Cleaning With Essential Oil and Herbs.

Nearly everyone has heard about the virtues of common items such as baking soda and vinegar for cleaning jobs like scouring and absorbing grease. The addition of herbal materials, especially essential oils, to the formula serves to enhance its cleaning value with the added benefit of leaving behind a soothing, natural scent.

Essential oils and dried herbs are readily available in health food stores and by mail order.

Essential Oils (EO)

When buying essential oils, make sure to buy a pure, undiluted oil and not the one that has been diluted in a carrier oil such as jojoba or almond.

There are even grade differences among pure oil, but this difference generally pertains to the quality of fragrance, and for the purpose of household cleaning it is insignificant! So don't use your therapeutic $90 oil to clean the floors!! Just saying...

Here are the most common essential oils (EO) used in  cleaning formulas:

*Cedar

*Citronella

*Eucalyptus

*Lavender

*Lemon

*Lime

*Mint (peppermint, spearmint and wintergreen)

*Pine

*Rosemary

*Sweet Orange

*Tea tree

Herbs

If you are fortunate enough to be able to grow your own herb, as I do, you will already have a supply of herbal material on hand to dry for making scouring powders, sachets, and carpet fresheners. You will need to dry the herbs before using them in cleaning formulas!

Many herbs have antibiotic, antiviral, antiseptic, and antifungal properties. The following list is not complete by any means, but it represents the most common herbs that are grown in home gardens and that are easily available in dried or essential oil form.

HERB                          PROPERTIES

Bay                               antibacterial

Bergamot                       antibiotic

Camphor                       antibacterial

Cardamon                     antibacterial

Chamomile                   antibiotic, antibacterial

Cinnamon                    antiviral

Citronella                    antibacterial

Clove                           antibiotic, antiviral

Cypress                        antibacterial

Eucalyptus                  antibiotic, antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial

Ginger                         antibacterial

Hyssop                         antifungal, antibacterial

Juniper                       antifungal, antibacterial

Lavender                antibiotic, antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial

Lemon                    antibiotic, antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial

Lemongrass                  antibacterial

Marjoram                    antibacterial

Myrtle                         antibiotic, antifungal

Nutmeg                        antibiotic

Orange                        antibacterial

Oregano                       antibiotic, antiviral

Patchouli                    antibiotic, antifungal

Pine                           antibiotic, antibacterial

Rosemary                    antibacterial

Sage                            antibacterial, antifungal

Spearmint                    antibacterial

Tea tree                  antibiotic, antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial

Thyme                        antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial

Wintergreen                 antibacterial; take extra care when handling