New Starter Kit and Wholesale Membership

In case you're just starting out in exploring oils (which was me a few months ago!) it is important to know that there are many EO manufacturers and suppliers out there.  Oils range in availability, price, and quality.  I always recommend that everyone do their own research to figure out 1) if essential oils are right for them and if so, 2) who to choose as a distributor for oils.  That being said, I have made no secret of the fact that I have chosen Young Living as my oil supplier.  I am happy to have individual conversations with anyone interested about how I arrived at that conclusion if you would like to contact me directly.  So as a result, this post is specifically about Young Living Oils and Membership.

Anyone is able (and welcome) to purchase Young Living products without any commitment or membership, simply by ordering through their website.  This is a nice feature for anyone needing just one individual type of oil, or just wanting to try one thing.  There are other options, though, for those looking for a more economical option.  Anyone with a wholesale membership with Young Living has the ability to purchase products at wholesale pricing (24% discount).  So if you want to try some oils but don't want to pay full price, you can ask a member (like me!) to order for you and ship them to you - even with the shipping cost they will be cheaper than full price with shipping.  Otherwise, you can sign up for a membership of your own.  You need to select a starter kit (ranging from $45 - $160) which includes information about the oils and the company in additional to the products (varying based on which kit you choose).  Then you have access to the same pricing and benefits as I do.  The Starter Kits are not available for individual sale.  They are only available with a membership.

The exciting thing is that the Premium Starter Kit, which is Young Living's most popular starter kit (and best value of the starter kits) has just received an update, and in my opinion the new Premium Starter Kit is a huge improvement on the old version (which I loved, too).
 (The information and images below, about each of the starter kits, come directly from the Young Living website)

Basic Starter Kit:
The most affordable of the Starter Kits is the Basic Kit.  It is available in English or Spanish and includes the following:

• 5-ml Stress Away™ oil blend, 
• AromaGlide™ Roller Fitment for turning any 15 ml. bottle of oils into a convenient roller bottle, 
• 10 Sample Packets (2 each of Thieves Oil Blend, Lavender Oil, Peppermint Oil, Lemon Oil, and Peace and Calming Oil Blend) , 
• 10 Love It? Share It! Sample Business Cards, 
• 10 Love It? Share It! Sample Oil Bottles for filling with your favorite oils to share with friends)
•  2 NingXia Red® 2-oz. samples, 
• Product Guide and Product Price List, 
• Essential Oil Magazine, Essential Edge,
•  and Member Resources.  

Premium Starter Kit Options

The best deal is the Premium Starter Kit.  There are three different versions of it, detailed below.
Premium Starter Kit with Diffuser:
This is what I started with, although it has gotten some upgrades since I bought it, and I have to say I'm a little jealous!  It is also available in English or Spanish.  Along with your membership, you get all of the following:

• Home Diffuser - you have your choice of four different models.  The one shown in this picture was the one I got with my starter kit (and I love it!) 
• Premium Essential Oils Collection: (Lavender 5-ml, Peppermint 5-ml, Lemon 5-ml, Copaiba 5-ml, Frankincense 5-ml, Thieves® 5-ml, Purification® 5-ml, R.C.™ 5-ml, DiGize™ 5-ml, PanAway® 5-ml) - I've posted about how I use many of these, and posts about the others on this list are forthcoming! 
• 5-ml Stress Away™ oil blend 
• AromaGlide™ Roller Fitment for turning any 15 ml. bottle of oils into a convenient roller bottle 
• 10 Sample Packets (2 each of Thieves Oil Blend, Lavender Oil, Peppermint Oil, Lemon Oil, and Peace and Calming Oil Blend) 
• 10 Love It? Share It! Sample Business Cards 
• 10 Love It? Share It! Sample Oil Bottles for filling with your favorite oils to share with friends)
•  2 NingXia Red® 2-oz. samples 
• Product Guide and Product Price List 
• Essential Oil Magazine, Essential Edge
• Member Resources 

Premium Starter Kit with Ninxia Red

If you've done some reading or research and you know you want a Young Living Membership but instead of the oils, you're interested in the Ninxia Red products, this might be where you want to start.

