Kitchen Hacks: Cleaning with a Lemon

What do you do when life gives you lemons? Use them to clean your kitchen! In addition to being an important element of many tasty recipes, lemons can also act as easy and effective surface cleaner due to the powerful antibacterial properties they contain. If you haven’t yet realized the DIY-ability of this potential-packed fruit, keep reading for a few Mandy-approved cleaning hacks using lemons.

For your microwave:
Cleaning the microwave is everyone’s least favorite chore, mostly due to the unidentifiable food splatter that tends to decorate the inside. Fortunately, there’s a hack for that. Simply slice up a lemon and submerge the slices in a bowl of water, taking caution to ensure the bowl you’re using is microwave safe. Then, pop the bowl of lemon slices into the microwave for a few minutes. This will loosen the food particles from the microwave, making it much easier to wipe off.

For your wooden cutting board:
Wood is a popular choice for cutting boards, but wooden cutting boards tend to stain really easily. Keep yours clean using nothing more than a lemon cut in half and some course sea salt. Simply dip the open face of the half lemon in sea salt, and use the combination to scrub your cutting board. The lemon will disinfect and the sea salt with tackle any stains and residue.

For your kitchen sink:
A clogged kitchen sink can quite easily throw your entire day and routine off. Rather than calling a plumber, which will cost an arm and a leg, try this quick fix: combine vinegar and lemon juice first, then add in some baking soda. Then, pour this concoction down the sink and let it sit for a minute before pouring hot water down your clogged drain. The vinegar, lemon, and baking soda combo should loosen up any gunk that’s stuck in your drain, and the hot water should do the rest.