What is.... Essential Rewards? + Free Printable!

Have you been looking for.. hoping for.. a way to get free oils from Young Living?  Well, look no further friends, you have just stumbled upon THE secret!   Ok, ok... so it's not really a secret...

It's called Essential Rewards.

What?
It's an autoship program:  a way to order essential oils from Young Living on a monthly basis, available to wholesale members only.

Why sign up for Essential Rewards instead of placing a regular order?

In two words?  FREE oils.

Here are some of the awesome benefits of being on Essential Rewards:

• discounted shipping price ($6.95 for ER order vs. $9.95 on a regular order)
• earn PV points, which you can redeem after 2 months for product with the same amount of PV or less
• monthly promotion- order 190PV and get 2 free oils (this month it is Deep Relief and Ravinstara)
• keep a constant 100 PV Essential Rewards order to qualify for all bonuses and commissions
• access to special Essential Reward kits

Earning points/product credit on your orders:

• 1-6 months on ER = 10% of your order
• 7-12 months on ER= 15% of your order
• 13+ months on ER= 20% of your order

Break it down:
If you order 100 PV in month 1 on Essential Rewards, you will earn 10 points on that order.
Then you order 100 PV in month 2 on Essential Rewards, you will earn 10 more points = 20 points total.
So in month 3, you can redeem your 20 points for a product that is 20 PV or less and all you will pay is shipping!  (Or save up your points and order Ningxia Red or a kit!)

Free Printable:
I like to make lists and plan out what I will buy, so I developed this simple and fun order form.  I plan to print mine out, write down what I want to order each month (including my wish list) and then check them off as they are ordered.  I hope this free printable  will be helpful for you, too!

If you are not a wholesale member, when you sign up here, you can also start your Essential Rewards right away!

Day #6: Cleaning Advice from an Older and Much Wiser Woman

In the spirit of Titus 2- where older women are encouraged to mentor younger women on how to love their husbands and children and take care of their homes- I have asked Debbie some questions about how she goes about her spring cleaning and cleaning in general.   I hope her wisdom will encourage you today and motivate you to keep on serving the Lord by caring for your home!

Author's note: Debbie is a wonderful, godly woman who is a mother of 7 children.  She has 2 still at home, and often will take in others who need a place to stay or she is off at the church heading up the children's programs.  God has blessed her with much energy and wisdom.  I am so thankful for the time that she was able to mentor me, before we moved.  Here is our conversation:

What is your favorite go-to cleaner?

I use many of the products sold by Don Aslett from the Clean Report – they are NOT all-natural but very effective and work well on my rust stains from hard water and other cleaning challenges that I have faced during the years.  I also use microfiber cloths that really make clean up easier (I buy those from Sam's Club).

How long does your spring cleaning actually take you? 

I usually set aside 2 weeks to do my entire house.  I used to be able to do it in a week but I must be slowing down.  :)

Is there a certain scripture passage/music that inspires you as your clean?

I listen to “peppy” music when I am cleaning to help keep me moving.  I am a morning person so I tackle it right away after I have had my quiet time!

How do you recommend that moms with little kids go about their spring cleaning?

Tackle a room at a time – even a drawer or a closet at a time and keep it clutter free and organized.  It takes time to plow through an entire house but is well worth it when you are finished and keep it up.

Any words of advice as far as involving children in the cleaning process?

The Village Church has an excellent appendix with their parenting class ,with specific jobs you can assign to children to train them. 

(This resource in found towards the back of the pdf.  It lists out age-appropriate chores from 9 months-10 years! It looks like a great resource to print out and put in your homemaking binder or hang on your fridge!)

When there seems to be 5,000,000 things you HAVE to do and cleaning is one of them, how do you prioritize and keep everything in perspective?

Start my day always with the Lord and ask Him to order my day and bring order to my day!

What is your favorite thing about spring cleaning?

My favorite thing about spring cleaning is to finish a room and then sit in there and enjoy the fruits of my labor!  I enter each room with three boxes:  one for trash, one to give away and one to place in another room.  This helps me really 'purge' a room and either find a new home for items or get rid of it all together.  Either way, I leave a room with a sense of accomplishment! 


The hardest part of spring cleaning is GETTING STARTED!

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Thanks Debbie for your wisdom!  I loved hearing her perspective and encouragement, especially the reminder to seek the Lord first in ALL things (even cleaning!).

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ."  Colossians 3:23-24

Day 2: From Grimy to Shiny!

Ok.. I have been SO excited to start this challenge to clean naturally for 30 days!!  Though now I'm a bit nervous to reveal to you how my sink normally looks!  But alas, today's challenge was to find a natural, homemade sink scouring powder. So here goes..I am going to be real with you.  Here is a before picture:



Please take special note of the rust stains on the bottom of the sink and the nastiness encircling the drains.  Perhaps I should have done a close up, but this will have to do! :)

Normally I would use:  This part is a bit embarrassing, too!  So I have already confessed that I am not a stellar housekeeper, so hopefully you won't be too shocked to find out that I normally just use dish soap to clean out my sink. (*gasp!*)

This month I am using: Kitchen Scouring Powder  -  I found this super simple recipe from the DIY Non-Toxic Cleaning Recipes ebook.

Ingredients:  I love, love, LOVE the fact that I had all these ingredients already!



