Cleaning with Lemon

So I pretty much love lemon essential oil. It smells so good, and I have found it useful for so many things.

First of all, just a couple of days ago Andy and his mom decided to spray paint our entertainment center black. It looks great, but Andy had some technical difficulties with the paint can and ended up getting pretty dirty. His hands especially had paint all over them. I remembered hearing someone talk about lemon oil getting paint off of things easily, so I told him to try it. He put some oil on the spot and it came off quite easily. Pretty cool.

Second I have made a cleaner with my lemon oil. I like it because it smells good and I know it's not dangerous at all to me or my family.

Here are some recipes that I have found.

All-Purpose Cleaner

2 c. vinegar
2 c. distilled water
10 drops Lemon Essential Oil
Tip: Shake well before each use.

Mirror or Window Cleaner
1 1/2 c. vinegar
1/2 c. purified or distilled water
8 drops ANY Citrus Essential Oil of choice
Shake well before use.

Mold and Mildew Cleaner
Pour 2 c. distilled white vinegar into a spray bottle. (OR combine one part 3% hydrogen peroxide with 2 parts water).
Add 2 drops Lemon Essential Oil and 2 drops Melaleuca Essential Oil
Shake well and spray on area. Leave on area for half an hour, then rinse.

So, all in all I really like lemon oil. I especially like to put a few drops in my water. It has a great flavor and is very refreshing. No sugar and no weird stuff in it.

No More Stinky Laundry

I was reading this blog about using essential oils and I loved the post about using lemon in your laundry. I think that at least 2-3 times a month I run into the problem where I've started a load of laundry, and then left it in the washer for a day...or more, don't judge me! That's definitely leads to stinky clothes. The worst is when it's your towels and drying off after a shower just makes you stink again!

What I do is run a rinse cycle and mix 8 or so drops of lemon with some water and pour it over the clothes. I add some vinegar too because I always read about adding vinegar to your final rinse to make clothes softer or whatever, but I can never seem to make it into the washer when the final rinse is starting. (Who does that?)

I love it because your clothes smell good and you don't have to waste extra detergent or redo the whole load. You don't have to forget about your clothes to make them smell good either, you can just lemon in your rinse cycle. ;)

Lavender to Sleep Better

Right now I am quite pregnant. 35 weeks and 4 days to be exact. As a result sleep is not as relaxing and comfortable as it used to be. Something that has really been bothering me lately is that when I lay down to go to sleep my legs feel all jerky and weird. Couple that with growing a baby in my belly and I have a really hard time sleeping.

I got a very cool book that describes how to use essential oils to cure all sorts of maladies. I looked up restless leg syndrome (I don't know if that's what I have, but it definitely sounds like what I have). One of the oils that it recommends is lavender. I tried rubbing 3 drops on each leg and the results have been amazing. My legs feel better really quickly and I'm able to go to sleep.

I really liked finding this cure because this is something that is quite annoying, but I wouldn't necessarily go see the doctor for. Now if there was just some cure for having this baby in my belly. :)

Lavender is also recommended to help you relax so I like to put it on my feet at bedtime. It really helps on those nights I just can't get my mind to shut off.

The best part is that oils have no negative side effects, and are totally safe to use while I'm pregnant.

Are Essential Oils Really Essential?

I have always been somewhat interested in natural healing and alternative medicines. Not overly into it or anything, but I see a chiropractor even though my husband calls him the "witch doctor." In high school I wanted to know all about massage, reflexology, and aromatherapy. I have type I diabetes, so I take insulin, and I can obviously see the value of western medicine, but I don't think it is the only option, or always the best option.

I was recently introduced to a line of essential oils. I was immediately interested in them, because as I mentioned before I've always thought things like that could be useful. I ended up getting several of the oils for myself and I've been using them for a month or so. I decided I want to try to record ways that I've used them and what has worked for me so that I can see if they really work and if it's worth it to me to buy them. The person I learned about them from has done this same type of blog and I found it to be really interesting, which is another reason I thought I'd try it. By the way, you can see that blog here.