How to Make Homemade Lemon Vinegar #CleaningSpray: Natural, Non-Toxic & Effective!
By Deanna Talerico updated Jan. 22nd, 2025, published Aug. 5th, 2019
"Got lemons? Hate chemicals and artificial fragrances? Try making your own non-toxic household cleaning spray solution! It only has two ingredients: lemon and vinegar. Actually, you can repurpose any type of citrus peels to make this cleaning spray. Orange, lime, lemon, grapefruit, or even a combination of a few.
Not only is this homemade lemon cleaner incredibly easy to make, it also serves the added benefit of repurposing spent citrus #scraps instead of trashing them! This is one of our favorite uses for lemon rinds, along with making homemade lemon powder. We also love to make salt preserved lemons and freeze lemon juice cubes.
On its own, white vinegar provides natural but effective antimicrobial activity. It’s also very inexpensive. However, many people find the smell of white vinegar to be far too pungent and sharp to use as a cleaner on its own. That is where the lemon (or other citrus) come in!
By infusing white vinegar with lemon peels, this cleaning spray takes on a fresh, citrusy, enjoyable scent. Furthermore, lemon has its own formidable cleaning powers too! Lemon is known to have natural anti-fungal, antibacterial, insecticidal, and deodorizing properties.
Supplies Needed
Lemon peels, or other citrus scraps – organic if possible!
White vinegar (you could also substitute with over-brewed acidic kombucha vinegar!)
A large glass jar or other container for steeping
A spray bottle
A fine-mesh strainer and/or cheesecloth
Optional: fresh aromatic, antiseptic herbs such as lavender, rosemary, thyme, sage, or mint
Directions
Step 1: Gather Lemon Peels
Collect your spent lemon rinds (or other citrus peels) in a large glass container. We typically use a half-gallon mason jar, but a pitcher, a couple of smaller jars, or even a vase would work! Also, it is definitely okay to have the membranes, pith, or seeds in there as well!
Our favorite time to create this cleaning spray is right after we make a large batch of our garden “Besto Pesto” – because we use a lot of our backyard Meyer lemons in the process! If you can’t collect your rinds all at once, that is fine too. Just keep the container of rinds in the refrigerator and add to it as you generate more.
If it is going to take you more than a week to build a nice little collection of citrus peels, I suggest adding a little white vinegar to your jar by day 6 or 7. Pour in enough to submerge the lemon or citrus peels. This will prevent the citrus from molding while you continue to add more. If you do this, you can keep the jar out on the counter instead of in the fridge.
The amount of citrus rinds you collect isn’t crucial. As you can see in the photos, we had almost a full half-gallon of spent, squeezed lemon halves! This will create a very lemony cleaning spray. Yet a lesser amount will do the job too! I suggest collecting at least a heaping handful. The more citrus you have, the more wonderful the smell will be.
Step 2: Soak and Wait
Once you have a good amount of lemon or citrus rinds collected, pour plain white vinegar into the container over them. Fill it all the way up, or at least until the peels are all submerged. Feel free to add a handful of fresh herbs (listed above) for increased natural aromatherapy and disinfecting power.
Soak the citrus in vinegar for at least one week, and up to three weeks. The container of steeping rinds can sit out on the counter at room temperature. To help encourage the infusion, you could give the container a shake every few days to mix things up.
Step 3: Strain and Bottle
After it has finished steeping, it is time to separate the lemon rinds from the vinegar. The liquid may be more cloudy, especially if you’ve been shaking or stirring it. We want to remove as many chunks and particles as possible, to avoid clogging the spray bottle!
Therefore, you could pour the entire concoction into a very fine-mesh strainer perched over a bowl to catch it, as shown below. Another option is to pour the solution through cheesecloth. It may be worthwhile to strain the mixture twice before bottling.
Either way, I like to squeeze and squish the citrus rinds a bit – ringing them out to extract as much vinegar and juice as possible. Finally, pour the strained solution into a spray bottle. Grab a funnel if needed! We use these glass spray bottles, but you can also rinse and reuse any other spray bottle you have around! If there is extra, simply store it in a jar until your bottle needs a refill.
Some recipes say to dilute it by mixing it with equal parts water. If you want to increase the volume of your batch, feel free to add some water! However, based on my research, vinegar has the most effective disinfecting powers when it is used full-strength.
Step 4: Get Cleaning!
Check it out! You just created your own non-toxic citrus vinegar cleaning spray. Now you can clean and refresh your space. It really doesn’t “go bad” in the bottle – you’ll surely use it long before that is a concern.
See a list of uses as well as sensitive surfaces to avoid below!
How to Use Lemon Vinegar Cleaning Spray
We use this vinegar cleaning spray on our super-fancy 1970’s laminate kitchen counters, sinks, shower, toilets, bathtub, on tile, stainless steel appliances, inside the fridge, and other durable, sealed surfaces.
One of my favorite uses for it is to remove unwanted odors, such as that gross egg smell that seems to stay on plates and bowls, or to eliminate residual garlic and onion odor and flavor from cutting boards. In addition to sanitizing and deodorizing, vinegar is great at lifting stains, and sticky messes like sticker glue!
Spray it on, allow it to sit for a minute to reach its full antimicrobial potential, and then rinse or wipe away – such as with a damp sponge or cloth. For a deeper clean and stain removal, such as on shower grout, allow the vinegar cleaning spray to sit for up to ten minutes.
You can also add a splash into the dishwasher, or even in the washing machine to freshen up laundry. I especially love to add a splash with our gym clothes. Plain white vinegar can also be used to clean windows (even better than Windex!), yet the citrus may make it a little streaky.
Do Not Use Vinegar or Lemon on These Surfaces
Please note that vinegar and citrus are very acidic! Therefore, it is NOT recommended to use this vinegar cleaning spray on granite, marble, or other sensitive or porous stone surfaces. The acid can cause staining and etching to them.
We use it on our laminate “wood” floors, but would avoid using lemon vinegar on natural hardwood floors or wood furniture. On the other hand, we DO use this spray on our wood cutting boards. When in doubt, use caution and do some research on the surface in question before dousing it in lemon vinegar."
Source [includes photos]:
https://homesteadandchill.com/homemade-lemon-vinegar-cleaning-spray/
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