A staple in most homes, citrus fruit, including oranges, lemons and limes, makes a beautiful, fragrant display that can piled in a bowl. We also like to use them in a flower arrangement. Peeking out from the bottom of a clear glass container, they serve a dual purpose: beauty and as an anchor to an arrangement. They're also handy to have around the house for the reasons we've gathered together here...
If you don't have the citrus suggested, use whichever one you have on hand (although we'd suggest sticking with lemon juice when the objective's bleaching):
- Polish copper by rubbing it with a lemon juice soaked cloth and buffing it dry.
- Brass and aluminum can be polished with a paste of lemon juice and cream of tartar. Another way to polish brass is by sprinkling salt on half of a lemon and rubbing it on the brass item. This method works on stainless steel as well.
- Rub lemon on your faucets to remove lime scale, hard water stains, and soap residue. It also works on porcelain.
- Whiten tennis shoes by spraying them with lemon juice and placing them in the sun
- For a mild, stain-free bleach, soak your delicates in a mixture of lemon juice and baking soda for at least half an hour before washing.
- Boost your laundry detergent’s power by adding lemon juice to a wash cycle for fresh smelling laundry, to brighten whites and remove rust and mineral stains.
- For ink spots on clothing, apply lots of lemon juice to the stain as soon as possible. Wash the garment in normal cycle in cold water.
- Remove unsightly underarm stains from shirts and blouses simply by scrubbing them with a mixture of equal parts lemon juice (or white vinegar) and water.
- To get rid of mildew on clothes, make a paste of lemon juice and salt and rub it on the affected area, then dry the clothes in sunlight. Repeat the process until the stain is gone. This works well for rust stains on clothes too.
- Grind citrus through the garbage disposal to get rid of nasty odours and freshen the drain.
- Add half a lemon to the dishwasher load for sparkling spot-free clean smelling dishes.
- Make your own spray cleaner by mixing two tablespoons lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon liquid soap, 1/2 teaspoon washing soda, and one teaspoon Borax into two cups hot water. Mix until dissolved.
- Another all-purpose cleaning solution: combine lemon juice, vinegar and water in a spray bottle.
- Add a nice clean scent as well as cleansing power to all liquid cleansers by adding two tablespoons lemon or orange juice.
- Cut a lemon in half and sprinkle baking soda on the cut section. Use the lemon to scrub dishes, surfaces, and stains.
- Use as a natural furniture polish, combine 1 part lemon juice with 2 parts olive oil.
- Create a wonderful natural air freshener by mixing lemon juice and water in a spray bottle.
- Place half a lemon or an orange in a dish can help freshen a room. You can also boil up the peels to freshen up the whole house.
- Humidifiers can pick up unwanted scents. Freshen up the aroma by adding 3 to 4 teaspoons citrus juice to the water.
- Clean your windows and glass by rubbing straight lemon juice on them and then buffing dry with newspapers.
- Dry lemon or orange peels can be used to freshen drawers
- Stud an orange with cloves and hang it in your closet to keep moths away.
- Rub fresh orange or lemon peels over your exposed skin to keep away mosquitoes and gnats.
- Puree orange peels in 1 cup warm water. Slowly pour the solution over and into anthills to get rid of them.
- To keep cats from using your lawn as a litter box, mix orange peels and coffee grounds and distribute it around their favorite spots. If they don't take the hint, lay down a second batch and try moistening it with a bit of water.
- Certain people are having trouble with their barking puppies. Train them to stop by getting a squirt of lemon juice in their mouths.
[Image by Judy Nayer]
Originally posted on 03.28.08
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"Certain people are having trouble with their barking puppies. Train them to stop by getting a squirt of lemon juice in their mouths."
LOL! I think my dog would love that!
My favorite tip with lemons, combines pretty with practical. I take large glass containers and lay the full slice up against the glass. Fill with white vinegar. If you let this set, it makes the greatest smelling vinegar! Plus you have a pretty display for your counter top.
I like to mix the lemon vinegar with just a touch of olive oil to clean my woodwork. It also works great with baking soda to clean your kitchen drain! And smells heavenly!
How can I get a squirt of lemon in the neighbor dog's mouth?
I love to use lemons & limes for a lot of these things, but the recent price spike is a killer-$1 for one lemon! Wow!
Wow! Who knew?
A little mild acid (lemon/lime juice or white vinegar) will disintegrate chewing gum, so I've used it to get gum out of hair and clothing. this pretty much works instantly. be sure to rinse as soon as you're done so you don't bleach your clothes/hair.
I'm all for reducing the chemicals I use in my home, but unless you live in California or Florida, the carbon footprint for the citrus fruit doesn't seem to make this idea all that ecofriendly. Plus, lemons and limes are expensive! On those rare occasions when I do buy citrus, I want to eat it (or squeeze it into a margarita), not polish with it!
On the other hand, it seems like a good use for some of that RealLemon that's been embarrassing my pantry for months.
enjoyed the article but i am skeptical about the use of olive oil to polish furniture. i have been told that after time it can offer quite an offensive smell. i haven't tried it, but the rumor is enough to discourage me. the same application might be possible using tung oil or another oil suggested for furniture application.
These are wonderful ideas and tips that I can benefit from immediately. Citrus is an all around household fruit.
olive oil will rot after a couple of months.
i would not use it to polish furniture. icky.
i think some of these suggestions would work best with the zest or rind of citrus fruit, not the juice itself (i.e. making a zest scrubs for body & home)
Several good ideas, but a couple of misses, too - especially the ones that call for combining lemon juice and soda. Lemon juice + Soda = Zilch. Lemon juice's "active ingredient" is citric acid. Soda is alkaline. Add them together and they react (i.e. fizz), releasing carbon dioxide gas, until one or the other is used up, leaving behind some soluble salts (not an effective cleaner), a little residual acetate (not an effective cleaner), and whichever original ingredient there was more of.
That's not to say that lemon juice or soda by themselves are not good cleaners. They are, and they work on different things, specifically because of the acid-alkaline reactions like the one described above. Baking soda, for example, is good at removing oily or fatty residues, because oils and fats tend to be mildly acidic. Most soaps and detergents are slightly alkaline for just that reason. Lemon juice and other acids are good for removing alkaline substances - especially soap residue. Using an acid, THEN an alkaline (or vice versa) will clean things most effectively. Putting them together first just makes them clean each other.
If you sprinkle baking soda on a lemon to clean a pan, the lemon juice uses up much of the baking soda right away. What really cleans the pan is probably the residual baking soda, plus the scrubbing. You get better results by skipping the lemon altogether and scrubbing with baking soda alone.
Great post, except for that last suggestion. AT is an excellent source for style and homemaking advice, but leave the dog training advice to professional dog trainers and behavior specialists. There are much better ways to train a dog or puppy to stop barking than by squirting something unpleasant in his or her mouth. Dogs often bark because they're anxious, and punishing them for that doesn't help them stop being anxious, it only tells them you don't want to know how they feel. That means they'll either just wait until you're gone to start barking obsessively again, or worse, try to get rid of their anxiety in other, potentially more destructive ways. For much better advice on getting a dog to stop barking, see the humane society's article here: http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/how_to_stop_barking.html