, apparently you’re not supposed to do that…who knew? This tip comes from Fabulessly Frugal. All you have to do is place your rusted silverware in pure lemon juice for a few minutes and you should be able to wipe the rust away with a cloth.
- Trash Can Freshener – These one is super easy. Just soak 2-3 cotton balls in lemon juice and place them in the bottom of your trash bag. It will keep your trash smelling fresh as a daisy until trash day!
For more tips on cleaning, read How To Clean Your Entire House With Vinegar and if you have any natural cleaning tips or questions, let me know!