A Clean Home is One with Good Scents – Housekeeping Tips, Aromatherapy-Style

June 25th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

Keeping your house clean using aromatherapy can have a myriad of benefits outside of just having a clean home. Since aromatherapy uses selected oils to give off scents that help change a mood or promote healing, you can get these effects by using cleaners, air fresheners, or scented candles as well. Plus, you can get some good results around the house by making a few small changes in your cleaning routine.

If you enjoy having plants inside, you can use aromatherapy to help them. Mix 6 to 8 drops of the oil mixture in a gallon of water to mist your plants with. Equal parts of lavender and thyme oils will help protect your plants. Thyme oil will help you to grow healthier cabbage and cauliflower. Basil oil is beneficial to broccoli, potatoes, and tomatoes. You can also use yarrow oil for cucumbers, chamomile oil for onions, and carrot extract for lettuce to help encourage your kitchen garden.

To make furniture polish that can be used on all wood finishes, add two tablespoons of soap dissolved in two cups of boiling water and one cup of melted beeswax. Add 10 drops of cedar wood, Cyprus, or sandalwood oil as well.

To save on expensive scented laundry detergent or fabric softeners, add a cloth sprinkled with two drops each of bergamot, lavender, neroli, cedar wood, petit grain, and sweet orange oils into the dryer. Your clothes will come out smelling fresh.

If you have bug problems, you can use aromatherapy to help solve them. Add 6 drops each of lavender, lemon grass, citronella, and peppermint oil to one cup of water and spray around the room. It will help keep away mosquitoes, ants, and cockroaches and be pet and child safe.

Pets can benefit from aromatherapy. Mix together citronella oil, cedar wood oil, garlic, and clothes freshener and put a few drops on your pet’s collar. It will help repel fleas without harming your pet in the least.

During the cold and flu season, you can help protect your family with aromatherapy. Mix together Eucalyptus, thyme, rosemary, tea tree, and lemon and marjoram oils. Then add six drops to a cup of water to create a room spray, or add 4 to 9 drops to the water of a humidifier to spread throughout your home.

For a cleaner and bathroom refresher, mix lemon, bergamot, lavender, sweet orange, oregano, and thyme oils. For a freshener, add eight drops to a liter of warm water. Or put two to three drops on a wet sponge and use to wipe down surfaces as a cleaner, adding more to the sponge as necessary.

For mice and other pests, put a few drops of undiluted peppermint and spearmint oil near living areas, the edges of the ceiling, and any holes. This will drive the pests from your home.

If you do not feel like putting for the extra effort to create your own household cleansing products, there are several manufactured products available for sale out there. If you want the real benefits for essential oils, you will have to read labels to ensure that you are getting the oils and not just the fragrances. You may also have to do your shopping online or at a health store to find exactly what you are looking for. Expect to pay more for alternative products than you would for traditional cleaners, as the oils can vary greatly in cost. Or, you can continue to use your everyday cleaners and refresh your home with the variety of candles, incense, diffusers, potpourri, and room sprays that are available for purchase. Either way, your home will end up smelling fresh and inviting to all those who visit there.

If your interested in learning more about Aromatherapy have a look at Learn the Power of Aromatherapy