The Little Things Thursdays: #97

This post may contain affiliate links. Thank you for supporting our family and blog!

Welcome to The Little Things Thursday!!

If you are new, we like to take a minute to look back on the little things that brightened our week. So often we get busy and forget all of the things that we enjoy as we go through our daily lives. This is an opportunity to stop, remember, and enjoy those things! Nothing is too small...in fact, the smaller the better! That's the whole point! If you have a blog, leave a link in a comment below! If you don't blog, I'd love for you to participate by leaving a moment in a comment anyway. Ready?

1. Official Christmas 2014 Photo

Caleb, Abby, Ellie, and Elijah

Or about as official as it's going to get anyway. Lol! At what point do they start holding STILL for photos??? 

2. The Boys and Their Toys

It's not that the girls didn't like their toys (because they love them!), but the boys were giving me all sorts of decent photo opportunities, so I grabbed them!

I was very excited to find out two weeks before Christmas that my friend Julie had a car rug that she was willing to part with. It was a gift for all of the kids, but I knew that one little boy in particular was going to be extra happy to have roads to drive his cars on. 

Caleb and his new-to-us Car Rug

Elijah got this nifty tool set from my parents. He likes to bang on things anyway, so at least now we are moving him toward a positive use of those skills. Aren't those goggles a riot?!

Elijah

I actually don't know if the boys did this or if one of the girls did it, but....I thought it worth letting the world know that Elsa can drive a bulldozer. I thought she just used her magical powers to move mountains of snow, but I guess a little mechanical help doesn't hurt anyone.

Elsa....driving a bulldozer

This cracks me up! The girls were given a dollhouse by their Cousin Marissa. She was finished with it, and thought our girls would enjoy playing with it. They LOVE it! But the day after Christmas, this is what I found while the girls slept in. LOL! So many new toys, and the boys were both busy arranging furniture in their sisters' dollhouse.

 Caleb and Elijah

3. Castles

I just thought that this was a cute photo of the four of them. Uncle Nathan gave them two pop up castles to play in. The kids drag their sleeping bags in and camp out for fun. Hours of enjoyment! But I caught this quick photo as they were roaming back and forth between castles.

4. A Better Multi-Tasker Than I Am

Caleb

So I guess this means that I need to stop lamenting that I don't have a third arm to keep up with these kids? Apparently, heads work just as well!

5. I'm In a Book!

This is kind of fun! A couple of months ago, a new book called The Wonder Within You came out. It was written by a local woman, and I just now made it to a bookstore to see if I could find it. While she was writing it, she was looking for personal pregnancy stories to fit between the chapters. A mutual friend gave her my info, and after chatting with her on the phone, I agreed to write a short snippet of our story to go in her book. My page is about finding out that quadruplets were on the way. If you get a chance, pick up a copy! My little part is on page 71!

6. New Room to Roam

We finally took our very last gate down! Our last gate was in the kitchen to block our kids from getting to our open pantry. I just didn't want to chase cans of green beans around the house, you know? Last week, we finally decided to take it down and see what would happen. Thankfully, after the first day or so, the novelty wore off and it's mostly left alone. But of course, before that happened, everyone had to stand on the previously forbidden ground to celebrate!

7. Handmade Lotion and Lip Balm

I thought these turned out so cute! I made Homemade Organic Lotion and Lip Balm for my mom, sister, mother-in-law, and sisters-in-law this Christmas. Not only did the products turn out really well (okay, I might have gone a little heavy on the cinnamon bark), but I thought the packaging I ended up with turned out so cute! Yay for working with whatever I had on hand! :)

8. Elijah's Amazing Aroma Complete!

It's HERE! Back in October, I hit a big milestone with Young Living and earned this amazing set of essential oils. $2000 worth of oils!!! EEEEEK!! It came last night...all 120 precious oils to use with my family. What a huge gift! I thought I was excited, but you know who was WAY more excited than I was? Elijah. Elijah is pretty sure that Young Living sent those oils to him. Lol! He spent some time looking through "his" new oils and was delighted to pose for a picture with them. He cracks me up! I just hope that he lets me use them on occasion!

Now it's your turn! What Little Things brightened up your week? Link up your post in a comment below and make sure you come back next week to play again!

This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

This post may contain affiliate links. Thank you for supporting our family and blog!

Welcome to The Little Things Thursday!!

If you are new, we like to take a minute to look back on the little things that brightened our week. So often we get busy and forget all of the things that we enjoy as we go through our daily lives. This is an opportunity to stop, remember, and enjoy those things! Nothing is too small...in fact, the smaller the better! That's the whole point! If you have a blog, leave a link in a comment below! If you don't blog, I'd love for you to participate by leaving a moment in a comment anyway. Ready?

1. Official Christmas 2014 Photo

Caleb, Abby, Ellie, and Elijah

Or about as official as it's going to get anyway. Lol! At what point do they start holding STILL for photos??? 

2. The Boys and Their Toys

It's not that the girls didn't like their toys (because they love them!), but the boys were giving me all sorts of decent photo opportunities, so I grabbed them!

I was very excited to find out two weeks before Christmas that my friend Julie had a car rug that she was willing to part with. It was a gift for all of the kids, but I knew that one little boy in particular was going to be extra happy to have roads to drive his cars on. 

Caleb and his new-to-us Car Rug

Elijah got this nifty tool set from my parents. He likes to bang on things anyway, so at least now we are moving him toward a positive use of those skills. Aren't those goggles a riot?!

Elijah

I actually don't know if the boys did this or if one of the girls did it, but....I thought it worth letting the world know that Elsa can drive a bulldozer. I thought she just used her magical powers to move mountains of snow, but I guess a little mechanical help doesn't hurt anyone.

Elsa....driving a bulldozer

This cracks me up! The girls were given a dollhouse by their Cousin Marissa. She was finished with it, and thought our girls would enjoy playing with it. They LOVE it! But the day after Christmas, this is what I found while the girls slept in. LOL! So many new toys, and the boys were both busy arranging furniture in their sisters' dollhouse.

 Caleb and Elijah

3. Castles

I just thought that this was a cute photo of the four of them. Uncle Nathan gave them two pop up castles to play in. The kids drag their sleeping bags in and camp out for fun. Hours of enjoyment! But I caught this quick photo as they were roaming back and forth between castles.

4. A Better Multi-Tasker Than I Am

Caleb

So I guess this means that I need to stop lamenting that I don't have a third arm to keep up with these kids? Apparently, heads work just as well!

5. I'm In a Book!

This is kind of fun! A couple of months ago, a new book called The Wonder Within You came out. It was written by a local woman, and I just now made it to a bookstore to see if I could find it. While she was writing it, she was looking for personal pregnancy stories to fit between the chapters. A mutual friend gave her my info, and after chatting with her on the phone, I agreed to write a short snippet of our story to go in her book. My page is about finding out that quadruplets were on the way. If you get a chance, pick up a copy! My little part is on page 71!

