Clean Your Home Naturally With Citrus Fruits

The antimicrobial properties of lemon and other citrus fruits make these fruits the perfect ingredients for natural home cleaning, especially when combined with other ingredients.

Citrus fruits have a sour taste and can be incorporated into your diet in several ways. These fruits are characterized by their high vitamin C content and antimicrobial properties, which can be used in a variety of ways at home.

While citrus fruits are generally only used for culinary or medicinal purposes, it’s helpful to know that they’re also great for cleaning the house. There are even plenty of larger companies that have long used the main active ingredients in these fruits to make detergents, soaps and other cleaning products.

However, if you want to ditch harsh chemicals and start using more natural options from now on, we’ll be happy to tell you how to use citrus fruit in its natural form.

Below we share several ways you can use citrus fruits to keep your home squeaky clean.

Citrus fruit to remove stains from clothes

The acids that lemons and oranges contain are very useful for removing sweat stains that often form under the armpits or around the neck of your T-shirts.

Depending on the fabric, these fruits can also be used to remove food stains, paint and other things that can alter your clothes.

What you have to do

• Apply a little citrus juice to the stain and then leave the juice on for ten minutes. Then rinse the garment with warm water.
• If you prefer, you can also choose to place a few slices of citrus fruit in a large bowl of hot water and soak your clothes in it for three to four hours.
• Then rinse the garment and put it in the washing machine.

Degrease the kitchen in your house

As the days go by, more and more grease starts to build up on various surfaces in your kitchen. This fat is usually difficult to remove and some kind of tool is therefore almost always required.

If you’d rather not use chemical degreasers, try the following trick with lemon and salt. This is guaranteed to be very effective!

What you have to do

• Sprinkle a little salt over the greasy surfaces in your kitchen and then pour the lemon juice over it as well.
• Let the ingredients do their work for about five minutes, then use a clean cloth or sponge to remove the grease.
• Try to do this at least once a week so that the fat layer does not become very thick.

Disinfect your cutting boards

While we basically ignore this fact all the time, our cutting boards are one of the most polluted things in our home. Our cutting boards are constantly exposed to moisture and food, making them the perfect habitat for the growth of bacteria.

However, the anti-microbial properties in lemon can help disinfect your cutting boards and eliminate unpleasant odors.

What you have to do

• Sprinkle a little salt over your cutting board, then rub in a generous amount of lemon juice.
• Let the ingredients do their work for five minutes and then rinse the board with cold water.

Cleaning steel

If you want stainless steel to regain its beautiful shine, take advantage of the properties of lemon juice.

What you have to do

• Cut a lemon in half, then use one half to rub the sample. Let the juice sit on the sample for a few minutes, then wipe the sample with a clean cloth.

• To enhance the effect of the lemon juice, you can mix it beforehand with a little salt.

Neutralize unpleasant odors

That delicious citrus fruit scent is perfect for driving unpleasant odors out of your home, without having to use harmful chemicals.

What you have to do

• Place a few orange, grapefruit or lemon peels in a large pot of water. Put a lid on the pan and bring the water to a boil and let the peels boil for five minutes. Then release the steam that has collected in the pan into the room you want to ‘deodorize’.

• If you prefer to use citrus fruits in a different way, you can also fill a spray bottle with a little juice and spray the juice around the house.

Cleaning floors and tiles in your home

Floors and tiles in your home can become very dirty, moldy or soiled with various types of stains, which makes your floor look less beautiful.

However, a little lemon juice combined with some white vinegar is a great way to naturally clean these surfaces and get them looking like new again.

What you have to do

• Mix the juice of one lemon with equal parts white vinegar and water.
• Pour the resulting mixture into a spray bottle and spray it on the floors you want to clean.

• Let it do its work for a few minutes and then scrub.

Glossy Wood Furniture

Over time, wooden floors and wooden furniture lose their natural shine. To restore this shine and make the wood look more beautiful, try the following trick with lemon.

What you have to do

• Mix half a cup of lemon juice with half a cup of olive oil and rub this mixture into the wood.

Cleaning the toilet

A paste made from baking soda and lemon is great for disinfecting the toilet and removing dirty stains.

How to use this paste

• Mix the juice of a lemon with a few tablespoons of baking soda (20 grams) and use this mixture, along with a brush of course, to scrub your toilet clean.
• Then let it do its job for another three minutes and then flush your toilet with water.

Have you ever used citrus fruits to clean your house? If not, try one of the tricks above. You will find that these are great alternatives to the pricey products you can buy at the supermarket.