Chemical Free! - Containers for Success!

Starting now, Thursday blog posts will (usually) be dedicated to helping you make chemical free choices in your every day life.  But before I begin providing you with DIY tips on how to make chemical free cleaners, air fresheners, pesticide sprays, relaxing roller ball blends, etc, I want to tell you about the types of containers that you should obtain so that you are ready to rock and roll as soon as I post my first tip or as soon as you receive your oils!

When I first acquired my Premium Starter Kit, I did not have any of the appropriate bottles or containers to start mixing up concoctions and maximizing the potential of my essential oils.  I wasn't sure what to get or how much to spend.  Finally after going around and around and spending WAY TOO much time researching, I decided to buy in bulk.  Yes, there was a greater upfront cost than just buying exactly what I needed, but I won't be buying bottles again for a long time and the price per bottle was great!  I hope to give many away during monthly promotions or as hostess gifts to those hosting Essential Oils 101 Classes or use them for DIY teacher appreciation gifts, etc.

I went with all glass bottles and jars.  Essential Oils derived from Citrus fruits, such as Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit and Tangerine, can eat away at regular plastic and cause plastic residue to pollute your essential oil creations!  That's not good!  So I play it safe and mainly use glass containers - which are all very reusable.

Glass containers can be found in numerous colors.  I found Clear (of course), Amber, Cobalt Blue, Purple and Green options.  Clear is not recommended because there isn't any shield from the Sun's rays and the sunlight can break down the oils.  It is always best to use darker colored containers when feasible AND to store your creations in a dark cabinet/closet.  Pay attention when purchasing your glass containers so you know whether or not you are buying "painted" or "frosted" glass or real colored glass.  The painted and frosted glass containers may may lose their color over time.  That color may fade or the paint may flake off or come off on your hands making a mess.

There seem to be pretty standard sizes for bottle and jars used in DIY essential oil creations. 

16 oz glass bottles can be used for water and essential oil cleaning sprays.  I went with a chemical resistant sprayer (which cost more than the bottle itself!) and a cap so the sprayer can be removed/taken out if desired or if the product isn't going to be used for a long time.

4 oz and 2 oz glass bottles can be used for air fresheners, linen sprays, facial toners, shampoo, conditioner, etc.  The 2 oz bottle would be perfect for traveling, especially if you're flying and don't want to check a bag.  I bought fine mist sprayers for both AND caps.  There are also more squirt type sprayers available that can pass a thicker substance - think face lotion dispensers.  

15 ml glass roller top bottles with metal roller balls are perfect for making your own blends of essential and carrier oils for topical applications.  These bottles fit easily in your purse, diaper bag, brief case, pocket, etc, making them super easy to carry around with you all the time for quick, on the go needs  Make sure you are looking for "metal" roller balls.  You don't want to have to worry about your citrus oil blend ruining your plastic roller ball.  The metal balls roll smoothly - and tickle the heck out my kids' feet!!!

8 oz glass jars are just the right size for powdered cleaners, body butters, bath salts, etc.  I went with Ball jars as most are made in the USA and I feel like I have a connection with the Ball family since I attended Ball State University!!!  They are a great, versatile jar and can be found quite affordably in the canning section of most big box retailers.  I found mine at Meijer.

4 oz glass jars are useful for when you want to make a small portion of a recipe for yourself or to gift samples to friends, family, teachers, coworkers, etc.  The 4 oz jars are also Ball jars.  Yes, the 8 oz and 4 oz jars are clear glass, but colored glass jars are hard to find at a reasonable price.  Just be sure to store these out of the direct sunlight and preferably in a dark cabinet or drawer.

A few useful non-container items that I would recommend purchasing are a funnel (or funnels) and glass eye droppers.  I decided on the metal funnels and the glass eye droppers for the same reasons that I decided on the glass containers and metal roller balls - the fear that the citrus oils could corrode the plastic.  The funnel is great for pouring larger bottles of liquid into the much smaller containers.  The eye droppers are useful in transferring the exact amount of essential or carrier oil drops from the original bottles into capsules, roller bottles or other containers.  I purchased them on-line at a retailer who stated that the smaller eye dropper would fit on a Young Living 5 ml bottle and that the larger eye dropper would fit on a Young Living 15 ml bottle.  They did!  Some people have a lot of droppers and use one on almost every oil!  I mainly use my droppers when making capsules.  (More on capsules later...) 

I hope that now you aren't as overwhelmed with what sort of containers to buy when you are thinking about all of the possible DIY Essential Oil Creations!  Does anyone have any other recommendations for must have containers when just getting started using essential oils???  I'd love to hear from you!

Interested in finding out how to get started using Young Living Essential Oils?  Check out my Essential Oils and Monthly Promotions Pages!

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.  This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.