my green fix
We are definitely an outdoor people. Who wouldn’t be in our corner of the world?!
Our forests are magical. Just look! No matter if it’s January or July, the forest is always green. And when the light shines through the trees, it just takes your breath away.
When I need a “break” from the everyday rush, I just go to the forest. The smell of the forest, and all the breathtaking greenery around totally clear my mind and recharge me with a new energy. Totally works every.single.time. It’s my happy place.
No wonder that Northern Lights Black Spruce is one of my favourite oils. It’s like bringing the rainforest inside into our home.
Northern Lights Black Spruce (grown in BC) : diffuse this rich, woodsy, and invigorating scent during meditation to create a fresh aromatic atmosphere. Add it to skin care products or apply topically to help improve the appearance of dry skin or to help maintain the appearance of healthy-looking skin.
Northern Lights Black Spruce can also be applied anywhere, including to the bottoms of feet, along the spine, back of neck, or used for massage. This oil includes the naturally occurring constituents alpha-pinene, camphene, and beta-pinene and is an important ingredient in many products, including Valor II™, Peace & Calming II™, Light the Fire™, and Shutran™ essential oil blends.
I think I might enjoy cleaning…
Ha. Here I am saying it out loud: I really enjoy cleaning lately.
I would never EVER thought that I will say this. But yes, lately I’ve been enjoying cleaning!
To be more specific, I think I can back date it to the day when I switched to natural cleaning and my new friend, Young Living’s Thieves Household Cleaner, arrived on our doorstep. This thing is MAGIC! You can use it almost on everything. I’ve been using it in a spray to do some “soft” cleaning at home for several weeks now but yesterday I moved to another level of cleaning. The deep one. The one everyone is always avoiding. The kind when something is built up and you can’t take it off just by spraying some stuff on it. It always makes me laugh when I watch commercials for the regular (aka full of chemicals) cleaners when some lady just wipes off weeks of build up with one swipe without even putting any pressure on the cloth. Yeah, this doesn’t happen in real life.
BUT. You can get rid of the build up very easy and a natural way. Without breathing any toxins in. Without headaches. Without wearing gloves. Your kids can do it with their bare hands. Without flushing any toxins into drains and our rivers and ocean. Without scrubbing your sink or bathtub with wire sponges. The bonus? It smells AMAZING! (note to myself: Ok, ok, calm down, everyone gets that you are excited about this).
But yes, I love it so much!
On Friday I attended a Make & Take DYI class which was not just lots of fun but very informative as well. We made non-GMO scented soy candles (I’ll post about it in a separate post) and then this simple yet very powerful soft scrub cleaner using my very good friend, Thieves. The bottle of this cleaner is so concentrated that it will last for months as you need only a tiny bit to mix with water or in this case with baking soda, vinegar, Dr. Bronner’s soap, most of those you have probably at home already. I put a few drops of Jade Lemon essential oil as well into my scrub and it smells amazing.
Thieves Soft Scrub Cleaner:
- 3/4 cups baking soda
- 1/8 cup Dr. Bronners soap (liquid)
- 1 tbs Thieves household cleaner
- 1 tbs vinegar
- YL essential oils (lemon, orange, thieves)
- glass jar
Directions:
- Mix baking soda, Dr. Bronners soap and Thieves cleaner in a glass bowl
- Add vinegar and mix.
- Add essential oils and mix.
- Transfer go glass container for storage.
I took a few photos along the way so you can see the whole process.
This is our sink BEFORE I got on it with the Thieves Soft Scrub cleaner (you can watch this video to see how to make it)
I told ya, you can use your bare hands to handle this thing… 
At this point I just rubbed it on with my fingers and you can already see that the ring is half way clean.
I used cloth for cleaning the of whole sink, nothing else. No scrubby sponges or anything.
Here is the sink plug before its makeover. The ring and sink have been already cleaned.
And here is the sink plug after (the top part is plastic and if I really wanted, it would be probably white but I’m ok with this for now), perfectly matching his friend, the sink ring, both shiny and clean now.
And here are the two little helpers who were involved in this cleaning session.
So? What you think? I personally love it. Natural and it works perfectly. And my kitchen smells amazing now!
