32 Handy Home Uses for Essential Oils

It takes a special kind of substance to be equally effective at healing wounds, reducing stress, and cleaning your shower.

And yet that’s just a taste of what essential oils can do!

Extracted from the roots, leaves, seeds, flowers, fruit, or bark of plants and trees, essential oils are concentrated solutions of Mother Nature’s most potent healing powers.

In other articles here on Healevate, we’ve already covered the many ways essential oils can be used to heal your body and revamp your supply of beauty products. Today, we’re going to show you that essential oils are equally useful around your home!

Here are 32 home uses for essential oils you can try out for yourself today.

32 Handy Home Uses for Essential Oils

1. Air cleaner: Diffusing cinnamon oil throughout your home will suffuse the air with a classic odor that everyone loves. What’s more, cinnamon’s anti-microbial properties will also clean the air of toxins.
2. Air freshener: Cotton balls soaked in lime, lemon, or tea tree oil serve as wonderfully easy and effective homemade air fresheners. Place some in your front hallway to give guests a great first impression or behind toilets and at the bottom of trashcans to detoxify the air and remove odors.
3. Eliminate smoke: Mix four drops of tea tree, eucalyptus, and rosemary oils with water and add to a spray bottle. Spray this mixture around the house to get rid of the lingering scent of cigarette smoke.
4. Reduce paint fumes: To avoid breathing in toxic paint fumes, just add a few drops of peppermint and eucalyptus oils to your paint bucket and stir. As an added bonus, both oils will invigorate your system and improve your focus, so get ready to crush this painting project!
5. Remove shoe odors: Tea tree and lemon oils will do more than simply mask the odor of smelly shoes— they’ll remove the odor entirely by killing off the bacteria causing it. Mix a couple drops of each together and sprinkle in especially rank shoes to freshen them up.
6. Remove kitchen smells: Whether you’re overwhelmed with the smell of garlic or you accidentally burned the French fries, essential oils can help remove odors and get your kitchen back to normal. Mix a few drops of cinnamon, clove, and citrus and add to a simmering pan of water for an anti-bacterial, odor-reducing kick.
7. Fabric freshener: Add 10-20 drops of your favorite essential oil scent to a load of laundry to infuse your clothes with a long-lasting aroma.
8. Vacuum freshener: 5-10 drops of your favorite essential oil is an easy way to freshen up your vacuum cleaner. Add drops to the vacuum bag or dust container.
9. Spread Christmas cheer: A fire in the fireplace is the picture of a cozy Christmas night. Complete the experience by adding a drop of pine, sandalwood, or cedarwood oil to a fire log to fill your home with a holiday aroma. Add the oil about 30 minutes before lighting the fire for best results.
10. DIY sunblock: Conventional sunscreens are full of harmful chemicals. Ditch the store-bought brands and make your own instead, combining coconut oil, shea butter, zinc oxide, lavender, and helichrysum oil.
11. Homemade bug spray: For an effective, chemical-free bug spray, combine one drop each of lemongrass, citronella, and eucalyptus oils with coconut oil. Though it may be hard to believe that such a delicious smell will repel insects, that’s exactly what rubbing this mixture onto exposed skin will do.
12. Pest killer: Clove and orange combine into a powerful anti-bacterial and anti-parasitic bug spray that will kill pests on contact.
13. Stress reducer: Lavender oil is used widely to reduce stress and anxiety and treat depression— even in some hospitals! Diffuse it around your home for calming effects.

    

14. Spiritual enlightenment: Frankincense oil has been used in spiritual rituals for thousands of years. Diffuse this oil to increase your spiritual awareness during prayer, contemplation, and meditation.
15. Bridal shower gift: What better gift for a bride-to-be than a “love potion”? Mix 20 drops of sandalwood oil with four drops each of vanilla, cocoa, and rose oils and add to an unscented lotion.
16. Baby shower gift: Give your friends and their newborn the gift of calm and relaxation with a bottle of lavender oil and a small wall diffuser.
17. First aid kit: Any family’s home should have a natural first aid kit stocked with essential oils. Lemon, oregano, peppermint, tea tree, and frankincense oils are a great place to start.
18. Yoga mat cleaner: Clove and citrus’ anti-bacterial and anti-parasitic properties make them perfect additions to any home cleaner. Mix these two together and drip onto a clean rag for wiping down dirty yoga mats.
19. All-around cleaner: Both lemon and tea tree oil are effective anti-bacterial agents. Add three drops of each to a few ounces of warm water for an all-natural disinfectant that will smell amazing!
20. Clean sports gear: Tired of sweaty sports gear stinking up your house? Try two drops each of lemon and tea tree oils added to one quart of warm water with four tablespoons of baking soda mixed in. Works well on cleats, jerseys, pads, helmets, and more!
21. Remove shower/bath mold: Use a mixture of ½ cup baking soda, ½ cup vinegar, and five drops of lime or bergamot oils to remove bathroom mold and scum with ease.
22. Remove shower curtain mold: Add four drops each of eucalyptus and tea tree oils to a spray bottle of warm water and spray on your shower curtain for a naturally anti-bacterial and anti-fungal cleaner.
23. Remove household mold: Using a diffuser to suffuse your home with tea tree oil will kill airborne mold particles as well as other pathogens.
24. Clean carpet: Sprinkle 20 drops of tea tree oil onto borax (sodium borate) for a homemade carpet cleaning powder. Dust your carpet with the mixture and let sit for 10-20 minutes before vacuuming.
25. Fridge cleaner: Lime, bergamot, or grapefruit oil make great additions to your fridge-cleaning routine. Add a few drops of the oil of your choice to your rinsing water when cleaning.
26. Dish cleaner: For a spot-free clean, add a few drops of lemon oil to your dishwasher soap before washing.
27. Pan cleaner: Even the best chefs burn food sometimes! To clean burnt food out of pots and pans, fill them with boiling water and a few drops of lemon oil and let soak for 15-20 minutes.
28. Wash produce: To clean dirty fruits and vegetables, wash them in a large bowl of water with two drops of lemon oil.
29. Authentic peppermint patties: For delicious, authentic peppermint delights, mix peppermint oil, coconut oil, raw honey, and dark chocolate.
30. Lemon water: Add two or three drops of (you guessed it!) lemon oil to a glass of water for a thirst-quenching beverage that will cleanse your body.
31. Mint tea: Add one to two drops of peppermint oil to your favorite tea for a boost to your energy, digestion, and focus (and a hint of minty flavor).
32. Make cake even better: Give your cake a mood-enhancing boost by adding lavender oil to the recipe! Try this: mix coconut flour, organic eggs, raw honey, and lavender essential oil and bake at 350 degrees.

Most people would cringe at the thought of washing their produce with what they use to rid their bathroom of mold or flavoring a cake with what they use to heal cuts and burns.

When you use essential oils around the home, though, that’s exactly what you can do!

If you like the sound of that as much as I do and you’re looking to replace the bottles of highly toxic and poisonous home-cleaning products under your sink, then start building your collection of essential oils today!

Just make sure they are of the highest quality and certified pure therapeutic grade.