Cleaning our homes with harsh chemicals is not only killing germs, but it’s also harming our ecosystem. That’s why we should look for natural cleaning hacks whenever possible. And, more often than not, the ingredients we need for these natural cleaning hacks are already in our kitchens.
There are a whole host of natural home cleaning hacks using fruit and veg and store cupboard essentials to get your home sparkling, and Laura Harnett, founder of eco cleaning brand, Seep, says, ‘For every cleaning task there is an eco-friendly alternative. These methods are effective, cheap and don’t release harmful chemicals into the home.’
From onions to cucumbers, your fridge and pantry are bursting with ingredients that can cut through grease, buff your windows, clean your appliances, and tick countless tasks off your daily cleaning checklist. So, these are the natural cleaning hacks you can use in your own home.
1. Clean your appliances with lemon
Sweet-smelling and very effective as a mild bleach, lemons contain citric acid that cuts through grease and limescale – this makes it the perfect natural appliance cleaner. In fact, you can use it to clean an oven, remove food splatters and grime from a microwave, or banish limescale build-up in a kettle.
How you use a lemon depends on what you want to clean, but in most cases, you can simply wipe your appliance with half a lemon, leave for about 5-15 minutes for the citric acid to work its magic, and then rinse off. For kettles and microwaves, you’ll need to put the lemon in water before turning the appliance on and letting the water boil.
2. Restore your floors with tea
There are so many ways you can clean with tea, which is why I always urge friends and family to keep some spare teabags lying around for doing just that. And if you have hard flooring in your home, you can brew up the perfect hard floor cleaner with hot water and tea bags to let the tannins restore your floors.
Speaking about this floor cleaning hack, the team from Hyperion Tiles say, ‘We always recommend gentle, pH-balanced cleaning solutions for hardwood and tiled floors, and black tea fits perfectly into that category. It’s an easy, affordable trick that anyone can try at home.’
3. Buff your windows with bread
Although you could simply pop your old bread in the bin, why would you do that when you could use it for a natural cleaning hack instead? In fact, if you’re looking for a streak-free finish next time you clean your windows, this bread can come in very handy.
A spokesperson for Vidalux, says, ‘Rubbing a slice of soft white bread can lift grime and leave a streak-free finish. You may only need a soft cloth to remove any leftover crumbs. The bread’s tacky surface is surprisingly useful for picking up dust.’
4. Clean your BBQ with an onion
They might not be the best-smelling cleaning solution, but onions contain enzymes that react with oxygen to create an acid that can dissolve grease. This makes them perfect for cleaning a BBQ, and you probably already have some in your pantry.
Laura agrees, advising everyone to, ‘Slice an onion in half, stick it onto the BBQ fork and rub it over the grill back and forth. The natural acids in the onion will remove most of the burned-on food and grease. The layers of an onion also have a slightly abrasive surface, which removes the stuck-on char without scratching the metal of the grill.’
5. Kill weeds with boiling water
Sometimes the best natural cleaning hacks are the simplest, and what most people don’t realise is that it’s very easy to kill weeds with boiling water – and it won’t cost you a penny (or your favourite flowers). In fact, it’s one of the best ways to get rid of weeds naturally, and without using any nasties in your garden.
Molly Woodward-Moor, Interior Designer and Creative Director at Stone Superstore, explains, ‘Just boil a kettle of water and carefully pour it directly onto the weeds that are growing between your paving stones. While the area is still wet, sprinkle a small amount of table salt on top of the weeds. Within a couple of days, the weeds will have died, making them easy to pull out or simply sweep away.’
6. Clean your dishwasher with salt
It’s incredibly easy to buy chemical dishwasher tablets to clean your dishwasher, but you can save money by opting for a natural cleaning hack instead. It’s worth noting that you should use dishwasher salt – like this Finish Dishwasher Salt (£4 at Amazon) – instead of table salt, though.
This salt will not only offer your dishwasher a deep clean, but it will also soften the water running through your appliance, which will help to remove limescale and prevent future build-up. This will keep your machine in full working order for much longer.
7. Deter flies with orange peel or cucumber
Next time you peel an orange or buy an extra cucumber in your weekly shop, it’s well worth giving this next natural cleaning hack a try – especially during the hotter, summer months. That’s because orange peels can help to repel flies when used correctly.
