When I first starting hearing about essential oils I thought it was all about feelings and moods and health and wellness. I was skeptical. And once I started using them, yes all of these!!! They are amazing. Then, my mind was blown when I realized I could apply these to ALL areas of my life…including: STAINS!
PEN & INK REMOVER
So, you know when you put down a security deposit to rent a vacation home or condo BEFORE children, you 100% expect to get it back? I used to imagine what “those” people act like. The ones who lose their deposits. I envision huge parties, people punching holes in the wall, pet goats, fancy vandalism with spray paint – you know, stuff I would NEVER do.
Enter children.
Now I walk around the condo after we finally pack everything in the car (hours and hours) and I SWEAT. I notice the huge scratch on the wall (it was there when we checked in, right?), the paint peeling off the end table because they didn’t use a coaster, 300 cheerios on the floor and I hold my breath for days and days. I just wait for that message “sorry ma’m, we just couldn’t get that jelly-hand-print-stain off the wall-we had to repaint the entire living room.” And IF the money shows back up in my account I feel like I’ve won the lottery.
We just took a trip to Savannah and rented a house. With a 2, 3, 4 and 5 year old. Deposit danger.
I felt like we were doing pretty well, then I saw this…dun dun duuuuuuun
BEFORE:
“Well, we’re buying a new couch,” I think to myself.
Fortunately my sister remembers hearing about a recipe with Thieves all purpose cleaner and Lemon. I believe in oils. I also believe in ink pens and I have NEVER successfully removed a stain. Then…
AFTER:
It’s not flawless, mind you we were packing and trying to keep the kiddos from any other destruction but we actually ended up cleaning off more dirt than pen. I think they’ll thank us (or at least enjoy the smell and wonder why their couch suddenly smells delicious).
IN THE KITCHEN – RUST REMOVER
I don’t really want to think about how this happened, but alas it’s part of the story. I do most of our plumbing because I refuse to pay $300 for a guy to come stick something in the drain and unblock it. I even bought a pipe snake. Anyway, then some noodles happened.
Too many in the disposal, along with other random things I couldn’t distinguish, and I walk into the kitchen to find the sink inches from overflow. I panicked and then remembered the “professional” metal pipe snake I bought. Elbow deep in mystery liquid – and 45 mins later – I unclogged the drain – yay!
By then I didn’t want to deal with the 18 foot pipe snake for a couple days and I left it laying in my sink.
Then to my horror, this – RUST. AHHHHHH. Rust really does scare me.
BEFORE:
I almost went to grab the lime & rust remover bottle (that I kept for SOME reason after I purged the house of most chemical cleaners) then I thought better and searched “Natural ways to remove rust”
Found this recipe:
- Half a Lemon dipped in course salt, scrub
Awesome! But didn’t have a lemon lying around. I was really hoping to resolve my issue before my husband got home and realized I had procrastinated on the pipe snake for two days.
Then I remembered my LEMON OIL!
Miracle Rust Remover
Lemon oil (2 drops on toothbrush)
Dipped in course salt (I used Himalayan Pink salt)
Scrub
To be fair, this is what it looked like after I scrubbed with just soap:
AFTER: (JUST SOAP-when I got nervous!)
Then SUCCESS! I dipped the toothbrush back in the salt about 3 times.
AFTER: (Lemon essential oil & salt)
Bonus: Our sink smelled amazing and I think I should always clean it with this.
By the way, the chemical-laced rust remover tells you to use eye protection and gloves when applying. WHAT? No. Not in my house! I tossed it, and then wondered if it was safe to even throw it away.
Now, that’s scary.