6. New Room to Roam

We finally took our very last gate down! Our last gate was in the kitchen to block our kids from getting to our open pantry. I just didn't want to chase cans of green beans around the house, you know? Last week, we finally decided to take it down and see what would happen. Thankfully, after the first day or so, the novelty wore off and it's mostly left alone. But of course, before that happened, everyone had to stand on the previously forbidden ground to celebrate!

7. Handmade Lotion and Lip Balm

I thought these turned out so cute! I made Homemade Organic Lotion and Lip Balm for my mom, sister, mother-in-law, and sisters-in-law this Christmas. Not only did the products turn out really well (okay, I might have gone a little heavy on the cinnamon bark), but I thought the packaging I ended up with turned out so cute! Yay for working with whatever I had on hand! :)

8. Elijah's Amazing Aroma Complete!

It's HERE! Back in October, I hit a big milestone with Young Living and earned this amazing set of essential oils. $2000 worth of oils!!! EEEEEK!! It came last night...all 120 precious oils to use with my family. What a huge gift! I thought I was excited, but you know who was WAY more excited than I was? Elijah. Elijah is pretty sure that Young Living sent those oils to him. Lol! He spent some time looking through "his" new oils and was delighted to pose for a picture with them. He cracks me up! I just hope that he lets me use them on occasion!

Now it's your turn! What Little Things brightened up your week? Link up your post in a comment below and make sure you come back next week to play again!

This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

Young Living Lemon Essential Oil Giveaway!

Let's do another essential oil giveaway! This month, Lemon is the lucky oil that we are going to look at. It's such a versatile oil, and honestly, it just makes me happy. Like, literally happy!

Lemon is one of those oils that seem to have a million different uses, including being an amazing immune booster. Very cool! It has awesome uses that can help with everything from improving memory, to helping with worry. It may also assist with circulatory support, weight loss, and so much more! Lemon essential oil is definitely a staple in our home with how versatile it is!

How do we use it in our home? Here are a few of the ways:


-Lemon is one of my happy oils! I love anything citrus flavored because it's just....happy! It's definitely a mood booster!

-I've started playing with it for weight loss support this week. Since it's only Tuesday, I'm not sure what kind of results I'll see, but I'm hopeful! A lot of my friends have told me that by ingesting a few drops of Lemon oil everyday, they've lost weight without even trying (Click here for thoughts on ingesting). Um...I can get behind that! So we will see how that turns out!

-Lemon is great for all over support! I'm slowly but surely inching my way toward a healthier lifestyle, and getting toxins out of my body is one of the steps. Ingesting a couple of drops of Lemon essential oil helps me get that much closer!

Scroll down to enter the giveaway for a chance to score your own bottle of Young Living Lemon Essential Oil!

It's important to note that I use Young Living Essential Oils with my family. Not all oil brands are created equally and many can cause problems to worsen if they are not true, 100% essential oils. Even if the label says "100% pure" they are only required to have 5% essential oils in them per regulations. Please visit this link for more info on why we chose Young Living and how we believe it is the best, most effective, and most affordable essential oil option out there. 

If you've been thinking about diving into the world of essential oils, head here to get the details on the Premium Starter Kit and the extra $40 Welcome Kit that I like to send to new oilers for free! It's a fantastic deal that will get you started on the right foot!

~Giveaway!~

Would you like to win Lemon oil to use in your home? I'll be sending one winner a 5ml bottle of Young Living Lemon Essential Oil to use and enjoy! Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Winning entries will be validated prior to announcing the winner with an alternate drawn if the entries cannot be verified.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The contest ends at 11:59pm on Tuesday, September 30th. The winner(s) will be randomly chosen and contacted by email, and will have 48 hours to respond to the email with their information so that the prize can be forwarded to them. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States. This giveaway is not endorsed by Young Living Essential Oils and is solely sponsored and administered by A Beautiful Ruckus. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

The information contained in these posts are for educational and entertainment purposes only. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Products and techniques discussed are not meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or ailment. Please do your own research and make your own informed decisions when you are considering lifestyle and health changes. Particularly if you are pregnant, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult a doctor before starting any new protocol. Any links leaving this site are the opinion of the author of those sites and should be treated with the same caution as what you read here. 

Let's do another essential oil giveaway! This month, Lemon is the lucky oil that we are going to look at. It's such a versatile oil, and honestly, it just makes me happy. Like, literally happy!

Lemon is one of those oils that seem to have a million different uses, including being an amazing immune booster. Very cool! It has awesome uses that can help with everything from improving memory, to helping with worry. It may also assist with circulatory support, weight loss, and so much more! Lemon essential oil is definitely a staple in our home with how versatile it is!

How do we use it in our home? Here are a few of the ways:


-Lemon is one of my happy oils! I love anything citrus flavored because it's just....happy! It's definitely a mood booster!

-I've started playing with it for weight loss support this week. Since it's only Tuesday, I'm not sure what kind of results I'll see, but I'm hopeful! A lot of my friends have told me that by ingesting a few drops of Lemon oil everyday, they've lost weight without even trying (Click here for thoughts on ingesting). Um...I can get behind that! So we will see how that turns out!

-Lemon is great for all over support! I'm slowly but surely inching my way toward a healthier lifestyle, and getting toxins out of my body is one of the steps. Ingesting a couple of drops of Lemon essential oil helps me get that much closer!

Scroll down to enter the giveaway for a chance to score your own bottle of Young Living Lemon Essential Oil!

It's important to note that I use Young Living Essential Oils with my family. Not all oil brands are created equally and many can cause problems to worsen if they are not true, 100% essential oils. Even if the label says "100% pure" they are only required to have 5% essential oils in them per regulations. Please visit this link for more info on why we chose Young Living and how we believe it is the best, most effective, and most affordable essential oil option out there. 

If you've been thinking about diving into the world of essential oils, head here to get the details on the Premium Starter Kit and the extra $40 Welcome Kit that I like to send to new oilers for free! It's a fantastic deal that will get you started on the right foot!

~Giveaway!~

Would you like to win Lemon oil to use in your home? I'll be sending one winner a 5ml bottle of Young Living Lemon Essential Oil to use and enjoy! Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Winning entries will be validated prior to announcing the winner with an alternate drawn if the entries cannot be verified.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The contest ends at 11:59pm on Tuesday, September 30th. The winner(s) will be randomly chosen and contacted by email, and will have 48 hours to respond to the email with their information so that the prize can be forwarded to them. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States. This giveaway is not endorsed by Young Living Essential Oils and is solely sponsored and administered by A Beautiful Ruckus. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

The information contained in these posts are for educational and entertainment purposes only. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Products and techniques discussed are not meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or ailment. Please do your own research and make your own informed decisions when you are considering lifestyle and health changes. Particularly if you are pregnant, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult a doctor before starting any new protocol. Any links leaving this site are the opinion of the author of those sites and should be treated with the same caution as what you read here. 