The kit (available in both English and Spanish) includes:

• NingXia Red 2-pack 
• 30 NingXia Red Singles (2 fl. oz. ea.) 
• NingXia Nitro 5-ml
• 5-ml Stress Away™ oil blend 
• AromaGlide™ Roller Fitment for turning any 15 ml. bottle of oils into a convenient roller bottle 
• 10 Sample Packets (2 each of Thieves Oil Blend, Lavender Oil, Peppermint Oil, Lemon Oil, and Peace and Calming Oil Blend) 
• 10 Love It? Share It! Sample Business Cards 
• 10 Love It? Share It! Sample Oil Bottles for filling with your favorite oils to share with friends)
•  2 NingXia Red® 2-oz. samples 
• Product Guide and Product Price List 
• Essential Oil Magazine, Essential Edge
• Member Resources 

Premium Starter Kit with Thieves

Once again, if you know you are interested in a Young Living Membership, but you're more interested in the Thieves Oil products instead of the oils, you might want to look into this option.  Also available in English and Spanish, the Starter Kit with Thieves includes:

• 15-ml Thieves Oil
• Thieves AromaBright™ Toothpaste
• Thieves Fresh Essence Plus Mouthwash
• 2 Thieves Cleaner
• 2 Thieves Foaming Hand Soap
• 2 Thieves Spray
• 2 Thieves Waterless Hand Purifier
• 5-ml Stress Away™ oil blend 
• AromaGlide™ Roller Fitment for turning any 15 ml. bottle of oils into a convenient roller bottle 
• 10 Sample Packets (2 each of Thieves Oil Blend, Lavender Oil, Peppermint Oil, Lemon Oil, and Peace and Calming Oil Blend) 
• 10 Love It? Share It! Sample Business Cards 
• 10 Love It? Share It! Sample Oil Bottles for filling with your favorite oils to share with friends)
•  2 NingXia Red® 2-oz. samples 
• Product Guide and Product Price List 
• Essential Oil Magazine, Essential Edge
• Member Resources 

All of the Starter Kits are a fantastic deal, and provide you with everything you need to get started with your own Essential Oil experience.  But what you won't find out at the Young Living Website is that there are sometimes benefits beyond the ones they offer as well.  When you enroll for a membership through an existing member, you become part of their membership organization (picture a family tree of members and all whom they've enrolled).  Most of these individual organizations have social media groups that are open only to members of that particular organization, where participants share ideas, testimonials, stories, DIY recipes, etc. This is where I do much of my learning about the oils, and where I get news and updates about new products, special deals, etc.  Many of these organizations also offer video classes, live classes, webinars, contests, and more.  Participation in all of these things is optional, but is only offered to members of that organization.

So if you're thinking about a membership. . . . let me know how I can help you.  And if you use this link to sign up for membership, you will become a part of the same membership organization as I am, gaining access to all of the additional benefits mentioned above.

Good luck!

Tea Tree Oil - Becoming a Believer

Most elementary school teachers have heard of tea tree oil - it's the one we all know to keep on hand if our schools have lice in the building (which we do every year!).  There are tea tree oil shampoos and conditioners, treatment recipes, and hair spritzes that are reported to help keep lice away and help treat existing cases.  I had no idea, though, that tea tree oil is dramatically different than tea tree hair products, nor did I know how many other uses there are for this cleansing, antiseptic oil.

Before I begin to convince you (as I have been convinced) that tea tree oil is another must have, let me reiterate that I have no medical training or background.  The statements I make in my posts have not been evaluated or approved by the FDA, I am merely sharing my experiences, both from reading I've done and what I've tried. With that being said, these are my thoughts on tea tree oil.

Here's the problem - I HATE the smell of tea tree oil!  I think it smells like mothballs.  But the more I read, the more I believe that it is worth the smell to get the benefits.  Below are some of the ways I've found tea tree useful so far, as well as some of the things I want to try with my tea tree oil next.

I live in the midwest, and at this time of the year, the basement is stale, damp, and musty. At least once every few days, I run the diffuser in the basement with tea tree for a few hours, followed by lemon for a few hours.  This makes the air feel and smell fresher and cleaner.  And studies have been conducted to show that it is actually cleaning the air of molds and fungi.  Now that I know more about the benefits, I will be adding a couple drops of tea tree oil to the homemade cleaner I made with lemon oil to add to its effectiveness.

