One of how you can be more environmentally-friendly oriented is to employ better and greener home cleaning solutions. You don’t need to always rely on harsh chemicals, which contain questionable ingredients. You could just as easily clean with lemons. This citrus fruit holds a great many benefits, not just from a culinary perspective, but also a cleaning one. In this guide, you will find 10 things you can do with lemons, to make your home a cleaner and fresher place. Let’s begin:
Remove the smell of vinegar – if you are an avid eco-friendly enthusiast, you probably know that vinegar is one of the most used cleaning solutions for this kind of approach. The only negative side is that it has a strong lingering smell. Good thing that lemons come to the rescue, by providing a fresh scent that you will love. Simply add some lemon juice to your vinegar solution when you are doing your cleaning rounds and you will feel the difference.
Cleaning glass surfaces – when you mix lemon juice and vinegar, you get a fantastic solution for cleaning glass surfaces. This is a DIY solution, which you can get by mixing 1 tbsp. white vinegar, 2 tbsp. lemon juice and a cup of warm water in a spray bottle. Spray directly on the glass, and use a squeegee to get a gleaming surface.
A degreaser solution – one of the best uses of lemon juice is to utilise its acidic properties for some degreasing action. The next time you want to address some pans, or your stovetop, mix half a cup of lemon juice and half a cup of vinegar. Spritz the mix onto the grease and watch it melt away.
Scrub your dishes – if you have had a feast in your home, and your dishes are all stained, you don’t need to bother with endless scrubbing. Instead, you can cut a lemon in half, dip it in some salt, and use that to scrub the mess away from the dishes. The added abrasiveness from the salt along with the acidic properties of the lemon will easily make short work of any accumulation of food debris.
Clean the microwave oven – another great use of lemons lies with cleaning your microwave oven. If you have had an accident with food inside, or just want a nice routine clean, you can rely on a few lemons to get the job done. Slice two lemons in half, and toss them in a microwave-safe bowl of water. Heat it on a high setting and let it steam inside the oven for a few minutes. The steam will soften up the gunk. And while it cannot clean it on its own, you can easily wipe it with a sponge.
Deal away with stains – if you are looking for a natural bleaching agent, look no further than lime and lemon juice. It is a perfect ingredient for addressing stains. For example, if your favourite shirt has deodorant or sweat stains, you can launder it with some lemon juice in the tray. It also does well against rust stains.
Deal with ants – if ants often find their way inside your kitchen, you can try lemon peels. Simply slice a few lemon peels and place them in a pot. Add vinegar until they are covered. Heat that mixture and leave it like that overnight. Once you have done that, you will strain the liquid and spray it in the areas ants are coming from. You likely won’t see them again.
Lemons are a powerful ally in your eco-friendly cleaning arsenal, and you should use them whenever you can.