I love Spring, it is one of my favorite seasons!
Spring is a time for renewal. When everything starts turning green, the flowers bloom, you can hear the birds outside your window!
It also is a time when I start feeling the need to open all the windows and clean my entire house from top to bottom! I love letting the outside world come in!
What is your favorite thing about Spring?
I also love to clean with products that make me feel good and that are not making my body have to fight to stay healthy when I use them. That is why I use the cleaners I use. Here are some of my favorite recipes for cleaning in my home.
Heavy duty Scrubbing!
3 cups Baking Soda
¾ cup of Thieves Household Cleaner
1 Tbs of Distilled White Vinegar
30 drops of Young Living Lemon essential oil
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. It will be the texture of a paste. Store in an air-tight container or jar. Best if used within three months.
DIY All Natural Whitener
When life gives you lemons, you make an all-natural whitener. =) Skip the harsh chemicals and make this safe and effective whitener. Use it in your laundry, the bathtub, and any other surface that needs a little brightening.
Ingredients
3/4 cup 3% hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup lemon juice
10-15 drops Young Living Lemon essential oil
3/4 cup baking soda
7 cups water
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a container capable of holding 1/2 gallon or more.
Shake well before use.
Use one cup per load and wash with hot water for best results.
Furniture Polish
Glass Spray Bottle
3 parts Olive Oil
15 drops Lemon Essential Oil
1 Part White Vinegar
Shake before using and store in a cool dark place.
Most things I just use the Thieves Household cleaner, 1 capful in a Spray bottle. If its heavy grease I will mix it much stronger. For my shower I always go in and spray it down and leave it while I do something else. Then I go back in and spray again and scrub with a scrubber or wipe down depending on how long since my last cleaning!
Happy Oiling,
Anna
Making a new batch of laundry soap today. I make it in a 5 gallon bucket so it goes a long way, then I pour some in this jar I found at Goodwill. I love making my own products and knowing that what I am using is not harmful for us. All the products I use are gentle and safe for everyone in the family! If you'd like the recipe let me know and I'll send it to you!
Blessings,
Anna
Essential Oils, especially good quality essential oils can make a huge impact on your life! From emotions to everyday bumps and bruises they have so many uses. Want to start your day off right?
How you start your mornings has a huge impact on the remainder of your day. It can even be a very good indication of how you will end your day. If you wake up with your mind already racing, frantically rushing around trying to get things done for yourself and everyone else with your nerves on edge, you are setting yourself up for a day that will be much the same.
Gary Young developed something he called the Great Day Protocol. It uses four specific oils to support our emotions, promote feelings of harmony and joy, and guard against negative energies that disturb our thoughts and send our emotions into a tailspin. You can also use these oils to combat occasional sadness. Let’s take a closer look at what each of these oils can do.
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Valor - Promotes a feeling of courage and self-esteem and helps to balance the body’s energies. Use this oil each morning on your wrists and cupped over your nose and inhaled as you set your intentions for the day, visualizing what you want to accomplish and seeing yourself completing it.
Harmony - Helps to create a positive attitude, reduce stress, and repel feelings of discord and chaos. Apply this oil over your solar plexus, the area just below your sternum and above your belly button while setting specific intentions to harmonize with those around you.
Joy - A calming, uplifting aroma that is used to bring joy to the heart and mind. Place a couple of drops in your hand, inhale through your nose, then rub over your chest (heart).
White Angelica - Creates deeper feelings of security and protection by offsetting the negative energies that work to bring you down and invade your personal space. This oil will be your ‘shield’ as you navigate your day striving to stay stress-free, balanced and relaxed. Place a drop in your hands, rub your palms together, breath in deep, then rub your hands over the crown of your head, down your neck, shoulders, and midsection, all the way to your toes as if you are putting up an imaginary shield.
You are now ready to tackle anything the day throws at you!
Happy Oiling,
Anna
Adding essential oils to your favorite summer drinks is a great way to incorporate them into your life. Here are a few great ideas for summer time refreshing drinks.
If you love Lavender this will be one of your all time favorites!
Is Strawberry your favorite flavor?
Cranberry is always a great option!
Feel free to substitute a different sweetener if the Agave is not something you keep on hand.
Smoothies are a favorite in our house, what about yours?
One of my favorite smoothies is just Frozen Strawberries in the blender with either water or milk, a packet of slique shake, 2oz of Ningxia Red and a couple drops lime vitality. The Shake and the Ningxia give it the sweetness I crave without the added sugar.
Happy Oiling,
Anna
I have always been skeptical about putting sunscreen on my kids because I hated using a product that I wondered whether it was more harmful than the sun itself and I just recently came across this article on the harmful chemicals found in sunscreen and the need for more studies on the safety of them. It really saddens me that products are placed on the market and we use them on ourselves and our families thinking that companies have our best interest in mind. Unfortunately that is so far from the truth and it is so important that we do our research and know what is in the products we put on and in our bodies.
There are so many chemicals in our skincare products that are known to be carcinogenic yet they are still on the market. These same chemicals are found in products marketed for kids and babies! What the heck is that about? Shouldn’t we be able to trust these big companies to make things that are not harmful? I don’t think it’s too much to ask but unfortunately they must.
That is why I am so extremely thankful that I found Young Living. I trust that the products that I am using from this company are safe and effective. And when they came out with the sunscreen I was so excited, knowing I could use a product that would protect us from the sun and not harm us in the process was such a great blessing. Personally I hate having to decide on the lesser of two evils and that’s how it always felt when I chose to use sunscreen on my kids.
Young Living has a great blog post on their sunscreen, you can read it Here. Now I can feel good about using sunscreen and I no longer have to choose between the harmful rays of the sun or the harmful chemicals in my sunscreen.
Happy Oiling,
Anna