If you have any questions or would like to have a little helper as I do, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I can help you to switch to the natural way. And you will never look back, trust me.
fighting cold with a diffuser
Few weeks back the weather changed dramatically overnight and we went from cold sunny days back in our rainy, winter weather. The gray cloudy skies brought unfortunately runny noses and cough into our household. Even though we eat a lot of veggies and fruits, use vitamins and multi probiotics as prevention, sometimes you just can’t avoid the winter blues.
Mid January it was our little man’s turn with the cold. Most of the time, when he catches a cold or a virus, he ends up with a bad cough which always worsens at night. So I was on a quest to help him to ease this whole process the natural way this time. When he first started to sneeze, I turned the diffuser on and have been running it downstairs with thieves blend during the day. But I also put our second diffuser to work at night too. I did a little research about what blend would be the best to diffuse at night and ended up with a mix of 2 drops each of Lemon and of R.C.
When he got to bed, he was coughing a lot. I was a little bit skeptical at first if the diffuser will work or not but to my surprise only after 10 minutes of running it, he stopped coughing and slept through the whole night. He came downstairs in the morning saying that he slept well thanks to the diffuser. I absolutely love this thing. It uses mix of water and essential oils to create a cool mist but it also doubles as a humidifier, which is beneficial in winter. We ran the diffuser for three nights in a row and his virus was gone. No cough medicine or anything was needed. This is definitely my “go-to” combo for the next time.
Another example is my very good friend who was fighting a virus as well. I mixed R.C. and Lemon and borrowed her our diffuser. One day later she texted me that it was very helpful and she is feeling much better. Sometimes an easy thing such a running diffuser with essential oils can speed up the recovery time and makes you feel better.
So what exactly is R.C.?
R.C. is a blend of eucalyptus (E. globulus, E. radiata, E. citriodora), myrtle, spruce, peppermint, pine, lavender, marjoram, cypress}. It gives relief from colds, bronchitis, sore throats, sinusitis, coughs, and respiratory congestion. It decongests sinus passages, combats lung infections, and relieves allergy symptoms.
Ingredients:
Myrtle – supports the respiratory system and helps treat chronic coughs and tuberculosis. Is is suitable to use for coughs and chest complaints with children. It is a sinus decongestant and alleviates throat infections.
Eucalyptus Globulus – has shown to be a powerful antimicrobial and germ killer. It is expectorant, mucolytic, antibacterial, anti-fungal, antiviral, and antiseptic. It reduces infections in the throat and lungs, such as rhinopharyngitis, laryngitis, flu, sinusitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia.
Marjoram – supports the respiratory system and reduces spasms.
Pine – opens and disinfects the respiratory system, particularly the bronchial tract.
Eucalyptus Citriodora – decongests and disinfects the sinuses and lungs.
Lavender – is antispasmodic, hypotensive, anti-inflammatory, and antiseptic. It is relaxing and grounding.
Cypress – promotes blood circulations and lymph flow. It is antit-infectious, antiseptic, refreshing, and relaxing.
Eucalyptus Radiata – is anti-infectious, antibacterial, and expectorant, and anti-inflammatory. It has strong action against bronchitis and sinusitis.
Spruce – helps the respiratory and nervous system. It is anti-infectious, antiseptic, and anti-inflammatory.
Peppermint – is a powerful nasal and lung decongestant with antiseptic properties. It opens nasal passages, reduces cough, improves airflow to the lungs, and kills airborne bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
So there you go. So much goodness in such a little bottle.
Lemon – increases microcirculation and promotes immunity.
If you have any question or comments, please let me know through comments or the Contact tab at the top of the page. If you are interested in trying essential oils and don’t know where to start, please don’t hesitate to contact me and I can help you start.