On a whim, one day, I decided to try something.  (Sorry if this is too much information!!) I know that body odor is caused by bacteria under our arms.  After I got out of the shower, I swiped tea tree oil under my arms.  The smell was almost unbearable to me, so after about 10 minutes, I followed with a swipe of lemon oil.  This neutralized the smell a bit, and after about a half hour the smell was gone all together.  It worked way better than any deodorant I've ever used.  So experiencing this, and knowing what I know about why my running clothes retain odors, I think next I'm going to start adding a couple drops to my laundry when I have a load of my athletic clothes (and maybe my bath towels, too. . . hmmmm) to help kill the bacteria that they like to hold on to, being synthetic fabrics.  And a couple drops on cotton balls tucked into the toes of particularly stinky shoes. . . the possibilities for killing bacteria and eliminating odorsare endless!

I have used tea tree oil to disinfect minor cuts and scrapes, always with good results - I have read that it is great for nail infections, though I've yet to try that. It is also good for relieving itch from bug bites.  Anything that helps with that during summer in Wisconsin is great!!

So I'm just learning more about this incredibly useful oil.  As I read more, I have ideas of where I want to go next with this oil (once I get a new bottle in my next order, since my original one is now empty!).  I just read that it's recommended to soak your toothbrush in diluted tea tree oil once a week or so to kill the bacteria that is housed in the bristles.  I've also seen recipes for making toothpaste out of it, although I don't know how I'd do with that taste!  Check out this list of uses for tea tree oil.  And if you're not familiar with Dr. Axe, I highly recommend checking out his website!  What I love about his website and his EO recommendations is that he uses a lot of medical research and studies to back up his recommendations.  Can't argue with that!

If you have any questions about anything related to oils, uses, recommendations, information about why I chose Young Living as my oils supplier, or how to try oils without commitment, please email me..  And if you are interested in a membership with Young Living, you can join here.

The "Allergy Trio" - My seasonal best friend!

**The experience in this post are based on my personal use of oils.  I do not have any medical background or training, the statements I make are not intended to be taken as medical advice, and have not been reviewed or approved by the FDA.  I feel passionately about my own experiences with oils, so I want to share those experiences with others.  If you are new to oils or have medical concerns, please consult with a medical professional before you begin, and by all means, do your research!

If you've read my blog posts, you have heard me mention my affinity for the "allergy trio" of lavender, lemon and peppermint oils to help me handle seasonal allergies. Every May I get hammered with pollen allergies - I have the itchy eyes, the congestion, the scratchy throat, the cold symptoms - all of it.  I have always relied on a Claritin in the morning every day, but this year, I decided to try a more natural approach - the "allergy bomb" that I had heard about in posts about essential oil use.  I started with diffusing - three drops of each - lemon, lavender and peppermint - overnight in our bedroom.  Both my husband and I noticed a difference immediately!  He commented the very first morning that his eyes weren't puffy, and he didn't feel stuffed up.  I noticed that I didn't sneeze a dozen times when I first woke up.  A huge improvement on the "norm" for us!!

In the spring I sponsor a running club at our school - it is the long standing joke that after we finish our run, I sneeze about a hundred times.  I started taking the allergy trio - 3 drops of each - in a capsule before our runs, and I noticed that not only could I run better (I suppose because I could breathe better) but I didn't sneeze at all afterward.

Yesterday my husband was out mowing the lawn while I was cleaning inside the house.  I noticed that I was very congested and my throat was itchy.  I finally realized it was from the grass and his mowing.  I used my allergy trio, and within 20 minutes I was feeling so much better!  My husband came in and asked if it was a safe time of day for him to try a capsule for the first time.  I reassured him that this was one of the advantages of the oils - they didn't keep you awake like OTC allergy meds did, so you could take them at any time of day.  He tried it and within 10 minutes he said he was symptom free.

My only regret is that we have a whole bottle of Claritin in the bathroom that I have not opened up more than three or four times this season. . . . I haven't taken one in about 2 months, and I feel great!  What a wonderful feeling to know that I'm managing my allergies naturally and not with chemicals!

If you have any questions, of course, please email me.  And if you're interested in Young Living oils, which I have chosen as my oil supplier, based on the quality of their product and their impeccable reputation, let me know.  If you're interested in membership with Young Living, which allows you to purchase oils at wholesale prices (24% off of retail), you can sign up here.