Young Living Peace & Calming Essential Oil Giveaway

Okay! Y'all said that you were interested in essential oils, so we will continue doing giveaways for them! Every month, you can come back here and enter to win a bottle of oil to use in your own home. I bought an entire Everyday Oils Essential Oils Collection to giveaway on the blog so that's 10 months worth of giveaways right there!. This is the same set of oils (with the addition of Stress Away) that comes in the Young Living Premium Starter Kit, which is where I started.

I was going to wait awhile before offering Peace & Calming as monthly giveaway because it's one of my favs! I wanted to build up to it. But it's the first essential oil blend that I fell in love with, so I can't wait any longer! Plus, with school starting back and the worry and stress that kids may feel dealing with that, I thought that a calming oil would be an appropriate choice for the "Back to School" season.

I love this blend, and for good reason! It has some really pretty citrus notes combined with the deeper notes of Ylang Ylang and Patchouli. It helps to relax and soothe tensions, and is an awesome blend to use at night while trying to fall asleep. And the scent is fantastic! Did I already mention that??

How do we use it in our home? Here are a few of the ways:

-Peace & Calming was the first oil that I used for sleep. I have a tendency to lie in bed while my mind goes a million different directions. I'm so jealous that my husband can just decide to "turn his brain off" and go to sleep. It just doesn't work that way for me. I use Peace & Calming behind my ears and on the inside of my wrists, and it shuts my brain down. I'm out like a light in 5 minutes. It's awesome! As a mom, every single minute of sleep counts!

-Worry has become one of those things that I deal with now that I have kids. One of the oils that I use to help combat that, before I need to resort to other methods, is Peace & Calming. When I feel the worry coming on, this oil is an important part of how I get back on top of it. I typically go all out in a situation like that and put it behind my ears, on the edges of my ears (never IN your ears!!!), on my temples, and on the inside of my wrists.

-I find Peace & Calming to be great for stress relief when I diffuse it. Even though it helps me rest at night, it doesn't make me tired at all when I need to be awake. Just calm, relaxed, and happy.

-This is one of the oils that I use with my kids when their little preschool bodies are in overdrive. It helps them calm back down quickly. Storytime at the library? A trip to the zoo? Yeah, Peace & Calming is in my bag, for sure!

Peace & Calming does so many more things besides just helping with occasional blues, , stress, and the odd sleepless night. It can also help support the circulatory systems as well as the body's other systems. Plus...it just smells really, REALLY good!

Seriously, I've been sitting here sniffing it while writing this post. :)

Scroll down to enter the giveaway for a chance to score your own bottle of Young Living Peace & Calming Essential Oil!

It's important to note that I use Young Living Essential Oils with my family. Not all oil brands are created equally and many can cause problems to worsen if they are not true, 100% essential oils. Even if the label says "100% pure" they are only required to have 5% essential oils in them per regulations. Please visit this link for more info on why we chose Young Living and how we believe it is the best, most effective, and most affordable essential oil option out there. 

But first...
If you don't have your starter kit yet, you need one! I pulled this bottle of Peace & Calming straight from the oil set in the starter kit, and if you think this oil is neat with all that it does, you should see what the other 10 oils in the kit do! Head here to get the details on the Premium Starter Kit and the extra $40 Welcome Kit that I like to send to new oilers for free! I've had some people messaging me to find out what exactly is in the free $40 Welcome Kit, so I took a few photos:

Yeah, it's pretty awesome! :)

~Giveaway!~

Would you like to win some Peace & Calming oil to use in your home? I'll be sending one winner a 5ml bottle of Young Living Peace & Calming Essential Oil to use and enjoy! Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Winning entries will be validated prior to announcing the winner with an alternate drawn if the entries cannot be verified.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The contest ends at 11:59pm on Tuesday, September 2nd. The winner(s) will be randomly chosen and contacted by email, and will have 48 hours to respond to the email with their information so that the prize can be forwarded to them. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States. This giveaway is not endorsed by Young Living Essential Oils and is solely sponsored and administered by A Beautiful Ruckus. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

The information contained in these posts are for educational and entertainment purposes only. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Products and techniques discussed are not meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or ailment. Please do your own research and make your own informed decisions when you are considering lifestyle and health changes. Particularly if you are pregnant, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult a doctor before starting any new protocol. Any links leaving this site are the opinion of the author of those sites and should be treated with the same caution as what you read here. This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.
This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

Okay! Y'all said that you were interested in essential oils, so we will continue doing giveaways for them! Every month, you can come back here and enter to win a bottle of oil to use in your own home. I bought an entire Everyday Oils Essential Oils Collection to giveaway on the blog so that's 10 months worth of giveaways right there!. This is the same set of oils (with the addition of Stress Away) that comes in the Young Living Premium Starter Kit, which is where I started.

I was going to wait awhile before offering Peace & Calming as monthly giveaway because it's one of my favs! I wanted to build up to it. But it's the first essential oil blend that I fell in love with, so I can't wait any longer! Plus, with school starting back and the worry and stress that kids may feel dealing with that, I thought that a calming oil would be an appropriate choice for the "Back to School" season.

I love this blend, and for good reason! It has some really pretty citrus notes combined with the deeper notes of Ylang Ylang and Patchouli. It helps to relax and soothe tensions, and is an awesome blend to use at night while trying to fall asleep. And the scent is fantastic! Did I already mention that??

How do we use it in our home? Here are a few of the ways:

-Peace & Calming was the first oil that I used for sleep. I have a tendency to lie in bed while my mind goes a million different directions. I'm so jealous that my husband can just decide to "turn his brain off" and go to sleep. It just doesn't work that way for me. I use Peace & Calming behind my ears and on the inside of my wrists, and it shuts my brain down. I'm out like a light in 5 minutes. It's awesome! As a mom, every single minute of sleep counts!

-Worry has become one of those things that I deal with now that I have kids. One of the oils that I use to help combat that, before I need to resort to other methods, is Peace & Calming. When I feel the worry coming on, this oil is an important part of how I get back on top of it. I typically go all out in a situation like that and put it behind my ears, on the edges of my ears (never IN your ears!!!), on my temples, and on the inside of my wrists.

-I find Peace & Calming to be great for stress relief when I diffuse it. Even though it helps me rest at night, it doesn't make me tired at all when I need to be awake. Just calm, relaxed, and happy.

-This is one of the oils that I use with my kids when their little preschool bodies are in overdrive. It helps them calm back down quickly. Storytime at the library? A trip to the zoo? Yeah, Peace & Calming is in my bag, for sure!

