Routinely Speaking: Essential Oils

 

            It’s probably been close to ten years now since I was first introduced to the world of essential oils and decided to try using them in our home. I had a friend who had signed up with Young Living, and she sent me some samples to try. I ended up purchasing their starter kit – which came with ten or so common oils, a diffuser, and some additional sample products.

            That purchase became the gateway to a near-decade of decisions to slowly use cleaner products in our home, and though our story probably looks very different than many who would start with the paragraph I started with, I am still grateful for the story we have and what it has meant for us.

            For example, we didn’t stay with Young Living, and the driving factor was the cost. I simply couldn’t keep up with all I had to do to earn points and place monthly orders to be able to purchase at a discount. I wasn’t interested in building a business to get other people to make purchases that would, in turn, allow me to buy at a discount. I ended up finding Selah Essential Oils a few years ago (through a blog I read) and decided to switch to their company instead. I can purchase when I need to – and if a long stretch of time passes when I don’t need to, that’s okay. I can earn referral points if someone buys using my code, ** but if no one does, I don’t get kicked out.  And my favorite thing about Selah is that they are a Christian organization, and they send portions of their earnings to support those in need. I love that.

            So today I wanted to share how we use oils in our home!

            When we started using oils, we pretty much stopped burning candles. I’d read up on the toxins in candles that use synthetic fragrances, and it just didn’t seem worth it to keep filling our home with them. Last year, starting in June, I sat down with Pinterest and researched all kinds of oil blends that are perfect for the month of June. Lots of citrus scents with some herbs mixed in. I found that, much like a capsule wardrobe, if I regularly interchanged the same oils, I could fill my oil shelf with my favorites and use them on the regular.

            So every day (that we’re home for the bulk of the day) I fill the diffuser closest to me with that day’s blend. (We have diffusers in four rooms, so I just pick my room and use that diffuser.) When I started my new day planner this year, I recycled the same blends from last year’s planner. I’ll do it again next year! Today’s blend is Lemon, sandalwood, and rosemary. Sometimes, if I have an extra minute, I’ll read up on what those oils help with, just to remind myself a little extra of how we’re benefitting from what we’re breathing. Inhaling lemon, for example, is said to help improve your mood and relieve stress. Sandalwood is said to help with stress as well, and can help you relax. Rosemary has been said to help with memory and brain function. (Lynne Ford always tucks rosemary sprigs into cards because it’s for remembrance.) The point is, the blends smell good and clean – and they don’t just fill the air with scent – they help in some way.

            We’ll also diffuse specific oils if we have a specific need. We often diffuse an immunity boosting blend if we’ve been around people who sounded like they were sick, and we diffuse lavender at night to help us relax and sleep.

            I will say we’ve noticed an improvement in our immunity since we started doing this, so I’m going to keep doing it!

            I carry some of the most commonly-used oils in my purse so if we are out and about and don’t feel well: upset stomach, headache, sniffles, etc., we can apply some of what we need topically to start counteracting it. Yes, we still take traditional medicine, but we have found this does help.

            I stopped using perfume and use Sigh (similar to Stress Away) as my perfume.

            So that’s our simple oils routine. I have, in the past, incorporated oils into cleaning products and laundry. I’ve used it (and still do) in insect spray. But we’re pretty simple overall. And yet – it seems effective! Our home has fewer toxins, and we feel better!

** If you use the affiliate code when you order, then I earn points that I can redeem for products.