Two facts about me: (1) I’m cheap; (2) I have asthma, allergies, and sensitive skin. These two facts used to be in constant conflict. In order to clean my house without an asthma attack sending me to the ER I had to use the fancy schmancy expensive cleaning products made with nothing but rainbows and unicorn farts. And any personal care product that touched my skin had to be the expensive, unscented products that are mostly available in specialty stores and online. Keeping myself clean, moisturized, and out of the ER used to be an expensive endeavor. And once I moved out of my parent’s house and this became my financial responsibility, I knew I needed to find a better way (I guess I should clarify here that I’m only cheap when spending my own money, I’ll spend other people’s money with reckless abandon).
This is how my journey to making my own skin and household cleaning products began. Because I’m cheap. I started out slowly. My doctor at the time was worried about my liver because of all the allergy and asthma medicine I was on. Turns out, steroids can be bad for the liver. The doctor wanted to refer me to yet another specialist and there was talk of surgery to remove my adenoids which wouldn’t have even impacted my debilitating allergies and I was terrified that being sick was just going to be my normal life. A friend of mine had posted something about essential oils online and I thought I’d give it a shot since I had literally nothing to lose. I called my friend and she told me about how plants have been used all over the world for centuries to cure ailments and how certain companies bottle what is basically the DNA of those plants for human consumption.* She told me about three essential oils that she uses that works like a charm to stop her allergies:
- Lavender – Lavender essential oil is a natural antihistamine and also has anti-inflammatory properties.
- Peppermint – Peppermint has anti-inflammatory properties and helps to open the airway and ease congestion.
- Lemon – Lemon relieves mucus build-up to make clearing the nasal passages easier.
I bought the oils, put them in a capsule, and crossed my fingers that I didn’t have an allergic reaction (story of my life). Within 20 minutes ALL of my allergy symptoms were gone. My eyes weren’t itching, my nose wasn’t running, I wasn’t congested, my throat wasn’t on fire, and my asthma wasn’t being exacerbated by my allergies. At that time I kept taking my prescription medicine and every time I ran out of something I didn’t bother to refill it. Nowadays, my allergies and asthma are completely under control, I haven’t filled a single prescription in about two years, and I actually just noticed a few weeks ago that my emergency inhaler expired in 2014.
Since I started this post by talking about my cheapness, I think it’s only right that I break down the price I pay now as compared to when I was on drugs. At the time that I switched to essential oils I was taking Flonase, Advair, and Claritin daily. I also had my Albuterol which I usually refilled every other month, and periodic prednisone prescriptions which I won’t even bother counting. My prescription co-pay was $20 and I paid $13 for a warehouse store’s generic brand of Claritin.
- Flonase – $20
- Advair – $20
- Claritin – $2.16 (I paid $13 for 365 pills and took 2/day even though I was only supposed to take 1/day)
- Albuterol – $10 (since a prescription lasted me 2 months)
Total monthly payment – $52.16
Learn how one woman saved $$, got healthy, & beat allergies with one simple trick. #lifestyle Click To TweetI get my essential oils at wholesale price. They come in 15mL bottles that have 250 drops per bottle and I use between 2-4 drops per day (I’ll calculate for 4 drops).
- Lavender – $10.08 ($21 for the whole bottle)
- Lemon – $4.80 ($10 for the whole bottle)
- Peppermint – $9.84 ($20.50 for the whole bottle)
- Capsules – $1.50 ($4.00 for 160 – I buy these because I think they make taking the oils easier, but they are optional)
Total monthly payment – $26.22
That’s $311 I save each year by switching to essential oils and that’s just for my allergies. I encourage anyone who is interested to give essential oils a try. As you’ll see in my later posts, I use them for everything and they have absolutely rocked my world (this could be a sign that I need to get out more).
My FAVORITE Allergy Pill
- 2 drops lavender essential oil
- 2 drops lemon essential oil
- 2 drops peppermint essential oil
- Empty capsules – size 0 or 00
- Carrier oil of your choice – I use olive oil or fractionated coconut oil
Put the oils in the capsule and fill the capsule the rest of the way with carrier oil. Take this pill up to 3x/day as symptoms require.
*Disclaimer – I use essential oils topically, aromatically, and internally but NOT all essential oils are created equal. Please follow the instructions on the bottle and if they say “do not ingest” then do not ingest it. If you would like to learn more about the specific oils that I use daily, please email me for more information.
Do you use essential oils? Which is your favorite and why?
Want to learn more about how to incorporate essential oils into your life? Contact Blair now!