Peace & Calming does so many more things besides just helping with occasional blues, , stress, and the odd sleepless night. It can also help support the circulatory systems as well as the body's other systems. Plus...it just smells really, REALLY good!

Seriously, I've been sitting here sniffing it while writing this post. :)

Scroll down to enter the giveaway for a chance to score your own bottle of Young Living Peace & Calming Essential Oil!

It's important to note that I use Young Living Essential Oils with my family. Not all oil brands are created equally and many can cause problems to worsen if they are not true, 100% essential oils. Even if the label says "100% pure" they are only required to have 5% essential oils in them per regulations. Please visit this link for more info on why we chose Young Living and how we believe it is the best, most effective, and most affordable essential oil option out there. 

But first...
If you don't have your starter kit yet, you need one! I pulled this bottle of Peace & Calming straight from the oil set in the starter kit, and if you think this oil is neat with all that it does, you should see what the other 10 oils in the kit do! Head here to get the details on the Premium Starter Kit and the extra $40 Welcome Kit that I like to send to new oilers for free! I've had some people messaging me to find out what exactly is in the free $40 Welcome Kit, so I took a few photos:

Yeah, it's pretty awesome! :)

~Giveaway!~

Would you like to win some Peace & Calming oil to use in your home? I'll be sending one winner a 5ml bottle of Young Living Peace & Calming Essential Oil to use and enjoy! Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Winning entries will be validated prior to announcing the winner with an alternate drawn if the entries cannot be verified.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The contest ends at 11:59pm on Tuesday, September 2nd. The winner(s) will be randomly chosen and contacted by email, and will have 48 hours to respond to the email with their information so that the prize can be forwarded to them. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States. This giveaway is not endorsed by Young Living Essential Oils and is solely sponsored and administered by A Beautiful Ruckus. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

The information contained in these posts are for educational and entertainment purposes only. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Products and techniques discussed are not meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or ailment. Please do your own research and make your own informed decisions when you are considering lifestyle and health changes. Particularly if you are pregnant, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult a doctor before starting any new protocol. Any links leaving this site are the opinion of the author of those sites and should be treated with the same caution as what you read here. This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.
This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

Young Living Lavender Essential Oil Giveaway!

I'm not a "natural" or "crunchy" blogger. Just a family blogger with quads who likes to write about way too many subjects in this space. But I guess I'm not the only mom out there who finds the idea of essential oils fascinating. My Journey to Essential Oils series has been far more popular than I ever thought it would be!

While the original series was about how we got to the point of using essential oils, it really didn't give any info about the oils themselves. But that's where this subject gets really, really interesting! I've been reading voraciously on the subject since January, and the more I read, the more I realize that I'll never know everything about these amazing oils. However, what I do know, I'd love to share with you...and maybe give away a few bottles of oils in the process so that you can try them yourself.

I bought an entire Everyday Oils Essential Oils Collection to giveaway on the blog. This is the same set of oils (with the addition of Stress Away) that comes in the Young Living Premium Starter Kit, which is where I started. I'm thinking I'll giveaway one oil per month from that collection and tell you a little bit about how we use it in our home. It kind of depends on the interest though. I find these super interesting, but I'm not sure if this is something that you would enjoy as well? Let me know!

So for our first essential oil, I thought that we would start with one of the most well known: Lavender.

I've met several people who either don't like lavender or don't think it works. Goodness! You haven't tried real 100% essential oil then! My guess is that you tried a fragrance oil like what they use in linen sprays or room sprays. Not the same thing at all!

Real lavender essential oil has a beautiful low-key floral scent. It's often used to promote relaxation and sleep, the repairing of cuts and burns, and to soothe irritated skin. It's referred to as the "Swiss-Army Knife" of essential oils because Lavender has SO many uses! My motto is, "When in doubt, rub lavender on it!"

How do we use it at our house? Here are a few of the ways:

-When our kids fall over outside and scrape their knees up, we put 1-2 drops on their knees. Abby fell in the driveway on the way to church on Sunday and scratched her knees up. I put a couple of drops of lavender on her scratches, and skipped the bandaids.  An extra perk was that she stopped crying as soon as I asked her if she wanted some oils for her knee. Haha! The kids know that oils soothe and really like it when they get some. (Just as long as they don't start falling over on purpose!)

-I like to use lavender for sleep in one of two ways. Sometimes, I smooth a drop or two across my pillow case so that I can breathe it in as I'm falling asleep. More often, I put a few drops in my diffuser with another complimentary sleep oil (like cedarwood), and let that help me sleep. I love it!

-Because lavender is so calming, I often use it when people in my family are feeling restless. I find that a little lavender on the forehead helps to calm everything back down and help my family rest.

-I finally found a solution to those diaper rashes! We use a combo of this hair dryer trick and lavender oil diluted in coconut oil as a diaper cream. We don't use the store bought creams anymore because they just don't hold a candle to straight up coconut oil and lavender oil! And let me tell you, I've tried some of the highest recommended diaper creams on the market. Until you've tried this, you don't know what you are missing.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg! We use lavender constantly in our house!

So a few things:

• Make sure you scroll down to enter the giveaway for a free bottle of Young Living Lavender Essential Oil!
• I have a new monthly essential oil newsletter just for my readers. Being subscribed to this blog does NOT subscribe you to this new monthly newsletter. I hate spam too much to automatically sign everyone up. If you'd like to get it, you can sign up here. (and now I just have to find time to write it every month!)
• If you don't have your starter kit yet, you need one! Head here to get the details on the Premium Starter Kit and the extra $40 Welcome Kit that I like to send to new oilers for free!

It's important to note that I use Young Living Essential Oils with my family. Not all oil brands are created equally and many can cause problems to worsen if they are not true, 100% essential oils. Even if the label says "100% pure" they are only required to have 5% essential oils in them per regulations. Please visit this link for more info on why we chose Young Living and how we believe it is the best, most effective, and most affordable essential oil option out there. 

~Giveaway!~

Would you like to win some lavender oil to use at your house? I'll be sending one winner a 5ml bottle of Young Living Lavender Essential Oil to use and enjoy! Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Winning entries will be validated prior to announcing the winner with an alternate drawn if the entries cannot be verified.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The contest ends at 11:59pm on Tuesday, July 29th. The winner(s) will be randomly chosen and contacted by email, and will have 48 hours to respond to the email with their information so that the prize can be forwarded to them. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States. This giveaway is not endorsed by Young Living Essential Oils and is solely sponsored and administered by A Beautiful Ruckus. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

The information contained in these posts are for educational and entertainment purposes only. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Products and techniques discussed are not meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or ailment. Please do your own research and make your own informed decisions when you are considering lifestyle and health changes. Particularly if you are pregnant, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult a doctor before starting any new protocol. Any links leaving this site are the opinion of the author of those sites and should be treated with the same caution as what you read here. This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

I'm not a "natural" or "crunchy" blogger. Just a family blogger with quads who likes to write about way too many subjects in this space. But I guess I'm not the only mom out there who finds the idea of essential oils fascinating. My Journey to Essential Oils series has been far more popular than I ever thought it would be!