I was able to pick my essential oil of choice- so I went with Young Living's Citrus Fresh essential oil.  It has a great crisp, clean scent which is perfect for spring cleaning a kitchen sink!  (The glass shaker was purchased at the Dollar Tree.)Here is my little helper measuring out the baking soda..



I added about 25 drops of essential oil because I really wanted to smell it when I was scouring!  We even made our own paper funnel to pour the mixture into the glass shaker. After we had put the lid on, we covered the holes with a towel and shook up the mixture to get the clumps of essential oil to dissolve.  This seemed to do the trick!

Getting Down to Business- Sink Scouring:

1. I took everything off of my sink and sadly did not have any sponges available- so I used a dish rag.


2. Making sure the sink was slightly wet, I shook out the powder all over the sink.  Then I used my dish rag, along with an (old :) ) toothbrush to get in the crevices, and scrubbed the sink.


3. There were still a couple of rust stains that had been there a long time, so I shook the powder on those spots and scrubbed with a toothbrush.  Waaaa-laaaaa!  They disappeared!!


4. Then I rinsed everything off and was SUPER impressed with how clean and smooth the sink felt.  Downside?  No shine. :(  I was really hoping for a shiny sink when I was done so I could ooh and ahh!  (Do you see the right side is not as shiny, below?)


5. What to do?! I just kept reading through the ebook!  Towards the back of the DIY recipes book, I found it!  Could it be this simple?!?  OLIVE OIL.   Yes... it takes 1 ingredient, a soft cloth and some elbow grease.  Are you as amazed as I am, that olive oil shined my sink?!  This is a new revelation to me!  It was SO pretty I wanted to put up some yellow tape and close the sink down for the day!

Time Estimate:  10 minutes to make scouring powder, 10 minutes to give the sink a good scrub and 5 minutes to buff out some shine.  = 25 minutes of spring cleaning today

$ Estimate:  $1  Since I had all the ingredients anyway and just had to purchase the glass shaker, it was a great deal!

Overall Rating for Kitchen Sink Scouring Powder:  4.5/5

Conclusion:

The only downside: my hands were a bit irritated from using the cleaner in the beginning (perhaps the salt and scrubbing action combined?)  

The upside: My sink has NEVER been quite this beautiful before!  I was so excited to get such great results from all natural, essential oil infused homemade cleaners!!

What do you use to scour your sink and get it to shine?  Let me know if you try this recipe-  I would love to hear it worked for you!   Happy cleaning!

 

 

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Please remember I am not a doctor or professional and the FDA has not approved these items for  the prevention or treatment purposes.  It’s important that you do your own research and consult your doctor with any health issues you might have.  This post contains affiliate links- thank you for supporting our family and ministry by using them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

30 Days of Spring Cleaning - Naturally!

Cleaning?  Naturally??  For 30 days?  Why not!  Who is with me?!


Only recently have I organized my Pinterest boards, in hopes that they would be useful to others.  As a result, I have noticed more people pinning from my boards and more specifically, following the Cleaning Naturally with Essential Oils board.  So, due to popular interest and my own lackluster cleaning routine, I thought April would be a great time to get myself into gear!  I am taking the challenge to use only natural cleaning products during my Spring Cleaning this month!

My goal? To share with you how I will switch out regular cleaning products (with chemicals) to a simpler, more natural way of cleaning our home. My hope is that this will be a positive change in caring for the overall health of my family.

Tools You Might Find Helpful for the 30 Day Challenge:

1. A desire to learn and possibly even ENJOY cleaning!  (I'm praying for this myself!:)


2. Non-Toxic Cleaning Recipes : this beautiful ebook is my go-to manual for the next 30 days.  Most of the recipes I try, will come from this treasure trove!  It's a great reference where you can find inexpensive, all natural cleaning recipes.  For a limited time, it is even 25% off! 


3. Essential Oils:  I love Young Living therapeutic grade oils because of the high quality and a little goes a long way!  I am so excited to start adding them to our cleaning routine and see what health benefits come from this.  You can visit my Young Living website to order, if you would like to purchase some for the next 30 days!

If you have a tight budget right now, feel free to follow along and Pin things for the future!

What to Look Forward to for the Month of April:

1. Advice from an older woman:  I hope to interview 1 or 2 older and much wiser women than myself to get their take on spring cleaning and how they use this time to bless their family by taking care of the home.


2. A guest post (or 2): One of my good friends uses essential oils AND Norwex.  She is planning to share her favorite cleaning products with you- I can't wait!


3. Reviews on homemade cleaning recipes- I will be honest with you and let you know if it worked or bombed!


4. Things I already do:  There are a few things I already do to clean more naturally, so I will share those as I go.


5. Tips and Tricks- I hope to share little tips and tricks with you that will make your spring cleaning a breeze!

Please come back and visit often throughout April and share your thoughts on spring cleaning naturally.  My hope is that these posts will bless you and your family and inspire you to take charge of your family's health in the realm of cleaning products.  Blessings!

Day #2:  From Grimy to Shiny- DIY Kitchen Scouring Powder Review

Day #6:  Cleaning Advice from an Older and Much Wiser Woman

Day #10:  A Few Ways To Start Your Spring Cleaning – Naturally

Day #13:  Day #13: Natural, Inexpensive, DIY Laundry Detergent and Giveaway!!

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Please remember I am not a doctor or professional and the FDA has not approved these items for  the prevention or treatment purposes.  It's important that you do your own research and consult your doctor with any health issues you might have.  This post contains affiliate links- thank you for supporting our family and ministry by using them!