Unique Uses for Citrus

From lemons and oranges and grapefruit peels, fruit, and pulp – citrus has many uses beyond its Vitamin C content that you would never guess! For your home, your health, your hair, your car, and beyond it may be possible to live with only citrus trees and fruits to survive most anything!

Unique Uses for Citrus

Read on for awesome tips and random uses that we were super inspired about that use citrus as the main ingredient.

Freshen with Lemon!

Lemons are awesome for cutting odors. In places where random odors can occur that you can’t just ‘clean away’, use fresh lemon juice to get the job done! One example: the fridge. We all try baking soda, and maybe it keeps some odors at bay, but if you want to kill any smell coming from the place where you store your food you have to try this! Squeeze a lemon to get enough juice to dab on a cotton ball or even better a clean sponge and leave it in the fridge for 3-5 hours (or until the funky smell is gone!) and you will wonder why you never did it before! This is awesome for coolers and lunchboxes – places that are smaller than rooms, and made of plastic or are sealed spaces.

TIP: Is your cutting board smelly no matter how much you scrub with soap and water? Don’t fear, for lemon is here! Get the smell of fish, garlic, onion, and whatever else you chop up – and sanitize your cutting board – with lemon! Just cut a lemon in half and rub it all over your board and rinse completely. Good as new.

Bugs Be Gone!

We all hate using insecticides and bug sprays that we don’t want to breathe in or have our children or pets getting into. To get the insects out of your living areas, squeeze lemon juice diluted with water into a squirt bottle and spray it around doorways and windows/windowsills, and also in any cracks or holes where ants or other small insects find their way in, and they won’t be back anytime soon!

For ants: Throw a few small slices of lemon peel at the OUTSIDE entrance of your kitchen / living room / outdoor entrances and ants will despise the scent and recognize it long after you pick up the lemon slices!

For roaches or fleas: This is awesome! Squish 4-6 lemons and combine it with half of a gallon of water and wash your floors with the solution with a mop or even by hand with a rag. These pests can’t handle the citrusy clean smell!

Pamper Yourself with a Home Facial!

Orange peel makes for a fabulous DIY, at-home facemask! If you grind up dried orange peels (so they look like crushed red pepper flakes – maybe a little bigger) and then mix that with either milk or water (we like milk for the thickness, but if you’re lactose intolerant or don’t have milk handy water works great too!). Use equal amounts of water or milk with the ground up orange peels and ta-da! You have your very own magical paste that makes for a great face AND body treatment.

Once you have the paste made, use it as a peel by scrubbing the paste onto your face and letting it get pretty firm – about 4 or 5 minutes – and then rinse with warm water and a hand towel. Your face will thank you, and literally helps with acne, cleans deep in your pores, and balances oil. It gives you a youthful glow that can only be attributed to the Vitamin C and antioxidants in those delicious oranges. And at a much lower price than store-bought products. Use it as a scrub all over in the shower as well! It is great for your skin.

Spruce Up Your Linens

Now this is a really nice treat to come home to – treating your linens with nothing other than… Grapefruit! Squeeze some grapefruit juice into a spray bottle and mix it with DISTILLED water to your smell strength preference. You are safe to spray this onto your bed linens, towels, curtains, and even your clothes! Just a mist is recommended, and the mixture will evaporate to dry quickly, and leave you with a faint scent of grapefruit and even lift odors! Think: pet, dust, dirt, etc.

TIP: Mix different types of grapefruits for interesting and new fragrances! Try ruby red with pink grapefruit, or throw some white grapefruit in with a regular grapefruit – you’ll have a cabinet of great fresheners! Forget buying fabric spray ever again!

Keep Those Greens Looking Good

Avocados have become super popular in the last decade or so – holy guacamole! The biggest complaint is that they turn brown super fast. Some people say keep its seed in the guacamole to keep it green, but we have something better! Make guacamole for your next party ahead of time with this great lemon tip! Sprinkle fresh lemon juice over the serving bowl and don’t be shy – it doesn’t taste like lemon like you might think. Lemon complements avocado flavors, but it really doesn’t leave a taste – it keeps your dip green for a long time! Stir before serving.

Limp lettuce? Not with lemon! Buying a head of lettuce to use only a small part of it for one meal then letting it get brown never feels good. Lemons to the rescue! To keep your lettuce crispy for longer, put half of a lemon worth of juice into a bowl of cold water. Throw in lettuce leaves so that they’re covered in the solution, and refrigerate it for about an hour – even limp ones! Then dry them completely, and they will be as good as new! It’s like magic.

There are so many uses for lemons, grapefruit, and oranges that we can’t even begin to mention more! Lemons can be used for cleaning wounds to get germs out, as a mouthwash, and even helps arthritis, rheumatism, and prevents kidney stones! Oranges can be used for eliminating mosquitoes and moths – and even foot odor in shoes! You can use it as an all-purpose cleaner for everything and even polish wood with it. Let alone the health benefits! Grapefruit is so good for your body to eat, and also can keep animals out of your garden plants, exfoliate your skin, and soothe a sore throat.

Great to eat, and great to use all over the house for so many natural substitutes to harmful, dangerous cleaners, and great for your skin and your health and to eliminate odors and bugs – what could this be, but fabulous citrus! After you eat all of the delicious citrus you can, use these tips to get the most out of your citrus.