While the original series was about how we got to the point of using essential oils, it really didn't give any info about the oils themselves. But that's where this subject gets really, really interesting! I've been reading voraciously on the subject since January, and the more I read, the more I realize that I'll never know everything about these amazing oils. However, what I do know, I'd love to share with you...and maybe give away a few bottles of oils in the process so that you can try them yourself.

I bought an entire Everyday Oils Essential Oils Collection to giveaway on the blog. This is the same set of oils (with the addition of Stress Away) that comes in the Young Living Premium Starter Kit, which is where I started. I'm thinking I'll giveaway one oil per month from that collection and tell you a little bit about how we use it in our home. It kind of depends on the interest though. I find these super interesting, but I'm not sure if this is something that you would enjoy as well? Let me know!

So for our first essential oil, I thought that we would start with one of the most well known: Lavender.

I've met several people who either don't like lavender or don't think it works. Goodness! You haven't tried real 100% essential oil then! My guess is that you tried a fragrance oil like what they use in linen sprays or room sprays. Not the same thing at all!

Real lavender essential oil has a beautiful low-key floral scent. It's often used to promote relaxation and sleep, the repairing of cuts and burns, and to soothe irritated skin. It's referred to as the "Swiss-Army Knife" of essential oils because Lavender has SO many uses! My motto is, "When in doubt, rub lavender on it!"

How do we use it at our house? Here are a few of the ways:

-When our kids fall over outside and scrape their knees up, we put 1-2 drops on their knees. Abby fell in the driveway on the way to church on Sunday and scratched her knees up. I put a couple of drops of lavender on her scratches, and skipped the bandaids.  An extra perk was that she stopped crying as soon as I asked her if she wanted some oils for her knee. Haha! The kids know that oils soothe and really like it when they get some. (Just as long as they don't start falling over on purpose!)

-I like to use lavender for sleep in one of two ways. Sometimes, I smooth a drop or two across my pillow case so that I can breathe it in as I'm falling asleep. More often, I put a few drops in my diffuser with another complimentary sleep oil (like cedarwood), and let that help me sleep. I love it!

-Because lavender is so calming, I often use it when people in my family are feeling restless. I find that a little lavender on the forehead helps to calm everything back down and help my family rest.

-I finally found a solution to those diaper rashes! We use a combo of this hair dryer trick and lavender oil diluted in coconut oil as a diaper cream. We don't use the store bought creams anymore because they just don't hold a candle to straight up coconut oil and lavender oil! And let me tell you, I've tried some of the highest recommended diaper creams on the market. Until you've tried this, you don't know what you are missing.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg! We use lavender constantly in our house!

So a few things:

• Make sure you scroll down to enter the giveaway for a free bottle of Young Living Lavender Essential Oil!
• I have a new monthly essential oil newsletter just for my readers. Being subscribed to this blog does NOT subscribe you to this new monthly newsletter. I hate spam too much to automatically sign everyone up. If you'd like to get it, you can sign up here. (and now I just have to find time to write it every month!)
• If you don't have your starter kit yet, you need one! Head here to get the details on the Premium Starter Kit and the extra $40 Welcome Kit that I like to send to new oilers for free!

It's important to note that I use Young Living Essential Oils with my family. Not all oil brands are created equally and many can cause problems to worsen if they are not true, 100% essential oils. Even if the label says "100% pure" they are only required to have 5% essential oils in them per regulations. Please visit this link for more info on why we chose Young Living and how we believe it is the best, most effective, and most affordable essential oil option out there. 

~Giveaway!~

Would you like to win some lavender oil to use at your house? I'll be sending one winner a 5ml bottle of Young Living Lavender Essential Oil to use and enjoy! Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Winning entries will be validated prior to announcing the winner with an alternate drawn if the entries cannot be verified.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The contest ends at 11:59pm on Tuesday, July 29th. The winner(s) will be randomly chosen and contacted by email, and will have 48 hours to respond to the email with their information so that the prize can be forwarded to them. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States. This giveaway is not endorsed by Young Living Essential Oils and is solely sponsored and administered by A Beautiful Ruckus. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

The information contained in these posts are for educational and entertainment purposes only. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Products and techniques discussed are not meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or ailment. Please do your own research and make your own informed decisions when you are considering lifestyle and health changes. Particularly if you are pregnant, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult a doctor before starting any new protocol. Any links leaving this site are the opinion of the author of those sites and should be treated with the same caution as what you read here. This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

{Essential Oils} How I Saved Money by Switching To.....

Alrighty, let's dig into this last essential oil post, shall we?

You all have been SO patient as I've outlined all of my research and guinea pig testing (hi, family!) where essential oils are concerned. If you are just jumping into this series, I would love for you to take a second to go back to the previous posts and catch up on where we've been:

• First Post: Essential Oils: Do they really work or is it all just hype?
• Second Post: Essential Oils: The German, British, and French Schools of Thought
• Third Post: Essential Oils: To Ingest or Not to Ingest? (and how I ended up picking my method)
• Fourth Post: Essential Oils: Which Essential Oil Company is Best? (and reviews of 5 popular companies!)

Now that we are all on the same page, I have a confession to make.

I wasn't overly thrilled when I found out what the best, most effective, most affordable essential oil company was.

Oh, I know that sounds backwards. Wouldn't I be thrilled to have finally landed on the company that we were going to use. Well....

Here's my fear. I'm a blogger, right? I help support my family with this blog. It's great! But I never, and I mean NEVER post things that I can't get behind 100%. I've turned down more campaigns than I can count because either they weren't relative to me/you or I just couldn't ethically endorse them. As a blogger, my reputation is really all I have in this space. If that is gone...POOF...you might as well move on to another blog.

And that's why I started to get a bit nervous when it became readily apparent which brand of oils were the best. I kept thinking to myself, "My readers will never believe that this is unbiased if I tell them who really won the essential oil battle at our house!"

Gosh, darn it.

But I opened this can of worms, so I guess I best cough up the answer. Just know that as we work through this post, this truly IS the brand that I believe is best. Furthermore, I had actually planned a long post about a different essential oil company that I was going to pair with a giveaway for some of their oils, but I had to scrap the whole thing when their oils did nothing to support my immune system. Not only was it frustrating, it would have been unethical for me to continue with that post after the results I experienced.

So all I ask is that you don't discount what I'm saying or leave until you read the WHOLE post, okay? I mean, you've read this far. You might as well read all of my reasoning and the facts behind my choice.

