Essential oils for your home

Our homes can be filled with toxic products that we aren’t even aware of, look in the cabinet under your sink, that’s where many of us keep our cleaning supplies. I don’t know about you, but that’s a scary place for me to venture into, or at least it used to be. I used to have the philosophy of hey whatever can get rid of the nasty mold on my bathroom tiles I’m up for it, the stronger the better. After doing some research and educating myself about these products, I was horrified and threw them all out, bought organic cleaning products, organized the dreaded under the sink cabinet, and now feel really good about going down there.

First let’s talk dirty. Those super convenient disinfectant wipes that kill germs on the surface, they have a chemical called quaternary ammonium, this is lung irritant (asthma) and skin irritant (rashes). We are using these wipes to clean surfaces, so it’s getting on our skin and into our bodies. There’s a chemical called Galaxolide, a synthetic musk used to add fragrance to many of the household cleaners on the market, this is very toxic to aquatic life and studies have shown this may interfere with hormonal balance and other bad stuff. To learn more about this and other toxic home products on the market, visit the folks at Women’s Voices for the Earth. They are doing amazing things to spread awareness to this issue.

There are several ways to make healthy homemade organic cleaning products for your home. Here are three quick and easy recipes you can make to get started. Incorporating essential oils in your products have many natural benefits and make your home smell delicious! It’s best to use a glass spray bottle (no plastic!).

Surface Cleaner

2 cups white distilled vinegar
2 cups water
20-30 drops essential oil
(use a citrus like grapefruit, orange or lemon)

Tip: using a citrus like lemon, orange or grapefruit, cuts through the grease and the aroma is refreshing and energetic for the kitchen.

Bedroom Spray

1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
12- 15 drops essential oil (lavender & vanilla)

Tip: Spray on bedroom linens or as room freshener. Use calming essential oils like lavender, ylang ylang, rose, frankincense)

All Purpose Soft Scrub

1 1/2 cups baking soda
1/2 cup environmentally safe liquid soap (like ECOS)
10 drops essential oil (tea tree oil)

Tip: Tea tree oil has natural antibacterial properties.

There are several good plant based cleaning product for the home that you can buy if you’re not into making your own, here are my favorites, Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyers Clean Day, J.R. Watkins, and the new product line Supernatural by the brilliant Suzy Batiz inventor of poo-pourri toilet spray (you may have seen the adverts on instagram, lots of beautiful naked people in the forest).

There are so many studies on the benefits of aromatherapy such as relieving headaches, helping with anxiety and depression, boosting mental power. Now that we are heading into the winter season here in the northeast, days can be cold and gray, it’s easy for low grade depression to set in. Although I love burning candles, I’ve been researching essential oil diffusers as an alternative. Here are some of my best picks that won’t break the bank, SpaRoom Pure Mist, UR Power, Airome Ultrasonic Diffuser. Don’t be afraid to blend several different oils together. Here’s a handy cheat sheet on which oils are best for specific moods…

feeling like this?
try this…

Stressed out: bergamot, chamomile, lavender, patchouli, vanilla
Anxious/Fearful: cedarwood, frankincense, jasmine, lavender
Forgetful: basil, lemon, cypress, peppermint, rosemary
Self Esteem Issues: bergamot, cypress, grapefruit, jasmine, orange
Fatigued: sage, ginger, jasmine, lemon, peppermint, sandalwood
Agitated: chamomile, lavender, mandarin, sandalwood
Low Labido: jasmine, rose, vanilla, ylang ylang