Please keep in mind that the information provided on this page, are intended for informational purposes. It is not intended to treat or diagnose, nor is it to be substituted for professional medical advice. You should always consult a healthcare professional if you have any questions concerning diagnoses or treatment of a condition .
homemade air refresheners
Phthalates: Health Hazards in Many Forms
Phthalates are used in many common consumer products—to soften plastics in children’s toys, as sealants and adhesives in nail polish, and in perfumes and air fresheners. When people use air fresheners, the phthalates are released into the air where they may be inhaled or may land on the skin and be absorbed. Once these chemicals enter the bloodstream, they can alter hormone levels and cause other health problems.Phthalates are known to interfere with production of the male hormone, testosterone, and have been associated with reproductive abnormalities. Numerous animal studies have linked prenatal exposure to certain phthalates with decreases in testosterone, malformations of the genitalia, and reduced sperm production. The State of California notes that five types of phthalates—including one that we found in air freshener products—are “known to cause birth defects or reproductive harm.” Phthalate exposure in indoor environments has also been associated with allergic symptoms and asthma.
Read this article if you have a spare minute, it is one of hundreds posts about this issue and sadly people have no idea how dangerous are those “nice smelling” sprays they buy at your grocery store.
So are you sure you still want to buy those in the stores?
I am definitely sure that I won’t be buying any of those. Ever. There is much easier and cheaper solution to make your home smell amazing. Homemade air refreshener. You will choose exactly what aroma you want/like and you can change it anytime.
- glass spray bottle (amber or any other colour you can get)
- 3-4 drops of pure essential oil (because you want to breath the best you can) – my favourite is Purification, Thieves or Citrus Fresh, Lavender
- pinch of salt
- water
On the bottom of the bottle put a pinch of salt and mix with a few drops of your choice of essential oil (I personally use Young Living essential oils because of their quality which is quaranteed by the Seed to Seal process). It’s totally up to your taste (well, smell buds) what you put into your mix. Then just fill the bottle up with water and that’s it.
If you have any questions, ideas for new homemade things or would like to know more about Young Living essential oils, you can contact me through comments or the Contact tab on the top of the page.
happy weekend
- At February 13, 2016
- By Living Essentially
- In diffusing
0
We are diffusing and watching The Simpsons on TV while The Simpsons are watching their TV and are diffusing.
Gotta love my kids’ creativity and their love for nice smelling home.
Happy weekend!
diffusing oils
Photo Credit: Young Living
Let’s talk about diffusing oils.
We use the Home Diffuser – Dew Drop Design , and diffuse every.single.day! The choice of oil (or oils) totally depends on the mood, occasion or what we want to achieve. My daughter sometimes after coming home from school goes straight to the oil box, picks her favourite oil and turns the diffuser on. I love how easy it is!
I love to diffuse Northern Lights Black Spruce when we get home from a walk in the woods, it always feels like bringing the nature inside and smells like a forest.
In the morning I put on Lemon & Peppermint, or Citrus Fresh or Orange & Lemon, the fresh citrus-y smell wake us up right away.
In the evening I love to put on Lavender for calming down and just relaxing.
Purification is perfect to get rid of smells while cooking. And I could go on and on and on….
So what happens while you are diffusing oils?
Diffusing oils alter the structure of molecules that create odors, rather than just masking them. They also increase oxygen availability, produce negative ions, and release natural ozone. Many essential oils such as Lemongrass, Orange, Eucalyptus Globulus, Lavender, Frankincense, and Lemon, along with essential oil blends (Purification, Melrose and Thieves), are extremely effective for eliminating and destroying airborne germs and bacteria.
A cold-air diffuser is designed to atomize a microfine mist of essential oils into the air, where they can remain suspended for several hours. Unlike aroma lamps or candles, a diffuser dispers essential oils without heating or burning, which can render the oil therapeutically less beneficial and even create toxic compounds. Research shows that cold-air diffusing certain oils may among many:
- reduce bacteria, fungus, and unpleasant odors
- relax the body, relieve tension, and clear the mind (yes, yes and yes – all three)
- improve concentration, alertness, and mental clarity and many more.
If you haven’t tried diffusing pure essential oils yet, I highly recommend it to you. You will love it.
If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact me through comments or the contact tab on the top tab of the page.
out with the sheets. in with the balls
Every time I mention the word balls, my twelve year old starts laughing. Yup, we are in that stage….
