I don't love the scent of every bottle in my starter kit, but the ones that I do, I could just sniff all day. There's something so real about them. Luckily my very favorites - lemon and peppermint - come in handy for all kinds of things; out of the kit of 11 oils I have, these ones, plus the other three above, are the ones I've actually tried and found useful, making them my essential essential oils.
As a newcomer to essential oils (who has perhaps "bought in" to the whole idea only partially still at this point), I'm not always sure how to make use of these little bottles, and I find the super-utilizers slightly intimidating - so for any other newbies or interested parties I thought I'd share some basic uses I've tried around the house or on myself.
Cleaning
With a toddler and a dog around (plus taking into consideration the general health of the household and the planet!) I try to find cleaning products free of harsh or potentially harmful chemicals - and it turns out there are several oils that are great natural solutions for all kinds of household and personal cleaning. I've made a natural cleaner by filling a spray bottle with water, and adding some thieves. I've also made some foaming hand soap by putting a cup of warm water in a dispenser with 2T Dr. Bronner's soap, and 10 drops citrus fresh or lemon essential oil. Lemon oil is also very good at removing sticky residue from things like price tags.Pest control
Again with the toddler and dog, I'm always looking for ways to deal with pests/bugs that are detrimental to said pests but nobody else, and this has been another handy use for my essential oils. Technique here: Google your pest to find out which essential oil it doesn't like, and then put a few drops by the source or onto cotton balls that you can leave around. So far citrus fresh seems to be helping with our annoying ant population, and the peppermint-soaked cotton balls that my mom left around her cottage definitely led to a reduction in mouse droppings in the cozy places where they usually try to make their winter homes.
Cold symptom alleviation
Here we might be in the arena of placebo effect, but I adore the placebo effect - if it's not harmful (and is even pleasant), then why not try?! Not too worried whether it's the product or just my brain that's making things better, but since getting my oils, I've pulled them out for relief every time I've gotten a scratchy throat or a new stuffy nose (this happened a lot over the winter, thanks to a toddler in daycare). I like to diffuse thieves + lemon, or lemon + peppermint on those days. I've also done a thieves tea (mug of hot water + 1 drop thieves + 1 drop lemon + bit of honey), which is quite soothing on the throat.
Aches and pains
I've used the "deep relief" mix to roll on to my achy areas after exercise, and it gives a nice icy hot feeling. Lavender is also supposed to be really good in this arena since it is soothing to the skin and antibacterial - my mom had it along on our Jamaica trip and doled out drops to soothe people's sunburned spots, bug bites, and scrapes.Relaxation
My kit has the lovely-sounding "stress away", which is just not my favorite scent ever, but still nice to pull out when I'm feeling worked up, either as something to diffuse or something to dab on my wrists/behind my ears to calm and help with sleep. Lavender is good for all that too (and is in the stress away mix).
Pick-me-up
Conversely, when I need a little energy or mood boost, oils can do that too. Here I get to turn to my favorites. For starters, just uncapping the peppermint or lemon bottles gives me a boost because those smells make me so happy, but they're also great together if you diffuse a couple of drops of each. Lemon is a good wakeup call in general - I keep meaning to try the suggestion of putting a couple of drops into a glass of water first thing to start the day on an energetic note as I've seen suggested, but it does sound appealing!
There are even tons more things to use oils for - in cooking/baking, for skin care, to relieve bug bites or diaper rash, to freshen laundry, etc. - that I haven't tried or totally forget about having the option for, so I'm still exploring... and sniffing.
I have the starter kit from Young Living, which has a great array of oils along with a bunch of other nice bonus things (the diffuser, for one). It seemed pricey at first, but it's a way better deal than buying everything individually, plus these little bottles last a long time. For even better tips on getting started with incorporating essential oils into daily use, this post on Fresh Mommy and this one on Sugar and Charm have lots of great suggestions; I also have this one pinned for handy reference when I need ideas of how to use my diffuser.
Have you tried essential oils? Any other tried-and-true uses for me to try out?
