Essential oils for cleaning the home
Find out how to use essential oils such as lavender and lemon to naturally and effectively clean and disinfect your home. Freshen and purify the air in your home!
Why use essential oils to clean your home?
Essential oils are the perfect allies to get rid of germs and bacteria from around the home and to freshen the air. You will be able to create a relaxing, hygienic atmosphere with these natural ingredients. You can combine different oils, since each one confers different specific properties, and you will get the benefits of each of them through combinations.
You can easily make natural products for cleaning the home yourself, and you will only need 3 ingredients. Depending on the type of essential oil, in addition to giving a pleasant fragrance to your home, you will also be conferring properties to improve concentration, lift your spirits and help you relax or sleep, since using essential oils to improve the ambience in your home is actually aromatherapy.
Main essential oils and their disinfecting properties
To disinfect:
- Tea tree oil: tea tree essential oil has fungicidal and antiseptic properties, and it is therefore the perfect oil to disinfect the home. It is very effective against mould, and also eliminates the smell of damp. It has anti-bacterial properties, making it essential for cleaning around the home.
- Mint: mint essential oil has anti-bacterial properties, and is also a pleasant, refreshing fragrance. It is the perfect complement for homemade disinfectants.
Cleaning stains: lemon essential oil is used as a degreaser. It is capable of eliminating stubborn stains and it also has anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties, leaving surfaces clean and disinfected.
Floor cleaner: pine essential oil is effective eliminating yeast spores, bacteria and other germs that can be found around the home. This essential oil is ideal for cleaning tiled and other floors, as it disinfects and confers a pleasant, fresh fragrance.
Mixing essential oils with other cleaning products is not advisable, as chemical reactions can occur.
As air freshener:
- To improve our ability to concentrate, we can use one of these essential oils or mix them with others.
- Rosemary
- Sage
- Lemongrass
- Mint
How to clean your home with lavender essential oil
We are providing you with a simple recipe to prepare a multi-purpose cleaner with lavender essential oil that you can use at home. You just need to mix the following ingredients together and pour them into a spray bottle.
Ingredients:
- 3 glasses of lukewarm water
- 1/2 glass of vinegar
- 10 drops of lavender essential oil
You can use this mixture to clean just about everything. It is very useful, particularly for disinfecting bathrooms and kitchens.
Lavender oil should not be used on porous surfaces such as wood, since the porosity of those surfaces means that the oil penetrates the material and can stain it. Furthermore, because of its strong smell, using it on fabric is not recommended either, since it can bleach it or stain it. Finally, avoid using pure lavender essential oil on delicate surfaces such as marble, since it can react with the finish on the marble surface.
Using lavender essential oil to give your sheets a relaxing fragrance is an easy, effective way of relaxing and resting at the end of a long, hard day. Add a few drops of lavender oil to the washing machine cycle when washing bed linen. When you lie down on your bed and breathe in the scent, you will feel how your mind and body relax, helping you prepare for a good night's sleep.
Before making your bed again, prepare a spray bottle with water and lavender oil and spray some of the mixture on the mattress and allow it to dry. Mattresses can absorb smells, even if you wash your linen regularly. Thanks to its anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties it is particularly useful if there is a sick person in the home.
Natural disinfecting with lemon essential oil
This is one of the most popular organic cleaning products, since its antiseptic properties help to disinfect all types of surfaces. Furthermore, its delicious citrus fragrance can deodorise anywhere there are unpleasant smells.
- Multi-purpose disinfectant: because of its concentration of anti-microbe and antiseptic compounds, it is a wonderful solution to get rid of bacteria and micro-organisms from anywhere, such as kitchens and bathrooms.
Ingredients:
- 40 drops of lemon essential oil.
- 20 drops of tea tree essential oil.
- 1/2 glass of distilled water (125 ml).
- Spray bottle.
- Natural air freshener: to prepare a delicious citrus air freshener with lemon essential oil.
Ingredients
- 20 drops of lemon essential oil.
- 10 drops of lavender oil (optional).
- 1/2 glass of lukewarm water (125 ml).
- Spray bottle.
- Carpet and rug cleaner: because it helps get rid of mites it is an excellent alternative to clean rugs and carpets. Combined with other ingredients it helps to remove stains and dirt. You just need to spray some on the carpet or rug and scrub with a soft bristle brush, allowing it to work for 30 minutes before wiping it off.
Ingredients
- 6 spoonfuls of hydrogen peroxide (90 ml).
- 5 spoonfuls of white vinegar (75 ml).
- 20 drops of lemon essential oil.
- 2 glasses of lukewarm water (500 ml).
- Wood and silver polish: thanks to its natural acids, lemon essential oil can be used to bring back the shine to wood and silver. We just need to apply some lemon essential oil, allow it to work for a few minutes and then wipe the surface with a clean, dry cloth.
- Washing-up liquid: the astringent and anti-microbial power of lemon essential oil is useful for substituting traditional washing-up liquid. The citrus acid works as a “degreaser” helping to get rid of any remains left behind on kitchen utensils. All you need to do is blend all the ingredients together in a liquidiser and apply the product to a sponge.
Ingredients
- 1/2 glass of white vinegar (125 ml).
- 1 spoonful of coarse salt (15 g).
- 1/2 glass of water (125 ml).
- 30 drops of lemon essential oil.
