Beautify Your Home The Natural Way

Spring is that awesome time of year when our energy returns and we start looking forward to parties, barbecues, and family fun. But you may want to spruce up your home first, and by reading on you’ll learn how to do just that with healthy, all-natural homemade cleaners. We all know what our cleaning boxes under our sinks look like and it’s not pretty! With our helpful tips you can beautify your home in using just three amazing, natural and creative items that do double-duty as beautiful decorations and cleaning aides, without bringing toxic chemicals into your home. So the next time you are at the market, remember to stock up on … Lemons, Vinegar, and Coconut Oil! Take a look at these creative ideas about how to beautify your home with these natural cleaning products.

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Lemons! A bowl of fresh lemons on your counter provides and instant pop of color to your kitchen, and nothing smells cleaner or fresher than a lemon sliced in half. You would never think of keeping traditional cleaning products on your counter as a beautiful decorative addition to your kitchen or bathrooms. Find a beautiful bowl or glass canister to display your fresh lemon and use them as needed to help you freshen up your home. Your lemons will always be in hands reach, as they brighten your day and clean your home. Here’s how:

• Cut a lemon in half, use the fruit side of the lemon to remove water and soap spots from your faucets. Lemons will not only shine your faucets; the fragrant scent will bring spring into your home.
• Using the same lemon that you used on your faucets, cut it into smaller pieces and drop them into your garbage disposal. Grind until lemons are gone and your kitchen will smell like springtime.
• Create a natural, organic cleaner by combining the juice of one or more lemons to two teaspoons of cream of tartar and mix to a creamy consistency. Use the paste to clean grout and stains in your sinks.
• Welcome guests into your home with a light and natural lemon air freshener. Sometimes, chemically based air fresheners can smell heavy and unnatural. A simple and easy fix is to cut two lemons into slices and drop into two cups of water in a small saucepan. Add in your favorite springtime smells, such as lavender, rosemary, oranges, or fresh ginger, and bring it all to a slow simmer. You can leave the pan on your stove or add the freshener to a mason jar for a beautiful effect. Have fun and be creative!
• If you use your microwave like we do, it can always use a degreasing clean! Grab a couple of lemons from your display, cut them into quarters and drop them into a glass measuring cup with one-to-two cups of water. Set your microwave to three-to-five minutes, enough to boil the lemons and water away. Leave in your microwave for about thirty minutes to steam and then wipe the microwave clean.

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Now, here are some great uses for this time-tested, Mother-approved cleaning aid:

• Use vinegar as a natural and very effective deodorizer for athletic shoes. Soak the removable insoles in vinegar for an hour or two and then let air-dry.
• Infuse white vinegar with lemon juice and other fresh-smelling natural ingredients like rosemary. Pour into a spray bottle and use it to clean and shine stainless steel and windows. Have your bottle handy to spray on labels you want to remove or other gummy messes.
• Use white vinegar as an anti-bacterial for baby bottles, toothbrushes and other items that can collect germs. Soak in vinegar for an hour and then wash as usual to remove the vinegar taste.

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Last but not least…coconut oil! Sure, it’s used for many cooking and beauty purposes, but did you know that coconut oil is a fantastic cleaning agent for porous surfaces such as woods and plastics? As an oil it can replenish wood, remove scuffmarks on floors, clean sinks, and even remove Crayon sketches from plastics. It is also absolutely beautiful, so show it off in all its bright, fluffy glory by storing it in a spring-inspired container: Mason jars with an attached rubber-seal lid will do the trick! If you don’t have one handy, you can get them at craft, antique, or cooking stores.

Here are some amazing ideas for this natural, miracle oil:

• Use coconut oil on a sponge to remove shower soap scum naturally and without that strong smell from chemical-based shower cleaners. It can also be used to remove rust stains in your shower.
• Use your sweet-smelling coconut oil as a furniture or leather polisher. A little goes a long way, and you can even mix in some lemon juice to add a fresh scent to your polish. Or use it to naturally condition and beautify your wooden kitchen items, such as your wooden spoons, salad bowls and cutting boards.
• Use coconut oil to remove anything sticky, such as gum from floors or labels from jars.

The uses for lemons, vinegar, and coconut oil are endless. Once you start your cleaning, you’ll no doubt find lots of household items you no longer use. Why hide them out of the way to just clutter up a closet when you can donate them to Pickup Please and help America’s veterans at the same time! Just click the link to schedule a free donation pickup today.