Sharing the house with eco-aware flatmates is awesome! Ludo was quite impressed by how her flatmates Perdie and Seba were trying to make an effort to stop using chemicals for cleaning the house once she moved to Brixton more than a year ago. One of the solutions they adopt is using a homemade lemon vinegar natural cleaner.
They just leave the solution to soak in a jar for 2/3 weeks with a good amount of yellow lemon peel and white vinegar, afterwards they strain the peel out of the jar, they dilute the lemon vinegar with water in a proportion of 50/50 and then pour the mixture into a spray bottle.
If you like to have lemon in your tea or as an ingredient for your recipes this is a good way to reduce this particular food waste. You can swap the lemon peels for any other citrus fruit like lime, orange or grapefruit too.
This natural cleaner works for almost anything, it is great at removing grease, soap scum or dirt. You just need to leave it for a few minutes before using a sponge or a brush. It’s not suitable for marble or granite surfaces and you have to avoid mixing it with bleach.
Do you need something more powerful? You can try sprinkling some baking soda on surfaces before using the cleaner.
Some other ideas for cleaning
After hearing about Ludo’s natural cleaner Jon did a bit of research to see what other things work. Apparently olive oil is perfect for polishing furniture. It is also great at loosening up stains, grease and grime on all sorts of surfaces.
Soap nuts too produce a natural soap, called saponin, that foams up and removes grime and smells when mixed with water. They’re anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-microbial, working as a great eco-friendly alternative to other toxic cleaners.
So, give some natural cleaners a try!
