Ways To Use Old Or Expired Essential Oils Around The House

I've been using and collecting essential oils for various purposes for years. I sometimes lose track of how long a particular bottle has been around, especially if it's one I don't use too often. Some essential oils are labeled with "best if used by" dates, while others aren't. If you find yourself suspecting some of your essential oils are past their prime, there are still plenty of ways to use them and not let them go to waste, giving them new life via cleaning or crafting.

As in perfumery, which uses a classification system of top, middle, and base notes, essential oils are also classified based on the "weight" of their scents, which is connected to the weight of the oils themselves. While some "heavier" essential oils (base note scents) thicken and seem to improve with age, other lighter ones (top notes) lose some of their potency, and may even start to smell "off." I have older bottles of patchouli, cedarwood, and vetiver essential oils that I value highly: their fragrance has intensified, mellowed, and grown more complex. Some precious floral absolutes (rose, jasmine) smell fainter with age, but are still pleasing. Others seem ... fine? But are too old to comfortably use for medicinal or personal care purposes.

Essential oils are often expensive, and it seems wasteful to discard them. But it turns out that these concentrated plant distillates, absolutes, and plant oils are easy to repurpose. The first option for repurposing them lies in various cleaning tasks.

If you're like me, you're not a fan of heavily scented or artificially scented cleaning products: in fact, this helped draw me to aromatherapy many years ago. I often add essential oils to cleaning products, or create my own. A few drops of essential oils added to gently-scented or unscented liquid soap (like castile soap) or inexpensive shampoo is great for hand washing clothes or surface cleaning. You can also add essential oils to powdered detergents, like borax.

Lavender essential oil helps repel wool moths, so I add it to the final rinse water when washing sweaters. Essential oils used in hand washing also keeps dresser drawers smelling fresh and keeps closets from smelling musty: herby scents like basil, clary sage, and peppermint are great for this. Antiseptic essential oils like tea tree or eucalyptus make good sanitizing cleaning sprays: add a few drops to a solution of liquid soap, water, and vinegar, and keep in a glass or plastic spray bottle. The vinegar smell dissipates after use, while the essential oil scents will linger.

Essential oils can also be mixed with baking soda for deodorizing or cleaning. If you use baking soda to clean your bathroom surfaces, adding a few drops of essential oil will keep the room smelling fresh. Citrus oils like lemon, lime, bergamot, and grapefruit work well for this, and they're uplifting and energizing. Citrus scents are also wonderful air fresheners.

There are many crafts you can use essential oils for at home. Try making your own natural potpourri with your slightly-out-of-date essential oils. I usually gather up some natural materials that will absorb the oil, like pine cones, wood shavings, and dried flower petals. I mix them in a bowl, and add a refreshing blend of essential oils (try sweet orange, frankincense, and lavender, or juniper berry with rosemary and pine, or experiment!). I stir it together well, store in a glass jar with lid, and add some to a bowl to freshen the air. 

Some crafters like to make soaps or candles with essential oils. If you use liquid hand soap, customize an unscented brand with essential oils. You can also add essential oils to hand sanitizer gel (and cut that alcohol smell). I made some scented hand sanitizer with tea tree, sweet orange, pine, and peppermint essential oil. Not only did it smell great, the essential oils gave it an extra boost of antiseptic action.

One last practical use for older essential oils: make your own natural insect repellent that actually smells good. Using a base mixture of equal parts water and apple cider vinegar, add about 10-15 drops of essential oil to every 4 ounces of liquid. Effective insect repellent oils include lemongrass, geranium, lavender, peppermint, cedarwood, tea tree, and/or rosemary. Keep in an amber or blue glass spray bottle, and shake gently before using.