As my husband will tell you, I’m not big on making sure everything is disinfected in our house — I have seen my children pick up and eat stray food off the floor, when I’m not even sure what food it was or how long it had been there.
But one thing I insist on disinfecting: the kitchen trash can.
My husband made that meme joke on Twitter. Only nerds get it, I think.
Getting back to disinfecting…in a past life I always used Lysol. Which does kill germs, of course, but also leaves behind a number of dangerous chemicals that I wasn’t comfortable spraying in my house in the presence of my children or even myself. Also, I sell essential oils, many of which are antibacterial and antifungal — it is much cheaper to make my own than to keep going to the store and buying it!
Here is my super simple recipe, which I use on my trash can after removing the bag to take out the trash:
Homemade Essential Oils Disinfecting spray
1.5 cups filtered or distilled water
5 drops tea tree (Melaleuca Alfornia) oil
5 drops lemon oil, optional (if you don’t have lemon, double the tea tree)
Put in a spray bottle (preferably glass or metal, as essential oils can degrade plastic), and be sure to shake briefly before spraying.
Super easy and it won’t hurt kids, pets, or adults – you could actually drink it and it would have no adverse effects, although I’m sure it tastes gross!
If you’re looking to buy therapeutic-grade essential oils, support a blogger and visit my Young Living web site!
Any time you have great essential oil recipes to share, I’m all ears. Leave them in the comments!
Great idea
Um no, you can’t drink tree tea oil. It’s toxic when ingested. smh.
Therapeutic grade essential oils, such as those sold by Young Living and DoTerra, are actually FDA approved as one of 3 designations: Generally Regarded As Safe for consumption (GRAS), Food Additive (FA), or Flavoring Agent (FL) due to their purity. Melaleuca (tea tree) is FA/FL, meaning it can be added to food safely. It’s important to remember that this designation has been given to Young Living oils and not the oils you buy at retail outlets or over the counter. Those oils typically have chemical additives used in the extraction process of used to dilute that are not food safe. That’s why it’s important to know the purity of the essential oils we use!
Could I use this spray on like my mattress and such like the aerosol Lysol is used?
I have used it on fabric before, I used it on my microfiber couches after there was a poop incident with my daughter
There was no staining or anything!
Thanks! Hubby is getting over a stomach bug and I didn’t want to have to buy Lysol disinfectant if I could make it to kill germs on the stuff I can’t wash!
Can I just spray it and let it dry like the aerosol stuff?
I’ve done that too, although for air freshener I typically use Young Living’s Purification oil blend because it is specific to purifying