Well, as another little step of changing our home to toxin-free, I threw out all dryer sheets and bought these dryer balls instead. There are several kinds of these balls available on the market, I picked up mine in a local store (Winners). They are called Woolzies, it is a pack of 6 hypoallergenic wool balls. The balls supposed to reduce drying time, wrinkles and static without the harsh chemicals of conventional fabric softeners. I add a few drops of my favourite essential oils on them (so far I’ve tried lavender, purification and citrus fresh; it totally depends on the mood and your preferences. I love how flexible these can be!!) and just toss them into the dryer with my laundry. The laundry comes out soft and smelling divine.
It’s funny how I’m getting more sensitive to the “chemical” aromas since I’ve switched to the more natural ways. When I walk my dog and can smell someone’s laundry strong aroma through the whole street, it’s not pleasant. Especially when all people use the same smell of Bounce laundry sheets…
So here you go. Out with the sheets, in with the balls. Closer to the nature.
I love the smell of our laundry and the fact that I don’t have to stress about bringing unnecessary chemicals into our home.
If you have any questions about essential oils or any comment or just want to say hi, please don’t hesitate to send me a message. I would love to hear from you!
no more headaches & a giveaway
Raise your hand if you like cleaning bathrooms and kitchen. I bet there isn’t a lot of you (me included).
I’ve always been sensitive to smells and just the idea of cleaning a bathroom was a nightmare for me. I always ended up with a terrible headache caused by the commercial cleaning products and even though wearing gloves, my skin was irritated.
Few weeks ago I tested my new natural (plant based) household cleaner – Thieves from Young Living. Thieves® Household Cleaner is an allpurpose, concentrated cleaner formulated with 100 percent plant- and mineral-based ingredients. Thieves Household Cleaner is biodegradable and complies with EPA standards.
After cleaning 2.5 bathrooms without gloves there was no skin issue nor a headache at all. And it smells amazing!
My daughter uses it on wiping our kitchen counters when she decides to help so it’s safe for kids too and I am not afraid that she will be exposed to harsh chemicals.
I don’t think that I will ever be excited about cleaning the bathrooms or counter tops or anything in the house (hey, there are more fun things to do than cleaning, right?!) but at least I will do it the safer way without headaches, breathing toxins in or freaking out that my skin will be irritated and cracked once again.
This one is definitely a keeper!
This little bottle is 426ml and it will last you for a very long time. Because it is highly concentrated, you need just a little amount which you dilute with water:
- for most cleaning applications: 30 parts water to 1 part cleaner (my spray bottle is 500 ml so I use only little bit over 1 tablespoon of Thieves for the mix)
- for heavy decreasing: 15 parts water to 1 part cleaner
- for light decreasing: 50 parts water to 1 part cleaner
- for glass: 50 or 100 parts water to 1 part cleaner
If you do the math, with the 426ml bottle of Thieves cleaner you can make about 26-28 of the 450ml bottles of mix for regular everyday cleaning!
I thought that it would be fun to give away some pre-mixed samples so you can try it too. I’m giving away 4 x 450ml spray bottles (2 from comments on the blog and 2 from facebook comments) filled with mixed water and the thieves household cleaner (for a regular cleaning – the ratio for the most cleaning applications as mentioned above).
So for LOCAL PEOPLE ONLY (Pitt Meadows/Maple Ridge/PoCo/Coquitlam/Langley/Port Moody – an easy driveable distance for me to drop the gift off) :
- if you would like to try this mix, please comment here before next Friday, February 12th – 8pm PST
- for more chances you can comment as well on my Facebook page
- and will announce the winners next Saturday
Good luck!
detoxify your home | chemical free living class
This is a copy of my facebook page event. If you are local and would like to come, please let me know:
One of my goals for this year is to change our home to a Chemical Free one the natural way. The change can be actually much easier than you think. Would you like to join me on my journey and learn how to do it?
I would like to invite you to come and learn with me on Friday, February 26th at 7pm. I will be hosting a Chemical Free Living Class in our home. This is great for anybody who is interested in learning the benefits of natural products and what Essential Oils can do for you and how they can help bring health and wellness into your life.
I am so excited to learn about this and thrilled that I have an opportunity to share this with you! I hope you can join me.