Daniel Steward, Managing Director at Shield Pest Control, explains, ‘Place fresh orange peels near entry points like windowsills, doorways, or kitchen surfaces. The strong citrus scent can help deter flies and other insects from coming inside.’ If you don’t have any oranges at home, you can also deter flies with cucumber, as long as you replace your slices every couple of days.
8. Polish plants with banana skin
If bananas regularly make an appearance in your fruit bowl and your houseplants are looking a little dusty, give them a polish with the inside of a banana skin. It works as a great polish, shifting dust and also moisturising the leaves. This works best on big and tough leaves such as yuccas, orchids and cheese plants. It also works a treat on leather if you want to clean a sofa that’s leather.
But it’s not just your indoor plants that will thank you for using this natural cleaning hack. There are also so many ways to use banana peels in your garden, from boosting your homemade compost to making ‘banana tea’ to fertilise your plants.
9. Banish limescale with white vinegar
As someone who lives in a hard water area, I know just how irritating the limescale can be. But whether you want to clean limescale from toilets or descale a kettle, you’ll be happy to know that an effective natural cleaning hack is cleaning with white vinegar.
The acidity of white vinegar is perfect for banishing the alkaline mineral build-up, and in most case, all you need to do is pour white vinegar onto the limescale-affected area and wait for the magic to happen. Just make sure you know which things you shouldn’t clean with white vinegar, too.
10. Scent your laundry with lavender
There’s nothing better than fresh-smelling laundry, and a natural hack to do just that is to scent your laundry with lavender. To make 180ml of scented water, mix 30ml vodka and 150ml distilled water and add 12-18 drops of lavender oil. Decant into a spray bottle – like this Two-Pack Empty Spray Bottle (£7.99 from Amazon) – and add a pretty decorative label.
A perk of using this essential oil for cleaning is that lavender is a scent that clothes moths hate, so spraying your clothes with this concoction should also keep them safe from harm. So, it’s a win-win.
11. Remove rust with a potato
If you have any spare potatoes lying around and want to remove rust on garden furniture, you’ll be happy to know that this natural cleaning hack really works. Lee Trethewey, Managing Director at Sustainable Furniture, explains, ‘The reason why potatoes can remove rust is because they contain oxalic acid. I recommend trying this on lighter rust stains on garden furniture, rather than really deep stains.’
In fact, oxalic acid is a naturally occurring acid that will break the rust down without you needing to use any other chemicals or cleaning solutions. This means you can clean metal furniture using the spuds you already have in your kitchen.
12. Use coffee grounds as a degreaser
Grease is inevitable in a well-used kitchen, but that doesn’t mean that you have to use chemical cleaners to degrease a kitchen splashback or clean your hob. Instead, you can use the leftover coffee grounds from your morning coffee.
Laura says, ‘Coffee grounds have a gently abrasive texture and can be used to remove grease from kitchen surfaces and cooker splashbacks. The coffee reacts with grease to dissolve it quickly. Just make sure you clean off the coffee grounds with a soft cloth and warm water to remove any residue.’ And if you have any spare, you can then use your coffee grounds in the garden.
Natural cleaning caddy essentials
SEEP Eco All Purpose Bamboo Cloths
It’s always worth having some cleaning cloths in your caddy, and these ones are made from 100% bamboo fibre. So, you can pop them on the compost when you’ve used them as much as you can.
Miniml Cleaning White Vinegar Refill Sorrento Lemon 5L
I swear by white vinegar as a natural cleaning hack, but I don’t particularly like the smell of it. That’s why I always opt for this lemon-scented option instead – and it smells delicious.
Deep Multipurpose Cleaning Caddy White
Instead of going back and forth to the kitchen for your natural cleaning products, you can pop them all in a cleaning caddy like this one instead.
FAQs
How long does homemade cleaning solution last?
This ultimately depends on the homemade cleaning solution in question. A white vinegar and water solution, for example, should last for weeks, if not months, in your cleaning cupboard, so you can make it in bulk and then whip it out whenever you need it.
If you opt to use distilled water rather than tap or filtered water, you’ll also find that your cleaning solutions last a lot longer.
What is the best homemade cleaning solution?
Generally, you can never go wrong with a cleaning solution made from equal parts white vinegar and water, with a few drops of your favourite essential oil mixed in for good measure. This all-purpose cleaner will naturally de-grease, deodorise, and disinfect many areas of the house.
So, which of these natural cleaning hacks will you be trying out?
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