When people talk about green household cleaners, it's most typically white vinegar or baking soda that comes to mind. However, we're not restricted to these two; in fact, other natural cleaning products have just as many uses around the home and, in some cases, provide better results.

With a name like citric acid, this alternative green cleaner might unnerve you at first, but it's result are sure to impress you. Citric acid is a brilliant natural cleaning ingredient that I use all around my home instead of vinegar to get things sparkling clean - from my limescale-ridden kettle to my stiff and crusty towels. Derived from citrus fruits, this incredible powder offers the same, but concentrated, cleaning power.

When descaling my kettle with citric acid, I start by adding two tablespoons of the granules to the kettle before filling it up with water a quarter. You don't want to add too much water, or it will dilute the citric acid and require you to add more.

I then just put the kettle on to boil, which is the longest part of this hack. After just over two minutes, the kettle finishes boiling, and the limescale is gone.

There's no need for scrubbing or putting it on for a second boil. On the rare occasion that the citric acid hasn't worked the first time, this has been down to me not adding enough granules or because I've stored the citric acid in the open.

Whenever I wanted to strip my towels of that hard and scratchy feeling, my go-to option was to use vinegar, but I think citric acid does a better job.

Depending on how bad the towels are, I either soak them in a container with a quarter cup of citric acid or add it straight to the washing machine.

In most cases, I just pop the towels in the wash with only citric acid in the drum with just a small amount of laundry detergent.

Citric acid also has natural antibacterial properties, which will sanitise the mug as well as lift away the stains.

With the citric acid method, there's no scrubbing needed at all, and it is pretty quick - the longest part was waiting five minutes for the cleaning solution to work its magic.

All you need for this method is a tablespoon of citric acid and boiling water at the ready.

Once the time is up, I just rinse the mug out with hot tap water and wash it as usual with some washing-up liquid. The cup comes out completely clean, with no brown stains left behind.

Just like descaling the kettle effectively, citric acid works the same way on shower heads. However, as citric acid is a strong natural cleaning agent, make sure to spot-test the acid on an unnoticeable part of the head to check that it won't damage the material.

My shower head detaches from the hose, so I unscrew it and place it in a washing-up bowl full of hot (not boiling) water and two tablespoons of citric acid for 10 minutes.

If you have a shower head that doesn't detach, simply grab a sandwich bag that's big enough and fill it with water and citric acid before tying it in place with an elastic band/hairband.

After the 10 minutes are up, I give the shower head a rinse and let enough water run through it to rinse out the acid left inside.