I don’t use commercial cleaners in my home and have been happy to see a growing trend towards natural cleaners.
Guess what? The new eco friendly cleaners are great but you don’t need them for the majority of your basic cleaning tasks.
You can make your own with a few drops of essential oil, water and a spray bottle. This makes it cheaper and more convenient than ever.
A small 10ml bottle of essential oil can last you a LONG time.
Reuse a sprayer bottle to use as your main cleaning bottle and a finer spray bottle to use as a room deodorizer and your set.
All you need to do is fill it almost to the top with water then add a few drops of your essential oil. Remember to shake it every time you use it and your ready.
Studies have been proving the germ killing power of essential oils as well if you are thinking they may not do the job.
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
Essential oils and any other cleaning product – natural or not – need to be kept out of reach of children. Some can be very dangerous and even fatal if ingested.
Essential oils are extremely concentrated and their pleasant smell and small bottles may attract little hands and mouths.
Keep them out of reach of children at all times.
If your child does handle the bottle it’s a good idea to wash their hands with soap and water, if they have a residue on their hands it can get in their eyes which will sting and burn as well as be potentially damaging.
HAVE SOME FUN WITH SCENT!
One of the things that I love best about using essential oils instead of commercial chemical cleaners is that I get to play. They are cheap enough to make a few bottles with scent to suit my mood and reap the benefits of aromatherapy – or I can use one bottle and change the scent the next time around.
And you can blend! That is a big part of the fun, many essential oils blend well with each other. For some people it’s an art, for some it’s just a lot of fun and a chance to have a little creative expression.
There are quite a few types you can choose from. You can’t go wrong with a little bit of citrus – lemon, orange, grapefruit… go fresh with a minty blend of spearmint and orange, floral with a lavender and lime or traditional with a douglas fir and lemon – mmmmm.
If you want to look into it, here is a series of articles that I wrote about how to blend essential oils.
Making Good Scents – How to Create Your Own Essential Oil Blend
WHERE TO GET ESSENTIAL OILS
You can get essential oils at almost any health food store and even some department stores these days. You do need to watch when shopping department stores as sometimes the labeling can be confusing. If the label doesn’t say Pure Essential Oils, it’s probably a synthetic.
If it says mango, pineapple, apple, kiwi or something similar, it’s not a pure essential oil – it is a fragrant oil, a synthetic version. This is because there are no essential oils produced of most of the fruity scents because the plants/fruits don’t produce enough or are not economically feasible to gather and bottle.
Rose? Lilac? These and many of the other florals are also probably synthetic fragrance oils as well – they are VERY expensive and won’t be found for $5 an oz in a department store – or even $20.
Essential oils can be purchased online, there are many websites that provide a large selection and additional information.
A few sites that I am familiar with and support in the US are…
Both have a huge selection and a lot more – they are environmentally active and show it with their selection of organics and wealth of information.
And I sell them myself in Canada on a much smaller scale (that’s how I know all this stuff!) I’ve owned and operated a small home natural skin care business since 2001, essential oils are a large part of natural soapmaking and bath and skin care items.
And of course – natural ‘green’ cleaning, so I use them in my home too.
You can see my selection here –Skincare Naturals Pure Essential Oils Listing – click on any of the names and it will take you to a page with additional information on the oil.
If you live in the US, everything will be cheaper and faster if you order through one of the US links above. I am an affiliate for them, that means that I know, like and trust the companies and that I do get a portion of every sale made through the links.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITES?
I would love to hear what your favourite essential oils are to clean your house. You can let us know in the comment section below.
