Cleaning with Homemade Lemon cleaning Products: It’s inexpensive, natural, and tough on bacteria, mildew, and dirt. These 10 effective lemon cleaning products use lemons or lemon juice to clean your home so you can say goodbye to harsh chemicals and say hello to green cleaning.
These recipes for lemon cleaning products can all be made with basic ingredients you probably have in your kitchen, no essential oils needed. Grab a few lemons and get cleaning!
CLEANING WITH LEMONS
Lemons are a great green cleaning ingredient because they naturally contain:
Citric Acid – a mild acid that fights water spots and hard water film
D-Limonene – a powerful degreaser and solvent
Lemon Oil – a uplifting natural fragrance and antibacterial disinfectant
Fresh Lemon Homemade Dishwasher Detergent uses real lemons, salt and vinegar to make liquid dishwasher detergent. Learn more about this DIY recipe and its effectiveness.
DON’T NEUTRALIZE LEMON’S CLEANING POWER
The acidity of lemons is key to their all-natural cleaning power.
Unfortunately, many great cleaning recipes combine lemons or lemon juice with alkaline ingredients such as baking soda, washing soda or Castile soap. These green cleaning no-nos neutralize the cleaning power of both ingredients and can actually make your LESS clean!
EFFECTIVE LEMON CLEANING PRODUCTS
1. Naturally Clean, Deodorize and Condition Wood Cutting Boards
Lemons perfect for cleaning cutting boards. They clean and disinfect PLUS you never have to worry about contaminating food with dangerous chemicals.
What You Need
Equipment
Half of a lemon
Coarse salt
Bench scraper
Warm water
Sponge or cloth
Instructions
Apply salt: Sprinkle the cutting board with coarse salt.
Scour the surface: Using a lemon half with the cut side down, scour the surface, squeezing slightly to release the lemon juice as you go.
Let sit, then scrape off: Let sit for 5 minutes, and then scrape the gray, dirty liquid into a small bowl using a bench scraper, and discard.
Rinse: Give the surface a final rinse with a clean wet sponge.
2. All- Natural Furniture Polish
Lemon juice, olive oil, and white vinegar make a great cleaning staple that can be used to dust, polish wooden furniture, clean stainless steel, remove sticky labels, and more.
INGREDIENTS
I make Wonder Dressing in small batches:
1 Tbsp pure olive oil
1/2 Tbsp white vinegar (or orange vinegar)
1/2 Tbsp lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
Orange or lemon essential oil (6 drops total)
DIRECTIONS
Combine ingredients in a bowl or glass jar and stir until oil does not separate out (it will thicken slightly).
Apply lightly to wood with a clean paper towel or rag. (If the surface is very dirty, first wipe it clean with a damp rag.)
*You can also use a spray bottle to mix and apply the polish, spray lightly (a little goes a LONG way)!
3. DIY Garbage Disposal Refresher
Kitchen sink smells? These homemade disposal refreshers cost pennies to make and pack a serious deodorizing punch!
What You’ll Need:
3/4 cup baking soda
1/2 cup salt
1/2 teaspoon liquid dish soap
1 lemon
Small spoon or scoop
Sealable glass jar
Parchment paper
Sheet pan
Directions:
Gather the ingredients for making the garbage disposal refreshers. Measure and add the baking soda and salt to a small mixing bowl, and give a stir, ensuring the mixture isn’t lumpy.
Now grate the lemon peel into the mixture along with adding the liquid dish soap.
Slice the lemon in half, and squeeze the juice into the mixture. Continue stirring and adding juice until the mixture resembles coarse sand, which should take around three tablespoons of juice.
Cover a sheet pan with parchment paper, use a small spoon or scoop to mold the half rounds, and then tap them out onto the pan. A rounded teaspoon measuring spoon works wonderfully. Continue molding the refreshers until the mixture is gone. Allow drying overnight.
Place the dried garbage disposal refreshers in a sealable container. When your sink isn’t smelling fresh, simply place a few in the disposal, and flip the switch.
4. Fresh Lemon Microwave Cleaner
This great DIY tutorial will get your microwave fresh smelling and spotless! It also leaves the kitchen smelling heavenly.
All you need to get rid of all that caked on food from the interior of your microwave is some lemon slices, a splash of vinegar and some water.
I normally use regular white vinegar, but ran out so I improvised with white wine vinegar. It worked fine.
Take your lemon slices and put them in a microwave safe bowl filled with water. Add a splash of vinegar.
Place the bowl in the microwave and cook on high for five minutes. I hate this picture below, but wanted to give you a before and after look.
Leave the bowl to sit in the microwave for a few minutes after the five minutes are up. Then carefully remove the bowl and using a damp cloth, wipe the inside of the microwave. The previously stuck-on food should just slough off with little effort.
It’s now clean and fresh-smelling and done in under 10 minutes with very little effort on my part.
5. Natural Laundry Stain Remover
This all-natural cleaner can get rid of nasty yellow underarm stains and more. Try it on your clothes.
Seriously…lemon juice is such a great all natural cleaner. It helps to brighten wipes and is a great bleach alternative! Simply spray a little bit of 100% lemon juice onto the yellow area of your guy’s shirts, and if you have discoloration on your whites, you can give it a try too! I buy it at the store and keep it in a spray bottle in our laundry room!