We chose to use Young Living Essential Oils.

They are hands down the best, most effective, and most affordable essential oil company. And I want to walk you through exactly how it fits my list of requirements.

How are Young Living Essential Oils the Best:

• They are the ONLY company that owns their own farms. Not only that, but they own more than 10,000 acres on six different continents so that they can grow plants in their natural habitats. Plus, they know when to harvest (some plants can only be harvested in a two hour time frame in the mornings in order to maintain their therapeutic value) and have distilleries right on the land.

• They plant on fields that have been untouched by chemicals and follow those plants from seeds all the way to the bottles. "Organic" oils can legally come from GMO seeds, but Young Living takes that a step further by avoiding even those. If it's possible to be more than organic, Young Living has figured out how to do it.

• They have 20 years of experience, and have set the international standard for essential oils.

• They are the ones who invented the stringent tests that essential oil companies use. Most companies don't do all of the tests because they can be pricey, but Young Living conducts them all. On every batch of oil. Every time.

• They only bottle and sell approximately 30% of the essential oils that they distill. The remaining 70% are sold off to other essential oil and soap companies as fragrance oils because they don't meet the extremely high quality control that Young Living has in place.

• They have the most single oils and blends available. And they are all organic!

• They have wholesale pricing available when you buy a membership (like Costco or Sam's Club!)

How are Young Living Essential Oils the Most Effective:

Not all oils are created equal!

The Essential Oils Pocket Reference, Fifth Edition has a section that talks about real lavender oil vs. lavandin (a hybrid) which is often cut with the synthetic linalyl acetate. The adulterated hybrid smells the same and is often sold AS lavender but is definitely not the same. However, companies can produce this synthetic adulterated substance in much larger quantities for a lower cost, so that is often what is passed off for the real thing, "For every kilogram of pure essential oil that is produced, it is estimated that there are between 10 and 100 kilograms of synthetic oil created (p. 22)."

On top of that, The Chemistry of Essential Oils Made Simple says, "A common practice is to take a decent grade of essential oil and dilute it 90% to 95% with an odorless, colorless solvent (usually an inexpensive petrochemical) so that what was a pound of good oil becomes ten or twenty pounds of diluted oils to be sold as if it were the original substance. thus multiplying the profit. Such diluted oils often carry labels saying "Genuine" or "100% pure," which is allowed by the U.S. FDA....Mysteriously, for every pound of frankincense distilled in the world, more than a dozen pounds are eventually sold (p. 12)."

Something's not right here.

Remember how last time we talked about how bottles of essential oil are only required to have 5% of the oil be actually pure? Yeah, what companies are really saying is that the 5% is the 100% pure part of the oil. Sneaky, sneaky! It makes me nervous, and I end up feeling a little bit ripped off when I read that. If I buy a $10 bottle of essential oil from the wrong company, I may actually be buying only $0.50 worth of pure oil and $9.50 worth of filler and synthetic substances. Whoa, not cool!

So the integrity of the oil in the bottle is really important! 5% worth of pure oil is not going to have the same effect as 100% (true, 100%) pure oil. The oils work faster, you need less, and you don't spend as much with a true 100% pure bottle of essential oil.

You must trust the company that you are buying from, and Young Living has proven over and over that they are trustworthy. I don't worry about synthetic substances or diluted bottles with their company.

How are Young Living Essential Oils the Most Affordable:

There are cheaper essential oil companies for sure! There is no denying that. But if they don't work, then the oils are a waste of money. That's just logical! The cheaper companies have to be as or more effective than Young Living to even be considered. Or I might as well wallpaper my bathroom with dollar bills, you know what I mean?

But I can actually do one better than just telling you that they are affordable. I can show you! Take a deep breath, because you are about to read through a slew of numbers!

I like cold, hard facts. So I want to show you how I saved money by switching from the other, cheaper essential oil companies to Young Living. Remember that awful 5 weeks of absolutely bottomed out immune system stuff that I had to deal with earlier this year? If you don't, then please stop right now and go read that post so that you know what I'm talking about. It's really important to have the back story on this.

After unsuccessfully trying to use essential oils to support my body’s systems for all of those weeks, I was ready to throw them all in a box and set them out on the curb. But I decided to give it one last try. I switched back to Young Living. I figured that I really had nothing to lose at that point.

I actually kept track, drop for drop, exactly which and how much oil I used while trying to find that happy wellness plateau that I knew existed out there somewhere. I also went back and added up what we paid to treat my 2nd round of bronchitis with prescriptions, doctors' bills, and tests (which is the opposite of being well). Wellness is an investment. It doesn’t just happen. So my goal was to compare what I spent to maintain wellness vs. what I spent when I didn’t do anything but just live like a typical American.

The total cost was 5.5 hours of time spent waiting for medical attention + $57.87 on the 80/20 portion of our insurance plan. If we hadn't already maxed out our initial deductible (because we've been so sick this year!), then that number would have jumped to $274.15. For ONE round of bronchitis.

What this chart doesn't include is the cost of the over-the-counter meds and cheaper oils that I also used, and the follow-up doctor's appointment and repeat spirometry test and chest x-rays three weeks later to make sure that my lungs were clear. I couldn't fit all of that on the chart! So the number that you see on the chart is just PART of what I actually spent to fix the 2nd round of bronchitis. The number gets much higher when you include everything that I actually spent just for that one illness.

Again, as humans, we get sick. That’s just life. It’s not really something that can be avoided unless we live in a bubble. The idea here is to keep our wellness level in such great shape that we have very happy immune systems. Make sense?

After my very rough spring, I wanted to do everything I could to get immune system back on track. I was desperate! Since I had the essential oils, that's where I focused. I started by taking the cost of the bottle of oil (using my wholesale member prices) and dividing it by the number of drops in the bottle so that I would know exactly how many pennies worth I was rubbing, ingesting, and diffusing. We are on a budget over here, so cost is an extremely important factor in decisions we make. Here is what I used to start intensely focusing on my wellness:

My total? 5 days to feel awesome and $24.41 worth of oils.

$24.41 worth of Young Living oils!

And from that point on, I was 100% sold that Young Living has the Best, Most Effective, and Most Affordable oils.

I SAVED money by switching back to Young Living. Not to mention a lot of miserableness and the weeks of downtime that come with completely ignoring y body!

