Spring is finally here! With the start of the season comes the urge to give your home a fresh start with spring cleaning. And what better way to put a little spring into your home than with the smells and benefits of nature's essences, essential oils. I find that when I infuse my home with natural scents as spring comes into full bloom, my family becomes more eager to get outside and enjoy nature to its fullest.

Here are a few ways to use essential oils in your spring cleaning line-up:

• Vacuuming. Add 1-2 drops of anti-bacterial lavender or geranium essential oil into your vacuum bag to keep it fresh and to diffuse the scent into the air as you clean. For bagless vacuums, add the drops to a tissue and put it into the collection receptacle.
• Surface Cleaner. Create your own multi-surface disinfectant spray to use on any surface, sink and counter.
• Drawer Fresheners. There's nothing like putting on fresh smelling clothing! Put one of our aromatherapy bath bombs into your drawers to give them a nice, fresh scent of your choice.
• Dishwashing.To add fragrance or to improve the antiseptic action of your liquid soap , add several drops of essential oils like spruce, pine, lemon, bergamot, and orange. You can also add a few drops of these oils to dishwasher to help disinfect and purify it.
• Carpet Deodorizer. Whether you're removing smells from pets, cigarettes or cooking, you can make your own essential oil carpet deodorizer easily freshen and sanitize your carpets.
• Window Cleaner. Get your windows squeaky clean without the sour smell of commercial sprays with this essential oil window cleaner you can make yourself.
• Yoga Mat Spray. Is your stinky yoga mat keeping you achieving inner peace? Create your own essential oil yoga mat spray to disinfect it, giving it and you a fresh start.
• Air Fresheners. There are a number of ways to freshen the air in your home. Our favourite is to use ultrasonic diffusers to purify your air and disperse the beneficial scents of essential oils throughout your home. For convenience (and because everyone in my family likes different scents!), I have a diffuser in all the main rooms of our home. Another option is essential oil reed diffusers, which passively disperse oils into the air. They're great for bathrooms! Or if you want to combine that with a spray for "when you need it", try getting one of our essential oil air freshener spray with a matching scent. If you like to combine fragrance with candle effects, try our aromatherapy soy candles.

My favourite essential oil blends for the spring are ones that remind me of flowers in bloom. Try Love (with Rose and Jasmine), Wild Gardenia (with Ylang Ylang and Jasmine), and Lavender Meadow (with Lavender & Orange). I also really like refreshing blends that smell like the clean, outdoors like Air (with Cedarwood & Spearmint), Coast (with Lavender & Frankincense), Breeze (with Bergamot & Oakmoss) and Green Forest (with Lime & Basil).

Do you have any special ways of cleaning using essential oils? Which are your favourite essential oils and blends for the spring?

Jacqui MacNeill

Insomnia is a problem for many people. Not getting enough sleep makes it harder to perform your daily activities, both mental and physical. It also weakens your immune system. There are many great tips and articles for improving sleep patterns (here's one I like), but sometimes it's not enough and people need a little extra help. Sleep Aromatherapy, using particular essential oils can give you a little extra help getting to sleep naturally without chemical drugs.

Create a Relaxing, Aromatherapy Sleep Ritual

To make the best use of aromatherapy methods, create a customized, anxiety-reducing relaxation ritual for yourself in the 1-2 hours leading up to bed time. A good friend of mine was having trouble sleeping due to stress and anxiety. She developed the following routine and now sleeps like a baby and even looks forward to bedtime. She starts by taking a relaxing aromatherapy bath or shower, lighting a candle or running her aromatherapy diffuser in the bathroom while she bathes. When she gets out, she writes down her worries in a journal and lets her mind rest knowing that she can handle them in the morning. She then sprays a heated shoulder wrap with lavender aroma mist then reads until she falls asleep.

Essential Oils that Help You Sleep

Lavender oil, chamomile roman oil, ylang ylang oil, marjoram oil, and clary sage oil all have sleep-inducing qualities. They can be used on their own or you can mix these essential oils to create your own sleep-inducing essential oil blend.

You can also try Escents' own Sleep, Rest and Night Time Blends.

Sleep with Chamomile and Ylang Ylang is a classic blend designed to help you to relax and get to sleep faster and allows for a deeper, more peaceful sleep. Chamomile was included in this blend because it has been used for centuries in teas as a mild, relaxing sleep aid, treatment for fevers, colds, stomach ailments, and as an anti-inflammatory. Ylang Ylang evokes calmness and can melt away anxiety, tension and stress. 

Night Time with Chamomile and Lavender, is a new blend designed to help you leave the day behind and let your worries melt away and help you rest and sleep. Along with the benefits of Chamomile, Lavender is used in this blend and is the most versatile essential oil and has been used for centuries from calming and relaxing the mind. Night Time is great to diffuse when you're reading a book before bed or getting ready to hop between the sheets.

Rest with Lavender and Rosewood, is also new and can help relieve tension so you can rest and prepare yourself for sleep. This blend can also be used throughout the day when you just want to relax and unwind.

4 Ways to Use Aromatherapy to Help You Sleep

1) Aromatherapy Diffusers. Add 5-8 drops of your chosen essential oils or our Sleep essential oil blend to some water in an ultrasonic diffuser and turn it on when you go to bed. It will purify and permeate the air in your bedroom with your chosen oils. Be sure to use one that shuts off automatically like our Ultramist Diffuser you don't have get up and turn it off. Do NOT use a candle diffuser. Candles should never be left unattended.

2) Essential Oil Mists. Add 40 drops of essential oils to an unscented mist. You can also our Lavender Aroma Mist or our Sleep Aroma Mist. Lightly spray the mist on bed linens before getting into bed to go to sleep.

3) Roll-On Therapy. Add 20 drops to an unscented roll-on or try our Sleep Aromatherapy Roll-On. Apply to wrists and neck before going to sleep.

4) Relaxing Aromatherapy Bath or Shower. Add 10-20 drops of essential oils to 30ml of unscented bath oil or unscented wash & bubble bath. Draw a nice, warm bath adding the mix to your water. Make sure the water is not too hot or cold or else it may stimulate you rather than relax you. Alternatively, you can use our wash & bubble as a body wash in the shower or try out our new Rest Therapeutic salts or our Night Time bath oil.

Have you found an essential oil blend or aromatherapy ritual that works well against insomnia? Please comment and let me know!

Jacqui MacNeill