cleaning

Lemon Essential Oil Uses

/ embracingspirit / Leave a comment

Spring Cleaning is here! I love this month to de-clutter and deep clean.

If you’ve been feeling the itch to get some spring cleaning done, you may notice some areas of your home have been neglected for far too long.

Luckily, doTERRA Lemon oil ?can help make cleaning those long-forgotten nooks and crannies easier. Here are 10 ways you can use Lemon to clean your home.

?1. Microwave—Microwaves are notorious for being tough to clean, especially after mishaps involving spaghetti sauce or tomato soup. To ease the pain of cleaning, simply microwave a cup filled with water and a few drops of Lemon, then wipe clean!

?2. Dishwasher—Pour distilled vinegar into a dish and add 5–10 drops of Lemon oil. Place this dish in your empty dishwasher and run on high.

?3. Stove Top—Lemon oil makes cleaning one of the dirtiest areas of the kitchen easy. Add vinegar and Lemon to a spray bottle, and watch the grime disappear!

?4. Appliances—From dust to greasy food spills, appliances collect more dirt than you might think. A simple solution of Lemon oil, water, and vinegar will help you clean toasters, refrigerators, mixers, and more.

?5. Garbage disposal—If you’ve been smelling something funky coming from your sink, it might be time to clean the garbage disposal. A simple DIY disposal recipes listed below.

?6. Ceiling Fan—Fan blades collect dust at turbo speeds and cling to them for as long as you let them. To avoid choking on dust bunnies while cleaning your ceiling fans, spray the inside of an old pillow case with a Lemon/water mixture and loop the fabric around each blade.

? 7. Washing Machine—Run a mixture of Lemon oil, baking soda, vinegar, and water through your empty machine on the hottest setting to break up dirt build-up and mildew. Scrub any excess with a sponge, then run the machine again with fresh water.

?8. Trash Cans—Regularly cleaning out trash cans can eliminate odor. For indoor trash cans, spray the inside and outside of each can with a mixture of water, Lemon oil, and vinegar, then scrub with a sponge.

?9. Windows and Windowsills—The same mixture of Lemon oil, water, and vinegar in a spray bottle that you’ve been using all around the house will do wonders for your windows and windowsills. Simply spray glass and wipe with a clean cloth or paper towel, then move onto ledges and sills with a toothbrush or damp sponge.

?10. Air Vents—One of the most overlooked areas to keep clean in your home is the air you breathe! Clean vents with a sponge dipped in warm water, vinegar and Lemon oil to help eliminate allergens and dust from filling the air around you.

?Lemon oil acts as a powerful cleaning agent and the possibilities are truly endless! Share this post and let us know how you like to clean with Lemon oil.

Garbage Disposal Refreshers

With everything that goes into the disposal, odds are that odors could be accumulating in there. Try this simple DIY recipe to make your own garbage disposal refreshers that will help freshen, clean, and deodorize your garbage disposal.


Ingredients
2 cups baking soda
1 cup salt
½ cup water
? cup unscented liquid castile soap
30 drops lemon essential oil

Note: Liquid castile soap is a vegetable-based soap commonly found in health food stores.


Instructions

  1. Combine baking soda and salt into bowl.
  2. Add castile soap and essential oil into mixture.
  3. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, while stirring with hands until it forms into the consistency of “damp sand”. It should stay together when you press it together. If you add too much water just add some more baking soda and salt until the consistency is right.
  4. Grab a tablespoon measurement device and scoop packed spoonfuls onto parchment paper.
  5. Once the mixture has been scooped, let dry for 24 hours or until they are hard. One batch should make about 36 garbage disposal refreshers.
  6. Put into glass jar and use the next time you do dishes. Just put 1–3 refreshers into the garbage disposal and turn it on. You will immediately smell the refreshing scent of Lemon essential oil.

So easy, eh? I store mine in a cute jar…these also make great toilet bowl cleaning tabs! So versatile!

Follow me for more goodness!

DIY Cleaning Wipes

/ embracingspirit / Leave a comment

Cleaning wipes are great to have on hand when you are cleaning surfaces. They are easy to use and great to throw away when you are done. Simply keep them stored in an airtight container and use at your convenience.

Ingredients
1 roll premium paper towels
2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons Fractionated Coconut Oil
3 drops doTERRA On Guard® Protective Blend
1–2 tablespoons doTERRA On Guard® Foaming Hand Wash

Instructions
•Cut paper towel in half widthwise with serrated or electric knife. Use half roll now and half later.
•Combine water, Fractionated Coconut Oil, essential oils, and On Guard Foaming Hand Wash in a small bowl.
•Pour mixture over paper towels and cover with airtight lid. Let mixture absorb for 10 minutes.
•Turn container over and let sit for another 10 minutes.
•Remove and discard cardboard tube. •Pull wipes from center of the roll when ready to use.

To learn more about the basics of essential oils and get started, check out this free and gorgeous ebook.

Toxins in the Home

/ embracingspirit / Leave a comment
Recent studies point to certain “cleaning” chemicals having a link to asthma and reproductive harm. Children, pregnant women, women trying to get pregnant, and those who already have asthma are especially vulnerable to these chemicals.
Also, certain chemicals may interfere with the development of a child’s neurological, endocrine and immune systems, a pediatric problem that can be detrimental to even their adult lives.
The overuse of disinfectant chemicals in our homes has contributed to the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Scientists agree that castille soap and water are effective for most routine cleaning jobs, and research has demonstrated that safer alternatives have disinfectant properties that may be used in place of harsh chemicals.
We know very little about the long-term health impacts of chronic exposure to chemicals in household cleaning products
Ammonia is often included in glass and other hard-surface cleaners and can be irritating to the skin, eyes, throat, and lungs. It can also burn skin, and damage eyes (including blindness) upon contact.
When ammonia enters the body as a result of breathing, swallowing or skin contact, it reacts with water to produce ammonium hydroxide. This chemical is very corrosive and damages cells in the body immediately.
Chlorine bleach is commonly used to treat drinking water, sanitize swimming pools, and to whiten laundry, yet is a known eye, skin, and respiratory irritant.
I clean exclusively with essential oils in my home. I know that I am not just breathing in safe products, but my skin is also not absorbing chemicals.
Be sure to check out some research at www.womensvoices.org.
Screen Shot 2018-05-30 at 6.18.32 AM.png

Sink Scrub 

/ embracingspirit / Leave a comment

Over the last year or so I have revamped most of my toxic load in and out of my body. This includes cleaning products. 

I use essential oils and good ol’ vinegar for so many cleaning jobs but I recently made this sink scrub and  I love it! 

For sparkling clean sinks, tubs and counters, mix drops of Lemon, Lemongrass, Peppermint, or Wild Orange essential oils with baking soda and enough water to make a paste. I used–

  • 2 cups baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons natural liquid soap
  • 10 drops lemon and 10 drops peppermint.
  • I filled the paste into a wide mouth mason jar for wash scooping. 
  • Scoop out cleanser with your hand as needed, and scrub and wipe down as usual—a soft scrubbing brush works great!