Lavender Oil - I thought I knew it all!!

When I ordered my everyday oils starter kit from Young Living, I figured I would occasionally use the lavender oil for sleep and relaxation, but here I am 6 weeks in, and I use lavender more than any other oil in the kit, and in ways I never imagined!

If you've read my past posts, you've heard me talk about the "allergy bomb" - equal parts peppermint, lemon, and lavender - that diffuse nightly to help both my husband and I with our seasonal allergies, and that we both take daily by capsule to help alleviate seasonal allergy symptoms and congestion without the side effects of antihistamines or OTC allergy medicines.  You've also heard me mention that I apply diluted lavender and valerian oils on my kids' feet and my husband's to help with restful and deep sleep.  As I type this, there are diffusers running in both of my kids' rooms with lavender in them to help them calm down and fall asleep.  When my older child has fits (as 6 year olds are prone to do) I can calm him immediately by rubbing some lavender on his chest.  Much more effective than a time out, yelling, or anything else we'd tried.

In my last post, I talked about how I've used lavender for skin care products as well.  I have dabbed lavender oil straight onto cuts and scrapes to help them heal, and I have learned that the horrible itchy patch on my left elbow, which never seems to go away, can be healed with lavender.  And I anticipate using lavender this summer to help with sunburns and bug bites.

As  I started researching essential oils, I saw that lavender was referred to as the "swiss army knife" of essential oils and now I know why!!

update: Recently I spent an afternoon making a variety of beauty products with my Young Living oils.  I found, not terribly surprisingly, that most of the skincare recipes called for lavender oil.  Its skincare benefits are well known, and it is mild on the skin, as well as smelling great.  After making all of my DIY products, I can now say that I am using lavender oil on my skin every single day.  I can't wait till my rosemary oil arrives in a few days so I can make a lavender rosemary lotion (which is supposed to be amazing for dry skin).  Doesn't that sound like it will be heavenly!?

If you have any questions, of course, please email me.  And if you're interested in Young Living oils, which I have chosen as my oil supplier, based on the quality of their product and their impeccable reputation, let me know.  If you're interested in membership with Young Living, which allows you to purchase oils at wholesale prices (24% off of retail), you can sign up here.

Step aside, Martha!

I spent today creating DIY versions of all my go-to beauty products.  I spent hours this morning going through recipes (there are so many availab(le!) and making a shopping list (which was not terribly extensive, since most of the ingredients I needed were either things I had in the kitchen or oils that I already had from my starter kit).  Then my afternoon was devoted to making natural, healthier versions of my products  - from exfoliating scrub to eye cream.  I had SO much fun!!  The recipes were easy, the products look great, and I can't wait to see the results!  I've made my "allergy trio" and my "weight loss trio" part of my regular routine, but now I have adopted a new trio - the skin care trio.  Most of the skin recipes involved a combination of frankincense, lemon and lavender oil.  I've been using frank on my skin since I got it - it is recommended for wrinkles, scars, and uneven skin tone.  Lavender is recommended to help with skin irritation, and lemon is recommended as an anti-oxident, so this combination made a lot of sense to me.  I've done lots of reading about coconut oil, vitamin e oil, and jojoba oil, and combining them with essential oils seems like a very healthy alternative to skin care products made of a bunch of things I can't pronounce!

I used these recipes:

Face Wash - using baking soda, coconut oil and oils to cleanse instead of harsh chemicals
Exfoliating Scrub - honey, almond meal, and peppermint oil - so invigorating!
Eye Cream - vitamin e oil, coconut oil, and frankincense oil, which are all known to help with fine lines and signs of aging
Night Cream - lemon, lavender, frankincense oils blended with coconut and olive oil.
Lotion (non-greasy body lotion) - shea butter and jojoba oil with lemon, lavender, and peppermint oils
Foaming Hand Soap - castile soap, glycerin, thieves oil and distilled water as a hand cleanser/sanitizer

Next on my to-do list: shaving lotion, sunscreen, and bug repellent.  I'm hooked!

If you have any questions, of course, please email me.  And if you're interested in Young Living oils, which I have chosen as my oil supplier, based on the quality of their product and their impeccable reputation, let me know.  If you're interested in membership with Young Living, which allows you to purchase oils at wholesale prices (24% off of retail), you can sign up here.