Making cleaning products at home

How to Use Lemon to Clean

Alice Marini
By Alice Marini. Updated: January 20, 2017
How to Use Lemon to Clean

It is important to know how to use lemon to clean as everyday more people become aware of the dangers of toxic cleaning products. Since lemon has a high citric acid content, low pH and is antibacterial, it is one of the best natural ingredients for cleaning, together with vinegar and baking soda. Its cleaning properties have been widely used in the cleaning industry and many chemical cleaning products also contain lemon. Apart from its cleaning properties, unlike other natural cleaning agents, lemon smells good and does not damage surfaces. It is possible and easy to make an homemade household cleaner with lemon, and today at OneHowTo you will learn a vinegar and lemon juice cleaner recipe. We will learn how to use lemon to clean the kitchen, bathroom, other parts of the house, and even your teeth. Apart from things you can clean with lemon juice, we will also list things you should avoid cleaning with lemon juice cleaner.

You may also be interested in: Can I Use Vinegar to Clean Marble Floors?

Contents

  1. How to use lemon to clean the kitchen
  2. How to use lemon to clean clothes
  3. How to use lemon to clean the bathroom
  4. Other things you can clean with lemon juice
  5. Things you should avoid cleaning with lemon

How to use lemon to clean the kitchen

Microwave clean with lemon

It is very easy to make a lemon cleaner for microwave:

  • Squeeze the juice from one lemon into a microwave bowl
  • Fill the bowl with water and put it in the microwave
  • Microwave on high power for 3 minutes
  • Do not open the microwave door for 10 minutes
  • Open the door, remove the bowl and when the microwave is cool, scrub any dirt away with the help of the lemon mixture you made
  • Dry

The lemon juice cleaner will make it much easier for you to clean the microwave as it is a degreaser, but it doesn't leave harmful chemicals as most cleaning products do.

How to use lemon to clean the cutting board

Using a lemon cleaner for the cutting board will remove bad odors of food. You will need:

  • kosher salt
  • half of a mostly squeezed lemon, so you can make the most of your waste

What to do:

  • sprinkle the cutting board with salt
  • scrub the surface with the half lemon
  • rinse it after 10 minutes

How to use lemon to clean the garbage disposal

It is very easy, and gives amazing results. Just throw some salt, ice and lemon peels into the garbage disposal, grind them, and your garbage disposal will smell great.

Deodorizing plastic containers

Among the things you can clean with lemon juice are plastic food containers. Just rub a lemon on them and let them sit for 10 minutes, then rinse with water. Lemon will remove bad odors.

Lemon to clean the oven

Lemon juice cleaner is very effective for the oven. Here is how to use it:

  • squeeze the juice of 3 lemons into a baking tray
  • place the lemon peel in as well
  • pour some water in
  • place it in the oven and bake at the maximum temperature for half an hour
  • take the tray out and let cool
  • scrub the oven interiors with a sponge with the help of the lemon-water mixture
  • dry

You can also scrub the oven grate with a lemon to clean it thoroughly.

How to use lemon to clean the blender

Just blend a lemon with some water in it and it will be easy to take off any residual hard water

Lemon cleaner for dishwasher

It is so easy to clean the dishwasher with lemon. Just let the dishwasher run on high temperature with half a mostly squeezes lemon and some vinegar. It will look shiny. You can also use your leftover lemons by adding them into the dishwasher cycle to deodorize your plates.

How to use lemon to clean a cheese grater

Scrub half a lemon on the grater to remove residual cheese

Clean coffee maker with lemon juice

You can get rid of limescale in the coffee maker and kettle by boiling a mixture of lemon juice and water in it. Let it sit for a few hours and then dry

Deodorize the fridgeYou can spray the homemade household cleaner with lemon (recipe below) inside the refrigerator to remove bad odors.

Vinegar and lemon juice cleaner recipe

This really is a star recipe, as you can clean all of the above, and most of your house with this homemade cleaner with lemon juice. Although you could clean everything with vinegar only, lemon smells much better, and adds cleaning agents to the diy cleaner. For this lemon cleaner diy you will need:

  • leftover lemon peels (just collect them when you squeeze lemon)
  • vinegar

What you need to do for this homemade lemon cleaner:

  • put the lemon peels in a air-tight glass jar
  • fill it with vinegar
  • let it sit in the dark for a week or more
  • pour into a spray bottle and you have a lemon cleaning spray

How to use lemon to clean clothes

One of the things you can clean with lemon juice is clothes. Here is how:

  • Add a small glass of lemon juice to the laundry to get a bleaching effect on stains
  • Add a few drops of lemon juice to the laundry to remove bad odors
  • to get rid of stains on clothes that are not very delicate, spray some lemon cleaning spray on them and let it act overnight
How to Use Lemon to Clean - How to use lemon to clean clothes

How to use lemon to clean the bathroom

  • clean the limescale deposits on the shower door with the lemon juice cleaner recipe we mentioned above. Then scrub with a sponge

Other things you can clean with lemon juice

  • glass: it is very important not to use chemicals to clean the windows as children and pets love licking them. Just use a mixture of water and lemon
  • your hands: remove the smell of food from your hands by rubbing them with half a lemon
  • unclog your sink with a mixture of lemon juice and baking soda
  • lemon clean teeth: lemon is a natural teeth whitening because of its citric acid and vitamin C content. Being an anti-bacterial, it kills the germs that cause bad odors, leaving the mouth fresh. Just submerge your toothbrush in a mixture of water and lemon and brush your teeth normally. For a stronger whitening effect, mix lemon juice with baking soda and rub your teeth. For more teeth whitening tips, check our article on how to whiten teeth naturally and fast.

Things you should avoid cleaning with lemon

We learned how to use lemon to clean. Let's now see what you shouldn't clean with lemon:

  • marble: have you ever seen what happens when lemon juice is spilled on marble? It will leave a lemon juice marble stain that will be hard to get rid off without grinding the marble surface. You might be interested in our article how to remove lemon from marble.
  • avoid using lemon cleaner to clean surfaces that have been touched by raw meat or fish, you will need soap in that case

Do you know other ways to use lemon to clean?

If you want to read similar articles to How to Use Lemon to Clean, we recommend you visit our Home cleaning category.

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Lorrie Hampton
Thank you for the cleaning tips
OneHowTo Editor
You're very welcome!
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How to Use Lemon to Clean