You are welcome to invite a friend. There will also be a couple of prizes to win throughout the night. It will be a fun way to get together and learn from each other. Please RSVP by February 20th so I have an idea as to how many I can expect to receive (and let me know if you have a friend you will be bringing) or if you can’t make it but are interested, let me know to put you on the list for my next class.
Thank you. I hope to see you there!
my first step | homemade soaps
- At February 04, 2016
- By Living Essentially
- In DIY, skin care
- 0
In the next few weeks I will share with you the little steps I’ve made in my process of changing to a less / toxin-free household.
The very first step I’ve made on changing our home to more toxin-free was changing our soaps. Our skin is the biggest organ and a lot of people are not aware of it. It is not only what we put into ourselves (what we eat) but also what we put on ourselves, that’s what can change our health and wellness. We wash our hands so many times during the day and changing the soap can actually make a big difference. And it is such a simple thing to do!
I was born with a very dry skin, the top layer of my skin isn’t able to hold onto moisture. This skin issue has a medical name but I don’t remember it. As a kid my mom took me to dermatologists and they recommended so many different creams, lotions etc but every time I got out of shower or was just washing my hands a lot of times, the skin was always dry and cracked. In the past couple of years the knuckles of my hands cracked and were bleeding a little during the cold months of the year. I was worried every fall that I will go through this for the fall/winter season once again.
I switched all our store bought soaps in every bathroom and at the kitchen sink to the homemade ones in the first week of November, so we have been using them now for more than 3 months. Guess what? My hands are not terribly dry and no cracks! Not a single tear on my skin, no bleeding. Nothing. Zero! And my hands smell absolutely amazing after each washing!!
Funny little story: I gave my homemade soap to a few friends for Christmas. They came over in January and after the kids (boys age 10&11) went to the bathroom to wash their hands I could hear them saying how much they love the smell of it and that they use the same one at home (of course, they do!). The same boys came the next day for my son’s B-day party and after the cake all kids ran into bathroom to wash their hands and the boys were telling to the other ones that they should use this soap because it smells amazing. It made me chuckle a little bit but also very happy that even boys (and in this age) can appreciate the stuff they are putting on themselves.
So how do I made my soaps? It’s very easy. You need:
- foam soap bottle ( I use 8.4 oz | 1 cup | 250ml bottles)
- castille soap (scented or unscented)
- essential oil of your choice
- carrier oil (sweet almond, jojoba, grapeseed
- water (distilled or boiled is the best but I’ve used tap water as well)
Directions:
- fill the bottle up with water about 1 inch from the top
- add 2 tbs to 2 oz (1/4 cup ) of castille soap
- add 1/2 teaspoon of liquid carrier oil
- 3-4 drops of your favorite essential oil
Once you mix everything together, just put the pump head on the bottle and you are ready to go.
Foam soap bottle: on the first photo you can see two different kinds of bottles – one is clear plastic and the other one is amber glass. I use the plastic ones in our bathrooms as there is no direct light exposure and the glass one is sitting on the kitchen desk near our sink. You can get them online, at your local health/soap making store or on amazon.
Castille soap: the first time I bought Natural Pure Castille soap at our local soap making store. The next time I used Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps (I used Lavender but also Unscented Baby-Mild), it’s totally up to you what you prefer. If you want a specific scent and you want to save your essential oils, you can go with lavender or peppermint castille.
Essential oils: this is my favourite part! You can make your soap smell whatever aroma you want! I use Young Living essential oils, just my personal preference because I trust this brand I am guaranteed their quality. But it’s totally up to you what oils you will choose. I LOVE love thieves in our soap. In one bottle I mixed the lavender castille with thieves and one drop of peppermint. In my second bottle I used the natural pure castille and added lavender and thieves oils. It is totally up to you. Please note: if you use a citrus essential oil, do NOT use plastic bottles. Citrus oils, in particular, have a chemical com-position that is known to interfere with the chemistry of plastics. The best option is amber glass.
As you can see, changing soap can be very easy and non-expensive solution. You will enjoy the feel of your hands after each washing and your hands will thank you for that.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. And if you feel like saying hello, please do. I’m always happy to hear from you.
