10 safe ways to use expired essential oils

Sometimes we order some ingredients and then totally forget them on the shelf or change our mind about a certain project or order more than we can consume in a limited time window and we end up with ingredients that are expired to near to expiration.

Although it is painful to discard ANY ingredient, discarding essential oils is probably more painful than other ingredients and more complicated.

We don't recommend using any expired essential oil in personal care or food but there are otehr ways that you can use these precious ingredients in your everyday life and today I am sharing a few SAFE ways to use expired essential oils.

There is always the possibility of adding a few drops of your desired essential oil to an oil diffuser and refresh the air in the room but if you don't yet have any rom diffuser or are searching for other safe methods then this post can help you.

Safety first:

Before you practice any of these recommendations take care:

1-be extremely careful if you have pets or small children. You may need to swap one oil for the other, reduce the dosage or drop the idea totally.

2- There are personal preferences to be considered. I personally use citrussy oils, floral and spicy oils, and of course eucalyptus for these applications. I wouldn't apply niaouli, tea tree, manuka, patchouli for example but feel free to use them if your heart desired so.

3- Compatibility with the surface and material

all of the applications I'm mentioning here use the essential oil in a diluted form or on a substrate. DO NOT apply the oils directly on your furniture, tiles, carpet and clothing. For most of these applications we use baking soda which is a deodorant on its own but by applying a few drops of an essential oil you take it to the next level and not only get rid of unwanted scents, you add pleasant scents to your environment

Now let's jump to my 10 suggestions

1- Trash bean deodorizer

Add a few drops of an essential oil to baking soda and spread a spoonfull either directly in your trash bean or at the bottom of a trash sack. That will provide you with such a pleasant scent each time you open the trash bean.

If you are using beans with a felt or microfiber filter in the lid, you can directly add a few drops of the oil on the filter as well.

2- Vacuum cleaner deodorizer

Use the same blend you made for the trash bean (baking soda + essential oil (max 5%)) and spread a spoonfull in front of your vacuum cleaner the next time you use it. If you are using the blend on natural stone, parquet, or carpet reduce the dosage of the essential oil to max 3%.

3- Fridge and freezer refresher/deodorizer

If you want to get rid of some unpleasant scent lingering in your fridge or freezer, blend the essential oil with baking soda, put it in a bowl and put the bowl in the fridge. Here you need a max dosage of 1% essential oil because you don't want your fridge to smell like a perfumery shop.

4- Laundry refreshing

Most of the laundry detergent and fabric softener available on the market smells like crap. In best case, you can find some detergents and softeners without perfume or with a very decent perfume. If you want ro refresh your laundry add just a few drops essentail oil per loading directly to the detergent or the fabric softener and your washing machine and laundry will smell divine.

5- Pot Pourri

You shouldn't be a florist or designer to make amazing pot pourri. Just add some dried petals or herbs to a bowl and drop a few drops of your favourite essential oil for an amazing scent. Be careful if you have pets or toddlers around.

6- Closet-Shoe box deodorizer/freshener

Apply a few drops of the essential oil over a small pillow, a cotton ball, a small towel or a piece of felt and put it in your drawers, show boxes, shoe closet etc.

7- Candles

If you are a candle maker you can apply the essential oils in your candles during the manufacturing process but if you are not, there is no need to purchase crappy scented candles with those horrible synthetic scents that cause you headache (no objections to purchasing and using natural candles with natural essential oils).

Add a few drops of your desired essential oil to fine or coarse salt in a heat-proof container or candle holder and put a votive candle or a tee-light on top of that. You'll have the easiest, safest and most affordable scented candle and guess what? You can use the salt to refresh your trash bean whenever you want a new scent.

8- Stationary

If you belong to the old-fashioned folk that still SEND real letters and greeting cards, you can add more charm to the paper and put a a piece of felt or cotton ball on which you have applied a few drops of an essential oil.

9- Cuddle /plush toy 

This is only for grown-ups and I don't recommend doing this for any babies/toddlers but if you have any favourite plush toy that you can not separate yourself from (or if you have any plush key holder), apply a few drops of the essential oil on them to refresh your surrounding.

10- Car

Both new and used cars can smell crappy. The new cars usually smell like plastic even after several months using and a used family car smells like everything possible between baby food to unwashed rags. Here again, the commercial car fresheners and scented trees smell quite horrible (at least to my taste) but you can make your own natural freshener by applying a few drops your desired essential oil to a piece of felt or a rag and putting it in the car.

These are only a few suggestions that you can use as an inspiration and add your personal touch to it. You certainly can use essential oils that are not yet expired but if you have any expired essential oils, it's time to use them and enjoy them without any risks of sensitization.

Stay safe and be creative