essential oils // cleaning our home

let's talk about oils!  our family has been a part of the young living essential oils community for awhile now and we are loving the positive impact they are having on our lives. after receiving much inquiry in regard to some of my instagram posts i have decided that it's time i give you a more detailed glimpse into exactly how and why we love essential oils here in my personal blogging space, as well as information on how you can incorporate them into your life if you so desire!

essential oils have brought so much good to our family.  what first attracted us to them was that they wholeheartedly reflect our philosophy of living simply and naturally.  after months of use, essential oils are second nature to us.  we have incorporated them into the rhythms of our day to day living and have found that the more we use them the better we feel.  this first post is dedicated to cleaning our home and how the oils have been beneficial in that area of our lives.

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one of my favorite feelings promptly arises after i've had a cleaning spell in our home, rooms still smelling of essential oils, hardwood floors all shiny and goo free, tub scum ring-free, our feather pillows fluffed on the sofa smelling of lavender and off the floors from the previous day's hot lava game or tea party.  that feeling of accomplishment and calm spills over into the rest of my week.

tending to our home early on in the week is an automatic recharge for my batteries as a stay at home mom.  it also gives me the go ahead to mess everything all up again with my babes, flour all over our kitchen from pie making and mud in our entryway from the inevitable rushing inside and outside of my three year old.  it's a process, you know.  clean, play, tidy, play harder, rest.

if you've ever shoveled snow in the middle of a snowstorm you've experienced cleaning a home with little ones.  it can be wild you guys, and sometimes even counterproductive and laughable.  on those days i make an extra strong coffee and say, "to heck with it. there's always tomorrow."  i remember hearing a bit of motherly advice awhile back that said something to the tune of "good mothers have sticky floors and smudged windows and toys everywhere."  and part of me agrees!  it is ridiculous to expect to have a clean house all the time.  a mess means fun has been had.  but once a week, usually mondays, i go about my routine semi-deep cleaning bathrooms and floors and windows and surface areas so i can maintain a somewhat clean home the rest of the week.  doing so helps my mood tremendously and gives me more time to home school stella and have play dates, having started the week off with a fresh, clean home.

admittedly, and rather oddly to some i'm sure, i am a person who finds enjoyment in cleaning.  when given the opportunity to browse the aisles at target i will literally spend most of my time either smelling new seasonal candles or the flowery fabric softener scents.  the autumn season always has me tightly in its' grip because i live for anything smelling of nutmeg or pumpkin.  more times than not, i'll pass by the hand soap bottles and ogle over their apothecaric labels, debating a potential splurge.  being the aesthetic person i am, i'm a total sucker for a beautiful cleaning tools, too.  throughout the past couple of years i have replaced my old, rather inefficient tools for more beautiful, old school ones made of wood and metal.  take this one for example.  i use it daily in our kitchen to clean up crushed goldfish and the like.  it's true, classic basics are really best.

given that my day as a mama means there's always a little one pulling on my leg or a toddler begging to be held or tickled, i have had to make some changes in my cleaning regimen.  life is messy and crazy whilst raising babies so i tried to simplified where i can by buying less and being more mindful about what i am spraying all over our home.  i now use just a handful of tools and products, most all of them handmade and safe to use with a baby crawling around.  interestingly enough, while making things easier and simpler for myself in regard to cleaning i feel that everything seems genuinely cleaner.  one by one i have gotten rid of my old cleaning products, throwing many away because of their toxicity and harmful nature.  i have replaced them with essential oils and natural products such as vinegar, baking soda, and water.  i can say with confidence that my home has never felt cleaner and safer and more clutter free than it does now with two small children.

despite not using an array of cleaning products i have not sacrificed on quality.  i have some go-to essential oils that i use on a weekly basis to clean our hardwoods, bathrooms, crayon marks on the walls, counter surfaces and more.  because we are keeping simplicity a theme in our home we have not been spending frivolously on different products that my oils can do on their own or paired with something completely natural.  i feel as though we are saving a lot of money in the process which for us is an added bonus.  and friends, these oils, well they are not just for cleaning.  oh no.  that is one small component of their goodness.

i am writing this series for you because as a mother i am learning on a daily basis that we all need each other.  i wholeheartedly believe this.  whether you are a tired parent with little ones or a young woman in need of a little inspiration, one thing we all have in common is that we need each other no matter our path.  it is how we better our lives.  it is how we come to be the best version of ourselves.  i have been blessed by others who have opened their hearts and homes and have showed me different, and sometimes better, ways of doing things, safer ways to clean being one of them.  because others have been generous with their time and have shared the value of essential oils with me, my family has been healthier on many levels.  thus, every couple of weeks i am going to share with you ways that we incorporate essential oils in our everyday lives, whether it be in the way we keep our home to the way we keep sickness at bay.  yes, essential oils do that, too!  below you can find three of my favorite cleaning products made with essential oils.

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hardwood floor cleaner: 

- 1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar 
- 1 gallon of warm water
- 3-5 drops of lemon or thieves essential oil

after sweeping or vacuuming, i use a microfiber cloth on tough spots where dirt and grime has built up and a basic string mop and press mop bucket for all other areas.  i know there are many great steam mops out there but nothing truly cleans a floor like an old fashioned mop.  however if you do have a floor cleaner you can use this recipe:

- 2 teaspoons of distilled white vinegar
- 16 ounces of warm water
- 1 or 2 drops of lemon or thieves essential oil

all-purpose spray: 

- 1 part distilled white or apple cider vinegar
- 1 part water
- 10 drops of your favorite essential oil.  last week i made one using five drops of lavender and five drops of rosemary.  it smells lovely.  note: use approximately five drops of oil per cup.
- a glass spray bottle.  it is suggested that mixtures that include essential oils be stored in glass containers to prevent the oils from corroding the plastic.  i have two spray bottles that i purchased on amazon, one for the kitchen and one for the upstairs rooms.

i use this all natural spray on all surfaces in our home to disinfect from theodore's high chair to the bathroom sink.  i like to change up the ratio of oils i include depending on my mood or what i prefer to smell that season.  another great combination i have used in the past is orange and tea tree.  the options are really up to what you prefer.  being that thieves is amazing at killing bacteria that is a great option, too.

soft scrub tub cleaner: 

- 3/4 cup of baking soda
- 1/4 cup of castile soap
- 1 tablespoon of water
- 10 drops of lemon essential oil

i mix all of these ingredients into a large glass food storage container and use a brush similar to this one with it when cleaning our tub.  after scrubbing i let it sit for a bit before rinsing with warm water. that's it!  the lemon oil gets the stains off of the porcelain in our tub and makes it whiter than ever.

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for more of my essential oil recipes, head here.  if you are interested in purchasing young living oils and becoming a member of my team leave me a note and i'll help you out, or head to this page to sign up to purchase your own kit.

note: you never have to sell anything when you become a wholesale member of young living.  in fact, most people don't!  being on my team just gives you heaps of education and support from other oil users like myself.  make sure you sign up wholesale to get your 24% off.  that is not offered to retail customers.  happy oiling, friends!