Cleaning with lemons will leave any area smelling fresh and clean. There are so many ways you can clean with lemons. I’m going to show you what to clean with lemons around the house. Lemons might just become your favorite cleaning tool!
Lemons have become one of my favorite tools to clean with. I love the versatility of them and how effective they are to really clean areas.
I’ve been using lemons more and more around the house and I wanted to share some ways I’ve been cleaning with lemons.
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Cleaning With Lemons Around The Home
Since lemons are so versatile I’m going to share how I clean with lemons around my home. I’ve broken this up into different areas of your home.
What to clean with lemons in the kitchen
Microwave
Add a bowl of about 6 cups of water and slice up a lemon and run the microwave for 5 minutes. Once the microwave is done, allow the lemon water to sit in the microwave for another 5-10 minutes.
Take a rag or sponge and wipe out the interior. The steam will release any caked on food making it really easy to clean. See the full instructions here.
Cutting board
Before you toss the peelings, rub what’s left of the insides over your cutting board that you can never seem to get clean enough, and you’ll eliminate the smell of those onions and garlic and who-knows-what-else that you’ve been chopping there.
Countertops
Remove smells and stains by rubbing lemon and salt over your countertops this is safe for quartz and laminate.
Should you have one of those fancy marble counters that are all the rage, the same rub (gently, please – marble is more delicate than it appears) will likewise remove its stubborn stains.
Cooktop
Salt and lemon can do so much for your kitchen. If your cooktop (glass or ceramic; electric or gas) has caked on food simply remove as much as you can with warm soapy water. Follow up with salt and lemon. This will help release grease and grime and also leave your cook top looking shiny and clean!
Oven
If your oven door glass has a lot of gross food baked on taking a lemon cut in half and dipped in coarse salt will help remove those stains. You may want to create a steam bath to help remove any baked-on foods, to clean your oven you can see the full instructions here. To clean your oven glass, you can see the full instructions here.
Refresh the refrigerator
Has life handed you a lemon? If so, make lemonade—and when you finish, dab some juice on a piece of cotton and place it inside your refrigerator. Several hours later, open the fridge door and inhale the freshness.
Garbage disposal
Add a lemon, lemon peels, or even lemon ice to your garbage disposal to clean it out. You can go as simple or complex as you’d like.
Slice up a lemon and allow the garbage disposal to run until the lemon has been processed. Follow the same steps for lemon peels.
If you’d like to try lemon ice, add a piece of lemon to an ice cube tray, fill with water, allow this to freeze, and then pop one into your garbage disposal to clean it up. (To clean your garbage disposal, see the full instructions here)
Stuck on food
If you’ve got hard to release stuck on food on your pots or pans a simple solution of salt and lemon will help release the baked on food.
Deodorize plastic
If you notice your plastic containers not smells so fresh you can wipe the plastic down with a lemon to deodorize your plastic containers.
Blender
A really easy way to deodorize and clean a blender is by adding a chopped up lemon and water to your blender, allow it to run and then rinse it out.
Fruit and veggie cleaner
Those brightly-colored fruits and vegetables that are so rich in antioxidants the nutritionists say we need to improve health and prolong life may be pesticide-laden, countering their wholesome advantages. A tablespoon of lemon juice mixed with water in a spray bottle will disinfect them.
It will also help cauliflower and other colorless vegetables maintain their pallor and prevent them from turning brown when exposed to air. A bath of lemon water will restore crispness to wilting lettuce.
Descale your tea kettle
I’m a huge tea drinker and from time to time I need to descale my tea kettle. Add 1/4 cup of lemon juice to your tea kettle with 4 cups of water allow this to sit for about an hour and then turn on the tea kettle and allow the lemon water mixture to boil. Rinse and enjoy a cup of tea!
Uses in the bathroom
Soap scum
Coarse salt and a lemon will release soap scum from your tub, tiles, and faucets without a lot of work. This will also work well on shower doors.
Faucet
A paste of lemon and salt left a few minutes on your kitchen and bathroom faucets, followed by a polish with a cloth, will remove the dark gunk that has accumulated there and make them shine like stars, as well as any other objects derived from metals such as chrome, brass, copper, or stainless steel.
Shower curtain
For any soap scum or mildew, you find on your shower curtain, taking a lemon and salt to your shower curtain will release the mildew and soap scum. Follow it up with a wash in the washer on the gentle cycle (full instructions here)
Around the house
Air freshener
A pot of steaming lemon water on the stove will do the same for the air circulating in the rest of your home.
I live to switch it up and add orange peels, cinnamon, and clove to the mix during the fall and winter months. During the spring and summer I’ll replace the orange, cinnamon, and clove with rosemary and other herbs growing from my garden.
All-purpose cleaner
Add a sliced up lemon to some white vinegar and allow to sit for a day and you’ve got yourself a really great all-purpose cleaner that is family and pet safe.
Garbage can
Discarded peelings lining its bottom will hold down the unpleasant odors emanating from your garbage can.
Ant deter
Save some juice to squirt onto the thresholds of your doors, the sills of your windows, and into any cracks and crevices that might provide entry to ants and other insects. Those little buggers don’t like lemon juice in any form; if they encounter a hint of the dreaded citrus, they will proceed elsewhere. Ditto the moths that might seek refuge in your closets. No need for you to endure the smell of mothballs, the French tell us; a lemon adorned with cloves will create a fragrance that appeals greatly to you but will send those pesky little lepidopterans packing, minus any nibbles from your favorite sweater.
For you
Remove smells and stains from your hands
The stains on your fingers from handling colorful foods might take a more aggressive approach – lemon juice straight – and a good wash with soap and water afterward. A welcome side effect of that exercise will be whiter fingernails.
Remove dandruff
Straight on your scalp, followed by a diluted rinse, the juice will clear up dandruff, give your locks a halo of highlights, and make them squeaky clean.
And now – thanks to that magic yellow citrus – the house is shiny and fresh, your hair and nails are sparkling, and the greens and berries are suitable for human consumption. At last you’re ready to sit back and enjoy that glass of lemonade!
