Here Are the Best Essential Oils for Disinfecting Your Home

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Essential oils are one of those luxuriously smelling, eco-conscious products that come to mind when we think about incorporating environment-friendly ways to spruce up the home. These oils are more than just liquids that offer a pleasant smell, and they can be used for plenty of things outside of massages and diffusers.

Apart from making your home squeaky clean, they are excellent alternatives to chemical cleaners. Essential oils also do heavy-duty work as disinfectants. They have a potent chemical makeup that makes these oils wonderful for cleaning and disinfecting the kitchen floors, sinks, bathroom tiles, and every nook and cranny in the home.

Because it’s a much safer cleaning alternative, plenty of homeowners (especially ones with babies and toddlers) seek cleaning services that incorporate essential oils into their routine to reduce possibilities of allergies and poison exposure. For instance, cleaning services Charlotte NC use essential oils as part of their cleaning services for a more organic, healthier, and safer approach.

You should know that essential oils aren’t created equally, which means not every one of them can be used in cleaning. Curious to know which ones work the best for keeping your house spotless, clean, and fresh? Here’s a list of the really good ones to try:

1, Cinnamon essential oil

Cinnamon – the scent that reminds you of autumn and holidays. You don’t need to wait for autumn to have your house smell like a freshly brewed cup of cinnamon coffee or tea. Cinnamon oil contains cinnamaldehyde and cinnamic acid, which, according to the Journal of Microbial Pathogenesis, inhibits bacteria production at the cellular level. Using cinnamon essential oil in cleaning routines means you can kill stubborn germ-causing bacteria at its membrane level.

There are many ways to use cinnamon oil when it comes to deodorizing and disinfecting your home. Adding a few drops to water and using a clean washcloth to wipe surfaces is one of the easiest and quickest ways to kill those pesky germs, grime, and bacteria. If you want to ramp up the sweet scent factor, you can combine cinnamon oil with sweet orange or peppermint.

2, Thyme essential oil

An oil rich in linalool, carvacrol, and thymol – all the elements that create a barrier for environmental threats such as salmonella. According to a study published in the Journal of Food & Drug Analysis, thyme essential oil is used as a natural food preservative, thanks to its antibacterial and antifungal activities. As a non-toxic cleaner, a few drops of thyme essential oil added to your daily dishwashing liquid can be used to clean your kitchen utensils, especially chopping boards that are a major breeding ground for bacteria.

The benefits of thyme essential oil for cleaning don’t stop there. It also became one of the bestselling scents of popular brands that produce home care essentials such as disinfectant sprays, all-purpose cleaners, and floor washes. This potent oil doesn’t only destroy harmful microbes at the cellular level but also makes your home smell like a herb garden.

3, Tea tree essential oil

Claiming the title for most popular and most used essential oil, tea tree is used for the skin, hair, and even cleaning because of its purifying properties. Added to a diffuser, tea tree oil can purify the air indoors, making it an excellent addition for home or office environments. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Chemical and Physics published a report on using a combo of eucalyptus oil with tea tree oil to create a concoction that can help fight staph infections and E.

coli. With its powerful antibacterial and antiviral elements, tea tree oil can be added to raw honey or coconut oil to aid in foot sores and warts. It can also be blended with ylang-ylang and lavender, added to water in a spray bottle, to be used as glass and mirror cleaners or to clean hard surfaces and floors.

4, Oregano essential oil

From seasoning food to packing a punch to your cleaning routine, oregano isn’t only to season your pasta. Nature's antiseptic can be an excellent substitute for store-bought bathroom cleaners. Oregano essential oil, mixed with baking soda, results in a tough-on-stains but gentle-to-the-environment cleaner. Scrub away your hot tubs, pools, and anywhere with standing water or places exposed to moisture. You’ll end up with a fresh bathroom and kitchen, free of E. coli and other nasty bacteria.

5, Peppermint essential oil

Of course, peppermint is on this list. It’s a well-known natural cleaning agent with impressive antiseptic properties, special thanks to the menthol factor in these oils, covering 60% of the composition of this oil. Because of this, it's an excellent insect repellent. This is your best friend if you live in an area with plenty of ants, mosquitoes, spiders, and cockroaches. Added to a diffuser, you can have a fresh and minty aroma throughout your home, chasing away pesky bugs, while keeping your home smelling amazing. Clean surfaces with a mix of water and peppermint oil. This way, you can get rid of bugs and make it safe for touching, especially if you have babies and toddlers crawling on the floor. According to the Journal of Applied Microbiology, adding a few drops of peppermint to hand sanitizers also helps with antibacterial activity against C. difficile.

6, Clove essential oil

Clove rarely comes to mind when we think of essential oils. But then, this spicy oil comes packed with antibacterial and antifungal properties, owing a big part of it to the eugenol composition in the oil, about 80 to 90%. This element has been found to prevent acne-causing Staph aureus bacteria. If you find yourself with frequent pimples, you can use clove essential oil added to your detergent to clean your sheets and pillowcases.

Disinfecting the home with clove essential oil also helps eliminate airborne particles, thus boosting the immune system and giving your body a better chance of fighting viruses and bacteria. Clove is extremely versatile, too, and it can be mixed with other essential oils, such as bergamot, cinnamon, and rosemary.

Keep your house smelling fresh and your surfaces clean with essential oils. If you call a cleaning service regularly, check to see if they use essential oils, too. It keeps you, your family, and the environment safe and healthy.

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