Ways to Use Tea Tree Oil Around Your Home

Natural Moms Talk Radio

Tea tree oil is one of those natural products that every mom should learn to know and love. It has so many uses, and is inexpensive and concentrated. A small bottle, purchased for less than $10, may last you a couple of years!

Tea tree is an amazing and simple antiviral, antimicrobial, antibacterial, antifungal, antiseptic  product that can be used in many ways – from cleaning your home to treating your body.
Here are a few ways you can use tea tree oil around your home to save money, time and hassle – and avoid questionable ingredients common in commercially available cleaning products.

Excellent mold killer: If you live in the South like I do, you probably have trouble with mold and mildew. A load of laundry accidentally left in the washing machine for a few hours will smelly moldy. Your bathroom or other damp spaces may have the tell tale black growing around its edges. You may even smell mold in your basement.

Instead of using chlorine bleach or another chemical which can irritate lungs and cause accidental poisoning, add 20 drops of tea tree to water in a spray bottle, and spray.

Some people like to add tea tree oil to their homemade cleaning spray recipes to keep mold at bay during their routine cleaning. This could be as simple as mixing up a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water, with a little tea tree oil added. (Click here for more non-toxic ways to deal with mold.)

Adding tea tree oil to your homemade laundry detergent is also a good idea to avoid the smelly laundry syndrome.

Terrific Cleaner:  Tea tree is a great cleaner and can be used to clean and disinfect your kitchen counters, bathroom, added to your mop water, in your washing machine, etc.

To use, just add 10-15 drops to a spray bottle with water. Spray your counters, toilet, door knobs, light switches, telephone, remote controls, anything that you need to clean.

Whenever someone in the home is sick, spray everything down, including your toothbrush.

Add a few drops to your washing machine when you wash things like kitchen towels that have bacteria, underwear, swimming clothes from a lake or river, funky workout clothing, etc.

Even if you don’t make your own laundry soap, you can add tea tree oil to your detergent. Pour in a teaspoon, shake the container, and then you won’t forget to add it to your wash. If your cloth diapered baby gets diarrhea, it may be a good idea to add a couple of drops of tea tree oil to the laundry rinse water to disinfect.

Putting a few drops in your mop water will kill anything that is on your floors…all kinds of things can be brought in on feet and shoes from outside.  This is especially great when there is a crawling baby in the house!

Body care: Utilizing tea tree oil is far better than using chemicals. Our skin is the largest organ of the body. It absorbs chemicals that we touch and within seconds, those substances are found in the blood stream.

Tea tree oil can be used topically for conditions such as athletes foot, jock itch, ringworm, toenail fungus, and acne. (For adults, it’s fine to use it straight up, but for kids always dilute.) Some people like to add a drop or two to their homemade deodorant for extra funk-fighting power.

Buy a dropper, a spray bottle, and a small bottle of tea tree, and use it on just about anything around your home.  You can get tea tree oil online at Amazon.com and Vitacost.com

More on tea tree oil:

- A review of tea tree oil facial cleansing pads
- Tea tree oil and other ingredients for natural beauty treatments
- A review of “Kinder to Skin” tea tree oil by Desert Essence
- More tea tree oil uses and health benefits

Natural Moms Talk Radio