Clean Sweep

Thieves Floor Cleaner

We had such monstrous wind today I actually had to lock the doors to stop them blowing open. I wanted to walk down to the lake because the sun finally came out but I was too scared I'd get beaned by a tree branch or even a whole tree, so I channeled my energy cleaning the house. No matter how much I clean I can always find at least one room that needs it!

A few months ago my mom bought herself a new steamer with a hand attachment and gave me her old floor steamer. I've been using a Swiffer Wet Jet mop and regular Swiffer. We have hard floors throughout the downstairs. Swiffer's prices have gotten ridiculous, though. The last time I bought one soap refill and one small box of store-brand pads for the Wet Jet it cost almost $20! I decided we are going to save it for emergency spills and use the steamer the rest of the time. I missed the clean scent of the Wet Jet soap, however. Even though I know commercial cleaners are full of persistent chemical fragrances, they do smell good.

Recently, though, some people in my online oil group were posting photos of a lab experiment they did with Young Living Thieves oil compared to commercial cleaners. They took swabs of surfaces all over their homes, placed them in petri dishes with either Thieves essential oil, commercial cleaner, or plain water. After a week all the dishes except Thieves were full of mold and/or bacterial colonies. Thieves smells like Christmas to me, too because it has lots of clove oil, so I decided to put a few drops in the steamer. It's AWESOME! The house smells great, the floors are clean and shiny with less residue than the Wet Jet soap leaves, and the 5 drops of oil I use in 2 cups of water costs less than $1! The pad is washable, so I don't have to buy replacements. I would like to have more than one pad. I'm going to try to sew some. Anyway, I have big plans now for Thieves cleaning spray so I can use it on counters and surfaces as well! Other oils believed to have antibacterial properties are lemon and lavender, so you could use those if you'd rather.

These braces have us going through a ton of mouth wash, and that's another thing that's really jumped up in price recently. The last time I bought a store brand mouth wash it was almost $5. I about fell out in the dental aisle! Oils and Pinterest to the rescue! You do have to be brave to experiment with mouth wash recipes. I've decided the "Oral Debriding Agent" written on the hydrogen peroxide label could be translated as "will burn your lips off." Luckily for you, I've used myself as a guinea pig and adapted recipes until I found one that isn't quite so intense. I used the traditional spearmint flavor, but you can use whatever you'd like. I've heard people say Thieves helps numb pain from braces, so maybe I'll try that next. Just make sure the oil is listed as safe for internal consumption. All Young Living oils will tell you right on the label if they're edible and give you a dosage, so it really gives you peace of mind when learning about essential oils! 

Spearmint Mouth Wash

4 cups water

1 cup hydrogen peroxide

15 drops Young Living Spearmint (or other flavor of your choice) essential oil

Mix all ingredients and shake to blend. The mixture will become fizzy and cloudy. Use as you would regular mouth wash.

This is another recipe that will save you money, not to mention a trip to the store. For more recipes and information about using essential oils, make sure to follow my Facebook page: Naturally Amanda.