There are many natural alternatives to conventional cleaning products. This is the case with lemon, a very useful food, says Fay Ricketts-Mahon, @homewithfay, an influencer known for her content on cleaning and diy, quoted in the Mirror.
So, the content creator explained to her followers that you can use a lemon to clean your washing machine. All you have to do is cut one in half, spread toothpaste on one of the cut sides and then put it in the machine and choose a fast cycle.
You can also clean your cutting board with this fruit. Simply sprinkle baking soda on the board and use a lemon half as a sponge to clean stains.
You can also put a heat-resistant bowl in the oven or microwave with boiling water and lemon. Then all you have to do is turn on the appliance. This can make it easier to remove grease.
Cleaning expert Mary Findley advises keeping fresh and frozen lemons on hand for all sorts of cleaning chores. “If you only need a small section of the lemon, quarter the rest and freeze it.
Lemons freeze for long periods,” she says. “I buy lemons on sale, quarter, and freeze them so they are always ready to go.”
When cleaning with lemon juice, you can maximize the amount of juice you get out of a lemon by placing the lemon in hot water for 15 minutes or heating it on low in a microwave for a minute. (Before microwaving a lemon, poke holes in the peel to prevent explosions.)
These are our favorite expert-recommended ways to clean with lemon.
1. Refresh Garbage Disposals
Banish food odors by tossing used lemons into the disposal; or, throw in frozen lemon quarters to create citrusy scents while cleaning disposal blades.
2. Make All-Purpose Cleaner
Cleaning specialist Leslie Reichert creates her germ-busting “Happy Hour Cleaner” by mixing together 8 ounces white vinegar, 4 ounces lemon juice, 4 ounces vodka, eight drops essential lemongrass oil, and two to three drops castile soap in a spray bottle. Another Reichert formula: Let lemon peels sit in distilled white vinegar for a few weeks; the citric acid from the peels will be extracted by the vinegar to create a powerful cleaner.
3. Clean Windows and Glass
Place club soda in a spray bottle and add a teaspoon of lemon juice. No club soda? Use distilled water spiked with a splash of lemon juice to create your own glass cleaning spray.
4. Clean the Air
The Old Farmer’s Almanac recommends simmering cut-up lemons in a pot of water for an hour or so; the steaming vapors will replace winter’s musty smells with slice-of-summer scents. Or, spread citrusy aromas by sprinkling a few drops of lemon juice in your vacuum bag right before you vacuum. Findley recommends another air-freshener option: Mix lemon juice and water in a small spritz bottle and use the chemical-free spray to get eliminate fried food and bathroom odors.
5. Keep Ants Out
Lemon juice and lemon peels are pet- and people-safe controls that discourage ants from entering your home, according to the folks at PETA. Figure out where the ants are coming in, spray the area with lemon juice, and tuck lemon peels into holes and cracks to stop incoming ants in their tracks.
6. Make a Homemade Scrub
Combine two parts salt with one part lemon juice to create an abrasive scrub that you can use to remove rust, eradicate clothing stains, and clean piano keys, copper pots, cutting boards, and scummy shower doors.
7. Make Paint Clean-Up Easier
Painting project cleanup gets easier with these tips from the Old Farmer’s Almanac: Renew paint-hardened paintbrushes by setting bristle ends in a pot of boiling lemon juice. Lower the heat, let brushes sit for 15 minutes, then wash them with soapy water. Remove dried paint from window glass by wiping the drips with a soft cloth and hot lemon juice. When the lemon juice is nearly dry, wipe off the juice and the drips.
8. Steam-Clean a Microwave
Put a bowl of lemon juice in the microwave and let it boil away. The lemon juice will steam to soften stuck-on debris so you can clean the interior with the wipe of a cloth.
9. Scour Dishwashers
Place a bowl of lemon juice in the top rack or basket and run the machine on a normal cycle. The juice will mix in with the cycling water to remove hard water spots and iron build up.
10. Eliminate Laundry Stains
Use lemon to eliminate laundry stains and washing machine odors. T-shirts with underarm stains get new life when treated with a 50-50 solution of water and lemon juice applied to the stain and allowed to set for 30 minutes before the shirt goes in the washing machine. Freshly washed towels smelling musty? Add 1/2 cup of bottled lemon juice to top-loading washing machines and 1/4 cup of bottled lemon juice to front loaders and rewash your towels—just take care not to stuff the washing machine.
11. Make a Dusting Spray
Reichert advises making a dusting spray using two tea bags, lemon juice, and 3 cups of water. Boil the water, add the tea bags, and let the mix cool. Put the mixture into a spray bottle with a teaspoon of lemon juice. Lightly spray the mixture on a microfiber cloth and dust.
12. Tend to Dishes
Clean water spots off your china and silverware using a microfiber cloth dampened with a touch of concentrated lemon juice. Remove stains from plasticware by rinsing them with lemon juice.
13. Clean Tile Grout
Carefully apply the juice of a lemon to grout lines to remove mold and stains. Lemon juice is an acid that can pit and damage tile, stone, and composite surfaces, so make sure you wipe up juice spills immediately. Reichert recommends the following grout cleaning formula: Mix concentrated lemon juice with borax or baking soda to create a paste. Use a stiff toothbrush to apply the paste to grout lines; let it sit awhile to bleach the grout and wipe off.
14. Clean Grill Grates
Spear a lemon half on a long fork and rub the exposed side across a hot grill to clean the surface.
15. Sharpen Small Appliances
Pop frozen lemon peels into blenders and coffee grinders to clean the blades. Turn on the power and let blades whirl.
16. Clean a Cheese Grater
For an easy way to clean your grater just cut a lemon in half and then grate the fleshy side of the lemon on both sides of your cheese grater, says cleaning expert Melissa Maker. The lemon oil and juice help to cut the dairy fat and break up any of those proteins. After a quick rinse you should find that the lemon does an excellent job—and it also saves you from ripping apart your sponges!
17. Clean Bathroom Fixtures
Rub a cut lemon on metal shower door frames and bathroom faucets to remove water spots and stains. Rinse well and follow-up with a natural cleaner if necessary.
18. Disinfect Everywhere
Findley ensures colds and germs don’t spread by wiping down door knobs, car door handles, refrigerator handles, telephones, TV controls, and other often-touched surfaces with a cloth sprayed with a mix of lemon juice and water.
19. Buff Furniture
Mix together one part lemon juice with two parts olive or vegetable oil to create a chemical-free furniture polish that hides scratches and leaves a high-shine finish. Rub the polish into furniture surfaces using a soft cloth.
20. Remove Laundry Stains
Use lemon juice to remove ink stains from white fabrics (place an absorbent clean rag under the stained fabric to absorb the stain and protect your work surface). Brighten white washables by adding a splash of lemon juice to the rinse cycle.
21. Clean Wood Cutting Boards
Wood cutting boards are notoriously hard to keep clean because they’re so porous. They shouldn’t be put in the dishwasher, and you shouldn’t use them to cut raw meat. But even so, they can become stinky after several uses. To combat odors and keep wood boards clean, sprinkle salt on a dry cutting board, then use half a lemon to scrub the board in the direction of the grain. Then, soak the board in hot water and lemon juice before rinsing and drying.
