The Power of Essential Oils

It seems like everyone is making their own cleaning products these days, and with good reason.  Homemade ones are less toxic, less expensive, and better for the environment, but most of us miss the nice scents in commercial products.  The solution is to use essential oils, the oils that give flowers, herbs, and fruits their delicious uplifting aromas.

If you've looked at essential oils, you know they seem expensive for the amount you get in a tiny bottle.  That's because it takes a mountain of the plant product to extract enough oil to make an ounce or less.

Here's an inexpensive way to get the scents to use in cleaning products, air freshener, and even in salad dressing.

Citrus oils are uplifting.  They make you feel good just to breathe them and they are anti-microbial, killing all kinds of germs and bacteria.


To make a Citrus Infused Vinegar

You'll need:

Citrus peels from your favorite scented fruit. (orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, tangerine and even Cuties... My favorite is grapefruit.)
White vinegar
a quart jar with lid

You can save the citrus peels for a few days in the refrigerator until you have a jar full.  Put the peels in the jar and cover with white vinegar.  Screw on the lid and give it a shake.

Put the jar in a cool dark corner, not in the sun, and give it a shake every day for two weeks.

After two weeks, the vinegar will look murkey from the oils that have come out of the citrus peels.  Strain the vinegar and throw away the peels, or better yet, put them in the garbage disposal to freshen it. 

To make an all purpose cleaning spray.  Mix 1/4 vinegar solution to 3/4 water in a spray bottle.  The grapefruit scent tones down the vinegar and this solution cuts grease and disinfects.

If you decide to make a citrus infused vinegar for salad dressing, be sure to wash the peels before you put them in the vinegar.

This diluted water, citrus and vinegar can be sprayed into the air to freshen the room.  Vinegar smells dissipate once they evaporate.  Be sure to spray into the air only and avoid wood surfaces.

Citrus peels can be dried and ground into powder to use in homemade scouring powders, facial scrubs, or mixed in potpourri. 

I used to buy lemons and limes with intentions of using them in recipes, and half the time they went bad before I got to them, but not any more!