Lemon is a delicious citrus fruit that can be used in a thousand and one ways, and not just in cooking as you might think.
Lemons, and more specifically the citric acid they contain, are ideal for home maintenance. With lemon, it’s really not difficult to switch to greener, healthier and more economical cleaning methods.
Eliminating germs and bad odors, here’s how to make lemon the number one product in household cleaning and maintenance.
Lemon, a magical ingredient to include in your cleaning products
Lemon is one of a long list of natural products that can be used to clean your home from top to bottom in a healthy, chemical-free way.
All parts of the lemon can be used to create effective, pleasant-smelling cleaning products. Both the juice and the peel can be used to clean, disinfect, descale and deodorize. The pulp can also be used to clean your hands and keep your nails looking beautiful.
What’s more, lemons have the incredible advantage of not cluttering up your cupboards, as they can easily adorn a centerpiece or fruit basket, patiently waiting to be used.
Without further ado, here are the many ways you can use lemons to clean your home from floor to ceiling.
It’s possible to clean effectively with lemons!
Lemon, a powerful scale remover
Lemons are ideal for removing limescale throughout the home, particularly from taps and small appliances such as kettles, coffee makers and irons.
To remove limescale and scale from these appliances, simply rub a halved lemon over the parts to be treated and leave for around a quarter of an hour. After this time, a quick wipe down with a sponge and a little elbow grease will leave your appliances looking as good as new.
Lemon, the ideal disinfectant
Lemon can be used in the home to disinfect many surfaces, not only in the kitchen, but also in the bathroom.
To do this, use 1 liter of hot water and the juice of 2 lemons to clean:
- Refrigerator
- Hotplates and oven
- washbasins, bathtubs and shower cubicles
You can also use lemons to clean toilets. Use the same mixture, adding half a glass of white vinegar. After spraying the bowl with the mixture, leave for 2 hours to ensure optimum cleaning, disinfecting and whitening action.
Lemon, a pleasantly scented deodorizer
Lemon is very effective for getting rid of unpleasant odors in the home, which often come from the dustbin and refrigerator.
For the garbage can, simply place a slice of lemon in the bottom of a new bag to prevent the spread of unpleasant odours. The same goes for the fridge, where lemon will neutralize unpleasant odors such as those emitted by cheese.
Another application for lemon as a deodorizer: cat litter. Simply place a halved lemon in a bowl of water near your cat’s litter box.
Finally, it’s interesting to note that fish odors lingering on hands after handling fish can be easily eliminated by rubbing them with lemon.
If you have guests at the table, you can also offer them hot towels soaked in lemon water to clean their hands.
Lemon for shining windows
You can clean windows and other mirrors around the house with the following solution:
- 25 cl warm water
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ cup white vinegar
This effective solution cleans glass without leaving a trace. Fingerprints, dampness and dirt are all removed, leaving the glass crystal-clear.
To boost the action of this product, we recommend using a microfiber cloth or newspaper for cleaning.
Lemon to clean leather sofas
Cleaning leather is always a tricky business. But with lemon, it’s child’s play! This natural product revives leather and cleans it without damaging it.
Here’s a 100% natural recipe for restoring the beauty of sofas, leather clothes and shoes:
- Whisk an egg white until stiff
- Add the juice of one lemon
- Rub the leather with a clean cloth soaked in the mixture.
The result is incredible! The leather comes out perfectly clean. A second step is to moisturize the leather by applying a cosmetic milk.
Lemon to whiten linen
To whiten linen and restore its immaculate appearance, there’s nothing like lemon! Instead of using ultra-harmful bleach, this lemon-based technique is much more effective.
Here’s how to put it into practice:
Add a quarter-cup of lemon juice to your clothes’ rinse water.
It’s that simple! For an even more effective action, we recommend drying the clothes in the sun.
Lemon, an excellent insecticide
Lemon peels are highly effective in preventing insects from entering the house. All you have to do is place the peels at the entrances (doors and windows).
You can also insert cloves into a lemon and place them near windows.
Finally, you can make a spray of half a liter of water and the juice of two lemons and spray it on insects to eliminate them and prevent their reappearance.
And that’s how you can use lemons in every corner of your home!
