Before you run out to the store to buy another plastic bottle of harsh chemicals with poisons in them, if ingested, would kill you, try a green alternative...
By the way, all you need to clean is a strong acid. There are many kinds of strong acids. The kinds in harsh cleansers are just cheaper to manufacture than lemons, and you can't patent lemon/vinegar mix, which is why the grocery shelves are filled with harsh cleansers. If you happen to own an ionizer, which runs about $1000, you can change you tap water to a strong acid, to clean your whole house, with just water, no kidding!
Recipe for a cleaner greener house (without spending $1000 on an ionizer, though they are really great if you can afford one)
You already may have an empty spray bottle, or shampoo bottle, or dish detergent bottle sitting around about to be recycled (hopefully you recycle and if you don't where have you been?). You don't really need a spray bottle per say, so long as you spread whatever cleaning solution around a surface you are cleaning, the spray just distributes it evenly for you, and is not all that important, but if you have one by all means use it..
So you are about to reuse an old spray bottle and fill it with nontoxic homemade cleanser for the whole home, like your great grandma might have used...
You need the big four: baking soda, borax, vinegar, and citrus peel (lemon or orange). You don't need them all at the same time either. Lavender, and tea tree are other variations. Use what is local to you first, such as peels from your lemons, or lavender from your yard before rushing out to buy an expensive bottle of tea tree oil. You can wash lemons in baking soda and water to remove pesticides (good to know!).
"Lemons are high in vitamin C, have an anti-bacterial effect and are thought to posess antioxidant and anti-carcinogenic properties. The juice consists of about 5% acid, which also makes them useful for a variety of household purposes." What did I just mention, they are an acid, which is why they clean stuff really good, and they smell wonderful!
You can clean everything in the house with these: Countertops, stove, faucet heads, toilet bowls, sinks, tubs, floors, you name it...and there are many formulas for doing so, all with four simple ingredients, and a used plastic bottle, being reused, which for those in the know is far greener than recycling it.
Recipe 1: Vinegar Cleaner
Take lemons peels, and put them in a glass jar with a wide lid you saved from something you bought at the store and ate such as jelly, with a lid, mason jars are the best ones in my opinion.
Cover the peels in cheap white vinegar, or fancy vinegar, but vinegar. Shake and soak for four weeks. Dilute it half and half with water, and fill your plastic reused bottle with it for cleaning. That's it.
Recipe 2: All-Purpose Cleaner - Mix 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/4 cup baking soda (or 2 teaspoons borax) into 1/2 gallon (2 liters) water.
References:
http://eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_solutions.htm
http://tipnut.com/homemade-citrus-vinegar-cleaner/
http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/136/1/24-handy-lemon-tips.html
http://housekeeping.about.com/cs/environment/a/alternateclean.htm
http://family.go.com/hot-topics/pkg-go-green/article-gg-184094-our-top-green-cleaners-already-in-your-pantry-t/
This sounds interesting...
Orange Oil: Great for pests, cleaning, and furniture. Cover the peel with water in a jar, then strain off the oil after they sit for a few days. It's a super easy and cheap alternative to expensive orange oil based products.
http://www.examiner.com/x-7160-Sacramento-Nutrition-Examiner~y2010m4d29-Make-your-own-orange--lemon-oil-cleaners-or-flea-repellents-from-the-fruit-peels
