5 Uses for Essential Oils You’ve Probably Not Thought Of

I love Essential Oils; I use them as much as I can in place of conventional products. Since S was born I’ve been slowly shifting over towards more natural products wherever I can (I’ve written before about my love of coconut oil, for example).

When you think of essential oils, a lot of people will automatically think of one of those oil burners with a tea light beneath, or perhaps the bath. Here are five uses you may not have thought of before:

1. Neutralising bad kitchen smells. Lemon essential oil is great for getting rid of kitchen smells – especially those of the fishy kind! I put some in a pot of water in the window on a sunny day, or on the radiator on a cold day and it helps to get rid of those smells. You can also use it in a hand wash if you’ve been cooking and got stinky fingers.
2. In the vacuum cleaner. Most vacuum cleaners have a filter which gets clogged up with dust as it’s used. Next time you clean the filter, put a couple of drops of your favourite essential oil in it – then when you vacuum your house you make it smell good too!
3. In the tumble dryer. This spring has been the first time we’ve had a washing line on which to dry our clothes. Until now everything has gone in the tumble dryer. Just like with a vacuum cleaner, a tumbler dryer has a filter for collecting fluff and I find if I pop a few drops of essential oil on it every now and then, it helps the room to smell nice. You could also put the essential oil onto a damp cloth and put it in with your wash to give all your clothes a natural scent rather than relying on the chemicals they put in products these days.
4. Cleaning a white board. My sister gave me this amazing monthly calendar white board for Christmas, which I love and organise my whole life by – but after a couple of months, even though it’s dry wipe, it was getting a bit grey from the repeated use of dry wipe markers on it. A wipe with a few drops of lemon essential oil, and it’s good as new!
5. Combat sweet cravings. I have a shocking sweet tooth, and often will really just want something nice to eat. If you add a couple of drops of a sweet-scented essential oil like ginger or vanilla to a cloth or diffuser and sniff it while you eat something healthy, it can help you to knock the sweet habit on the head. I find this works better if the food you eat has lots of healthy fat too as your body feels satisfied.

If you have any weird uses for essential oils, do leave a comment. I love finding quirky new ways to use natural products rather than chemicals.