During the warm, sunny days of spring and summer, many of us buy lemons to brew refreshing homemade lemonade and brighten salads with yellow zest. But after you've used the cheery fruit to give beverages and food a citrusy boost, don't toss those precious peels or leftover lemon halves!

Instead, repurpose them to naturally clean your home. The acidic, antibacterial qualities of this multi use fruit can lift stains and odors, making lemons ideal for cleaning and brightening surfaces, appliances, furniture, and even linens.

These three creative uses will help you save money on store-bought cleaners and forgo food waste by pulling as much cleansing potential out of your lemons as possible:

Even with just residual rinds, you can craft batches of lemon-infused vinegar to include in a vinegar-based all-purpose cleaner. It takes some time to make, but the result will be well worth it. Vinegar is an effective cleaner that's great at clearing grease and grime and eliminating odors—and the lemon will give some extra oomph.

In a pinch, you don't need an infused-vinegar spray to benefit from lemon's scouring power; just use the cut side of a halved lemon to coat your surfaces or appliances in lemon juice, let soak for a few minutes, and then rinse. With this method, you can make your countertops, sink, cutting boards, and faucet shine in no time.

You can also supercharge the effects of lemon with a little salt using the following ideas:

Now that you've scrubbed down all your surfaces, finish your spring cleaning with a flourish by trying this air-freshening technique:

Use these three recipes throughout the season to keep your home looking and smelling fresh. Finish up by running any leftover lemon rinds through your garbage disposal to get one final freshening feature out of the lovely, versatile citrus.