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.