Chemical Free Living Part 1: Household Cleaner

Why I started Chemical Free Cleaning

My story on why I started using Chemical Free cleaning started last summer after a series of blood tests I had done with a functional medicine doctor. I had low energy, was breaking out in hives and just felt like a general state of crappy constantly. We ran every blood test under the sun, and I finally had some answers. My NutrEval results, an extensive 30-something page blood test, showed that my toxic exposure was off the charts! My body wasn’t detoxing well and was overloaded. For the most part I had always used what I thought was the “natural” household cleaner with the occasional Clorox and Lysol mixed in too. It’s what everybody was buying, and I didn’t know any differently. It wasn’t until recently that I took this chemical thing seriously, and now, I’m so disturbed by all of the information that I want to break it down for you and make it SUPER easy!

Why You Should be Using Thieves

I don’t like to overcomplicate my life. I have very limited time as a mom of 3, wife, newborn photographer and lifestyle blogger. I honestly hate reading labels, and it always reminds me how much I need to wear my glasses. When I first started using Young Living, I thought I was just getting essential oils, but the more I dug-in, I realized how much I could trust this brand to help overhaul my house and truly “detox” it from all the chemicals I was using. I’ve been using Thieves for the last few months, and I love it. When you use a versatile concentrate like Thieves Household cleaner you are cutting down on cost, waste and chemicals. I don’t really see a downside.

I don’t have to lock up the cabinet under the kitchen sink now so that my kids don’t get into the Cascade and Lysol. If you haven’t looked those harmful products up on the EWG site or the Think Dirty app then please click here and here. It’s TERRIFYING what these products can do to the human body…developmental and reproductive toxicity, cancer, asthma/respiratory. I even found terrifying ingredients in Meyers all-purpose spray (what I was using)…pay attention to the last three ingredients. Methylisothiazolinone (one of the last 3 ingredients) can cause nerve damage which is also in antibacterial products too…this is not just a mild skin irritant…this is possible nerve damage.

What is Thieves?

Thieves is a combination of Lemon, Rosemary, Clove, Cinnamon Bark and Eucalyptus Radiata essential oils. It has a spicy warm aroma that smells great. I diffuse the essential oil constantly in my house and use it as my primary cleaner too. It is also fragrance free, so other than the essential oils, there are no cheap fillers to make it smell great and then irritate your lungs. There are a lot of you that are sensitive to fragrance, but fragrance and essential oils are completely different. Fragrance is the bad guy and that’s what is irritating your body.

How Products Affect Your Health

80% of our immune system is in our GI Tract. It’s our bodies first line of defense against viruses, bacteria and parasites. Many of our brain’s chemicals, (think speech, sleep, motor planning, zen thoughts) and Serotonin, the happy hormone are made in our gut. Everything we use in our household, including laundry soap gets into our body (which includes our gut). How many of us wash our clothes in chemicals that we cannot pronounce. Do a google search on what the ingredients are on the back of the laundry soap you’re using and tell me if you want that in your gut. If you or your kids have bumps on your skin or daily headaches – step 1 is switching out your chemical-laden laundry soap. Don’t be misled by the companies with deceptive verbiage on their labels.

I want you to feel confident that you are making the best choice for you, your kids and your future grandchildren. The choices you make now affect your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren, think about it. When a woman is pregnant with a baby girl that unborn baby’s ovaries appear around 11-12 weeks in utero. By the time you reach week 20 of your pregnancy, that unborn baby girl has around 7 million primitive eggs, which then pair down to about 2 million once she’s born. That means all of you have spent around 5 months in your grandmother as she grew your mom! Wow!

How to Use Thieves:

There are 60 capfuls in each container which means you can make about 60 (16 oz) spray bottles. That’s what you call Big Bang for your buck. I have several recipes listed below. Thieves cleaner comes as a concentrate, so just dilute accordingly.

You can use Thieves on stainless steel, granite, varnished wood surfaces, hardwood floors, copper, cast iron, porcelain, toilets, windows, etc.  On porous surfaces like granite, use an extreme dilution. I have honed marble in my kitchen and I use it daily. You can even use it on leather, but always spot test first. It is not recommended to use on vinyl or soft plastic surfaces; many people do anyways so just use at your now discretion.

Cost-Effective

There are 60 capfuls of Thieves Household Cleaner in each bottle. That means I can make 60 (16oz) spray bottles for $.36/per bottle. The glass spray bottles in the images below are 16 ounces; I like that size because they are easy to handle.  If you buy a Meyer’s all-purpose spray bottle those retail for $3.99, so if you bought 60 of those bottles that would be $239.40 vs. the $22 bottle of Thieves Household Cleaner. I don’t know about you, but I have other places I’d rather spend my money…like shoes, haha. We are also trying to cut down on waste at our house, so I feel much better about recycling 1 bottle of Thieves vs. 60 bottles of something else.

Thieves Household Cleaning Products:

Thieves Household Cleaner

Thieves Automatic Dishwasher Powder

Thieves Dish Soap

Thieves Hand Soap

Thieves Laundry Soap

Dryer Balls (say no to dryer sheets, more info below)

Thieves Starter Kit

Getting the Thieve Starter Kit is the best way to instantly take the chemicals out of your home. The Starter Kit includes:

• Thieves 15-ml – I diffuse this every night, or just roll it on for immunity
• Thieves AromaBright™ Toothpaste – I switched to this
• Thieves Fresh Essence Plus Mouthwash – I switched to this
• 2 Thieves Cleaner
• 2 Thieves Foaming Hand Soap
• 2 Thieves Spray – Great for on the go, room spray, traveling on an airplane, etc
• 2 Thieves Waterless Hand Purifier – No xenoestrogens or dangerous chemicals mentioned above.
• Stress Away™ 5-ml – I diffuse this every night, or just roll it on.
• AromaGlide™ Roller Fitment – These turn your oils into a roller ball.
• Thieves Household Cleaner 1-oz. sample – share it with your friends
• 2 NingXia Red® 2-oz. samples – An antioxidant drink my whole family drinks daily.
• Product Guide and Product Price List
• Essential Oil Magazine
• Essential Edge
• Member Resources

How to Order Thieves:

To order your kit and to join my cleaning living tribe, click here, then click the tab “other premium kits” and then scroll down to the Thieves Starter Kit. The retail value of the kit is over $300, with member pricing it’s $160 + tax and shipping. When you become a member (by purchasing a kit)  you automatically get 24% off retail price. I signed up for ER, the monthly automatic shipment that I customize every month so that I never run of laundry detergent or cleaner, etc. When I first started using Young Living I didn’t understand ER and I was just ordering things as I needed them. Well, not only did I run out, but I was losing points toward free product and paying more for shipping by not using ER. You don’t have to sign up for ER if you just want to buy the Starter Kit and try it out first, you can always sign up for ER later if you want! Email me at jesskcathell@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Make sure you check out my post from last week about how to get started with essential oils. I started using essential oils and did my household cleaning ditch and switch at the same time.You may want to start with the essential oil starter kit and add in the Thieves products you want to try.

I purchased my glass spray bottles off of Amazon and as well as the 32oz plastic bottles for the detergent too. The cute labels are from Etsy.