We had a long weekend visit from one of my best friends from college. Her and her sweet family stayed at our house and you can imagine how fun and crazy it was to have five kids four years old and under running around. We brought them to the Fort Fisher Aquarium which actually turned out to be the perfect day for us to go because we were smothered with rain from a heavy storm. We also spent an afternoon on the beach and if you follow me on Instagram you may have seen my post about Mike and I still recovering from just spending a couple hours in the sand with the kids. It’s no joke, days like those are completely draining because it takes so much effort to make the trip successful.
We said goodbye to our friends Sunday morning and spent the afternoon relaxing and getting back into our regular swing of things. That was until Sunday night when Kensi said she was ‘super cold’, didn’t want to eat and just wanted to snuggle. After about an hour of Kensi just not being her normal goofy self we took her temperature and what do ya know...she was running a fever. It never fails, when we have visitors someone almost always gets sick.
Mike and I tag-teamed the situation and thought we had it all under control until Kensi asked for water and it immediately came back up. That’s always the worst. A fever is one thing and bearable, but throw in a stomach bug and I go into psycho-germaphobe-clean-freak-mode. I swear every cleaning appliance we own is in working motion when this happens. My closest friends and family know I don’t usually keep harsh chemicals in our house and label me as crunchy or granola, heck...I label myself crunchy because many people think I’m crazy when I tell them I mix my own laundry stain removers, dust my carpet with baking soda and treat our kids and home with essential oils. But honestly, I just like knowing what I’m exposing our family to and more importantly I love natural ingredients and will always opt for a product containing them. This doesn’t mean I’m anti-chemicals or medications, I still use laundry detergent and dishwasher soap and I love using the wand cleaner for the toilets because it’s so much easier and to me more sanitary than using a toilet brush. There’s a balance in our home. If you happen to be crunchy like me or have an interest in crossing over to the crunchy side you may enjoy essential oils just as much as the next crunchy mama.
We said goodbye to our friends Sunday morning and spent the afternoon relaxing and getting back into our regular swing of things. That was until Sunday night when Kensi said she was ‘super cold’, didn’t want to eat and just wanted to snuggle. After about an hour of Kensi just not being her normal goofy self we took her temperature and what do ya know...she was running a fever. It never fails, when we have visitors someone almost always gets sick.
We’ve been using essential oils for a few years now and they really work well for our family. We use them for literally everything; cleaning, health + wellness, fragrance, & cooking. With as much as we use EO (essential oils) I recently dove into becoming a distributor for Young Living Essential Oils. It took me awhile to jump in, but my priority is making our home healthy with the best oils while being able to save money. It's a win-win for our family. There are several oils we use daily and certain oils we use for specific uses and less frequently. Lavender, peppermint, thieves & lemon are some of our most used oils and here’s a few reasons why...
Lavender
This is the first oil we began using because it's kind of a catch all oil. When in doubt use lavender. When we moved into our house Kensi was scared of the dark and somehow thought there were monsters. We decided to mix up our own ‘monster spray’ for bedtime. I use a 2oz bottle and add eight to ten drops of lavender oil and fill the rest with distilled water. The lavender has calming properties and helps Kensi relax. She spritzes it on her pillow and sheets, her closet, under her bed and every other square inch of her room and Finn’s room.
I also enjoy using lavender in the laundry room. I use a free & clear detergent which doesn’t have a fun scent. Adding a drop of lavender to our detergent with each load makes all our clothes smell heavenly. Sometimes I’ll also add it to our cloth dryer balls or a washcloth and throw them into the dryer for some added scent.
My favorite properties of lavender include the oil being an anti-histamine and anti-microbial which makes it great for using on cuts, scars, scrapes, wounds, bites and burns. Just last week Mike burned his hand on our cast iron skillet. I gave him one drop of pure lavender oil to rub on the burn. By the next morning the burn had lost its sting and was already healing. Within a couple days, after he continued to rub a drop of oil each day, his burn healed with no blistering or scarring. Lavender can seriously be used for almost anything!
Peppermint
Peppermint oil is our go to oil when we’re not feeling well as it helps relieve headaches, reduces fevers and helps prevent nausea. I used this for Kensi by rubbing diluted peppermint oil on the bottoms of her feet and tummy and also diffusing it near her bed for 30 minutes.
Peppermint can also help deter mice, ants & other bugs...a great way to use it inside and outside the house such as the garage!
Peppermint can also help deter mice, ants & other bugs...a great way to use it inside and outside the house such as the garage!
Thieves & Lemon
These two oils work well on their own or together. Both are anti-fungal and anti-viral and are best known for cleaning. I love the smell of thieves as its base oil is clove. It smells great! I like to use thieves as our main cleaner in the kitchen and bathrooms and it works well when I need to really disinfect the whole house by diffusing it and wiping down door knobs, chairs & handrails.
We tend to go through lemon like it’s going out of style because we add it to our dishwasher. It’s great for degreasing and leaves us sparkling clean, fresh smelling dishes. It’s also great for dusting and we even add it to our water for detoxing and fighting off colds.
Whenever we use essential oils (which is everyday) the house smells amazing and I feel better knowing I disinfected everything naturally and I’m making our home healthier.
I really love the versatility of essential oils and when used properly & safely the health benefits for our family and home. If you’re interested in EO and would like to make them part of your daily life, I’ve added a tab at the top of the blog where you can learn more or you can CLICK HERE. I’d love to help you make your home even healthier!
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