But there was one more thing that I had to deal with. Like I said in my last essential oil post, I had an extremely bad experience with a previous multi-level marketing company. It's made me understandably skittish about getting too close to another one (Side note: I think most of the companies make GREAT products, but generally speaking, people in them can get burned). While I realize that some people aren't too concerned about that and just want to get started with essential oils, others want to take a more conservative approach to diving in. Totally understandable! There are two ways that you can try Young Living, which means that you can pick what makes you the most comfortable: 

1. If you want to try just 1 or 2 oils to see if you like them, you can set up a Retail Account and get only what you are the most interested in. No pressure to buy more. Just the chance to give the oils a try on your terms. In fact, if you set up a retail account through my link to order an oil and would like more info to accompany that oil, I'd be happy to send you a small booklet if you will reach out to me with your address. I would love to help you learn how to use that oil in your home and love the results! theishumquads "at" gmail.com

2. If you like the oils or want to start with the same Premium Starter Kit that I have (highly recommended!), then you can sign up for your own wholesale membership.Full disclosure: I get a commission if you use my membership number as a referral. However, I'm all about the research and education behind oils, so I will take that commission, turn around, and use it to buy and ship you a Wellness Resource Kit. The kit is not put out or created by Young Living, but it has things in it that have been helpful to me, and I think it will be helpful to you as well. It has a reference book that covers how to use the oils along with a few other items like a dropper bottle for carrier oils and a roll on bottle for easy application. I'll also add you to a really fantastic group for members that I'm in. They give real help in real time to real questions. It's been invaluable. If you want more info on a Young Living membership, my Wellness Resource Kit, or the private FaceBook group, you can jump over to this post. (I had to break it into a separate post because this one is too long!)

I care so much about you using the best, most effective, and most affordable oils, giving your family a leg up when it comes to wellness, and making sure that you have the research and education to use oils safely and effectively. Please understand that I'm not saying to abandon modern healthcare. I'm a big fan of what the medical community has done for my family, and I will gratefully use them again when necessary. Essential oils are simply part of an overall wellness lifestyle that keeps people feeling awesome! I only wish that I had found them years ago. 

*deep breath* Sheesh! Can I ramble or what? Are you still with me?

Finally, thanks for following along on my essential oil journey. I hope that you enjoyed reading my research and found it helpful. I'm going to continue researching and learning about these, so stay tuned for some fun things coming up, like, how to make your own all natural lip balm customized with your favorite essential oils! Meanwhile, please head over to the second part of this post for info about getting your own essential oils!

The information contained in these posts are for educational and entertainment purposes only. They are not meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or ailment. Please do your own research and make your own informed decisions when you are considering lifestyle and health changes. Particularly if you are pregnant, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult a doctor before starting anything new. Any links leaving this site are the opinion of the author of those sites and should be treated with the same caution as what you read here. This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.

Alrighty, let's dig into this last essential oil post, shall we?

You all have been SO patient as I've outlined all of my research and guinea pig testing (hi, family!) where essential oils are concerned. If you are just jumping into this series, I would love for you to take a second to go back to the previous posts and catch up on where we've been:

• First Post: Essential Oils: Do they really work or is it all just hype?
• Second Post: Essential Oils: The German, British, and French Schools of Thought
• Third Post: Essential Oils: To Ingest or Not to Ingest? (and how I ended up picking my method)
• Fourth Post: Essential Oils: Which Essential Oil Company is Best? (and reviews of 5 popular companies!)

Now that we are all on the same page, I have a confession to make.

I wasn't overly thrilled when I found out what the best, most effective, most affordable essential oil company was.

Oh, I know that sounds backwards. Wouldn't I be thrilled to have finally landed on the company that we were going to use. Well....

Here's my fear. I'm a blogger, right? I help support my family with this blog. It's great! But I never, and I mean NEVER post things that I can't get behind 100%. I've turned down more campaigns than I can count because either they weren't relative to me/you or I just couldn't ethically endorse them. As a blogger, my reputation is really all I have in this space. If that is gone...POOF...you might as well move on to another blog.

And that's why I started to get a bit nervous when it became readily apparent which brand of oils were the best. I kept thinking to myself, "My readers will never believe that this is unbiased if I tell them who really won the essential oil battle at our house!"

Gosh, darn it.

But I opened this can of worms, so I guess I best cough up the answer. Just know that as we work through this post, this truly IS the brand that I believe is best. Furthermore, I had actually planned a long post about a different essential oil company that I was going to pair with a giveaway for some of their oils, but I had to scrap the whole thing when their oils did nothing to support my immune system. Not only was it frustrating, it would have been unethical for me to continue with that post after the results I experienced.

So all I ask is that you don't discount what I'm saying or leave until you read the WHOLE post, okay? I mean, you've read this far. You might as well read all of my reasoning and the facts behind my choice.

We chose to use Young Living Essential Oils.

They are hands down the best, most effective, and most affordable essential oil company. And I want to walk you through exactly how it fits my list of requirements.

How are Young Living Essential Oils the Best:

• They are the ONLY company that owns their own farms. Not only that, but they own more than 10,000 acres on six different continents so that they can grow plants in their natural habitats. Plus, they know when to harvest (some plants can only be harvested in a two hour time frame in the mornings in order to maintain their therapeutic value) and have distilleries right on the land.

• They plant on fields that have been untouched by chemicals and follow those plants from seeds all the way to the bottles. "Organic" oils can legally come from GMO seeds, but Young Living takes that a step further by avoiding even those. If it's possible to be more than organic, Young Living has figured out how to do it.

• They have 20 years of experience, and have set the international standard for essential oils.

• They are the ones who invented the stringent tests that essential oil companies use. Most companies don't do all of the tests because they can be pricey, but Young Living conducts them all. On every batch of oil. Every time.

• They only bottle and sell approximately 30% of the essential oils that they distill. The remaining 70% are sold off to other essential oil and soap companies as fragrance oils because they don't meet the extremely high quality control that Young Living has in place.

• They have the most single oils and blends available. And they are all organic!

• They have wholesale pricing available when you buy a membership (like Costco or Sam's Club!)

How are Young Living Essential Oils the Most Effective:

Not all oils are created equal!

The Essential Oils Pocket Reference, Fifth Edition has a section that talks about real lavender oil vs. lavandin (a hybrid) which is often cut with the synthetic linalyl acetate. The adulterated hybrid smells the same and is often sold AS lavender but is definitely not the same. However, companies can produce this synthetic adulterated substance in much larger quantities for a lower cost, so that is often what is passed off for the real thing, "For every kilogram of pure essential oil that is produced, it is estimated that there are between 10 and 100 kilograms of synthetic oil created (p. 22)."

On top of that, The Chemistry of Essential Oils Made Simple says, "A common practice is to take a decent grade of essential oil and dilute it 90% to 95% with an odorless, colorless solvent (usually an inexpensive petrochemical) so that what was a pound of good oil becomes ten or twenty pounds of diluted oils to be sold as if it were the original substance. thus multiplying the profit. Such diluted oils often carry labels saying "Genuine" or "100% pure," which is allowed by the U.S. FDA....Mysteriously, for every pound of frankincense distilled in the world, more than a dozen pounds are eventually sold (p. 12)."

Something's not right here.

Remember how last time we talked about how bottles of essential oil are only required to have 5% of the oil be actually pure? Yeah, what companies are really saying is that the 5% is the 100% pure part of the oil. Sneaky, sneaky! It makes me nervous, and I end up feeling a little bit ripped off when I read that. If I buy a $10 bottle of essential oil from the wrong company, I may actually be buying only $0.50 worth of pure oil and $9.50 worth of filler and synthetic substances. Whoa, not cool!

So the integrity of the oil in the bottle is really important! 5% worth of pure oil is not going to have the same effect as 100% (true, 100%) pure oil. The oils work faster, you need less, and you don't spend as much with a true 100% pure bottle of essential oil.

You must trust the company that you are buying from, and Young Living has proven over and over that they are trustworthy. I don't worry about synthetic substances or diluted bottles with their company.

How are Young Living Essential Oils the Most Affordable:

There are cheaper essential oil companies for sure! There is no denying that. But if they don't work, then the oils are a waste of money. That's just logical! The cheaper companies have to be as or more effective than Young Living to even be considered. Or I might as well wallpaper my bathroom with dollar bills, you know what I mean?

But I can actually do one better than just telling you that they are affordable. I can show you! Take a deep breath, because you are about to read through a slew of numbers!

I like cold, hard facts. So I want to show you how I saved money by switching from the other, cheaper essential oil companies to Young Living. Remember that awful 5 weeks of absolutely bottomed out immune system stuff that I had to deal with earlier this year? If you don't, then please stop right now and go read that post so that you know what I'm talking about. It's really important to have the back story on this.

After unsuccessfully trying to use essential oils to support my body’s systems for all of those weeks, I was ready to throw them all in a box and set them out on the curb. But I decided to give it one last try. I switched back to Young Living. I figured that I really had nothing to lose at that point.

I actually kept track, drop for drop, exactly which and how much oil I used while trying to find that happy wellness plateau that I knew existed out there somewhere. I also went back and added up what we paid to treat my 2nd round of bronchitis with prescriptions, doctors' bills, and tests (which is the opposite of being well). Wellness is an investment. It doesn’t just happen. So my goal was to compare what I spent to maintain wellness vs. what I spent when I didn’t do anything but just live like a typical American.

The total cost was 5.5 hours of time spent waiting for medical attention + $57.87 on the 80/20 portion of our insurance plan. If we hadn't already maxed out our initial deductible (because we've been so sick this year!), then that number would have jumped to $274.15. For ONE round of bronchitis.

What this chart doesn't include is the cost of the over-the-counter meds and cheaper oils that I also used, and the follow-up doctor's appointment and repeat spirometry test and chest x-rays three weeks later to make sure that my lungs were clear. I couldn't fit all of that on the chart! So the number that you see on the chart is just PART of what I actually spent to fix the 2nd round of bronchitis. The number gets much higher when you include everything that I actually spent just for that one illness.

Again, as humans, we get sick. That’s just life. It’s not really something that can be avoided unless we live in a bubble. The idea here is to keep our wellness level in such great shape that we have very happy immune systems. Make sense?

After my very rough spring, I wanted to do everything I could to get immune system back on track. I was desperate! Since I had the essential oils, that's where I focused. I started by taking the cost of the bottle of oil (using my wholesale member prices) and dividing it by the number of drops in the bottle so that I would know exactly how many pennies worth I was rubbing, ingesting, and diffusing. We are on a budget over here, so cost is an extremely important factor in decisions we make. Here is what I used to start intensely focusing on my wellness:

My total? 5 days to feel awesome and $24.41 worth of oils.

$24.41 worth of Young Living oils!

And from that point on, I was 100% sold that Young Living has the Best, Most Effective, and Most Affordable oils.

I SAVED money by switching back to Young Living. Not to mention a lot of miserableness and the weeks of downtime that come with completely ignoring y body!

But there was one more thing that I had to deal with. Like I said in my last essential oil post, I had an extremely bad experience with a previous multi-level marketing company. It's made me understandably skittish about getting too close to another one (Side note: I think most of the companies make GREAT products, but generally speaking, people in them can get burned). While I realize that some people aren't too concerned about that and just want to get started with essential oils, others want to take a more conservative approach to diving in. Totally understandable! There are two ways that you can try Young Living, which means that you can pick what makes you the most comfortable: 

1. If you want to try just 1 or 2 oils to see if you like them, you can set up a Retail Account and get only what you are the most interested in. No pressure to buy more. Just the chance to give the oils a try on your terms. In fact, if you set up a retail account through my link to order an oil and would like more info to accompany that oil, I'd be happy to send you a small booklet if you will reach out to me with your address. I would love to help you learn how to use that oil in your home and love the results! theishumquads "at" gmail.com

2. If you like the oils or want to start with the same Premium Starter Kit that I have (highly recommended!), then you can sign up for your own wholesale membership.Full disclosure: I get a commission if you use my membership number as a referral. However, I'm all about the research and education behind oils, so I will take that commission, turn around, and use it to buy and ship you a Wellness Resource Kit. The kit is not put out or created by Young Living, but it has things in it that have been helpful to me, and I think it will be helpful to you as well. It has a reference book that covers how to use the oils along with a few other items like a dropper bottle for carrier oils and a roll on bottle for easy application. I'll also add you to a really fantastic group for members that I'm in. They give real help in real time to real questions. It's been invaluable. If you want more info on a Young Living membership, my Wellness Resource Kit, or the private FaceBook group, you can jump over to this post. (I had to break it into a separate post because this one is too long!)

I care so much about you using the best, most effective, and most affordable oils, giving your family a leg up when it comes to wellness, and making sure that you have the research and education to use oils safely and effectively. Please understand that I'm not saying to abandon modern healthcare. I'm a big fan of what the medical community has done for my family, and I will gratefully use them again when necessary. Essential oils are simply part of an overall wellness lifestyle that keeps people feeling awesome! I only wish that I had found them years ago. 

*deep breath* Sheesh! Can I ramble or what? Are you still with me?

Finally, thanks for following along on my essential oil journey. I hope that you enjoyed reading my research and found it helpful. I'm going to continue researching and learning about these, so stay tuned for some fun things coming up, like, how to make your own all natural lip balm customized with your favorite essential oils! Meanwhile, please head over to the second part of this post for info about getting your own essential oils!

The information contained in these posts are for educational and entertainment purposes only. They are not meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or ailment. Please do your own research and make your own informed decisions when you are considering lifestyle and health changes. Particularly if you are pregnant, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult a doctor before starting anything new. Any links leaving this site are the opinion of the author of those sites and should be treated with the same caution as what you read here. This post may contain affiliate links. For more info, please see my disclaimer page.