How I Store My Essential Oils

Many of you will remember that I recently did a review for DoTERRA consultant Corinne Sullivan of Arctic Essentials, and purchased some oils from her.  I also had the incredible privilege of winning a giveaway for a generous gift certificate from A Mama's Story for Young Living essential oils.  So my oil collection has blossomed and I needed a system for keeping track of them.

Originally, I had all my oils laying in a little tray similar to this and it just wasn't working for me.  They were rolling around, and I couldn't see what the labels said without messing with every bottle every time I wanted one.  On one of my trips to Hobby Lobby while kids were at the dentist (almost next door), I roamed the aisles looking for the perfect essential oil storage solution.

I wanted one of the Really Useful Boxes to work, because we've used some of those for other things, and I like them, but none of them was quite right for this application.  There was a flat, paperboard, pretty box in the clearance section that I carried around in the cart for a while.  I liked that it was pretty, but I was trying to think of a way to modify it to keep the oils from rolling around, since it was too shallow for them to stand up.

I eventually settled on this box.  Practical AND cheap.  My favorite.

After using it for a few weeks, I really like that it's lid is attached (clam shell style). Countless times, I've grabbed the box, which lives in my sewing room, and trotted into my bathroom to tend to the latest "patient."

You'll notice the stickers on the bottle lids?  I was pining for a set of the pricey, official, authorized Oil Bottle Labels, when I realized it would be cheaper for me to make my own using blank garage sale stickers instead.  This actually ended up being a brilliant stroke of genius on my part, because Brianna used some instead of these...

...to go on the keyboard.  If I had it to do over again, I might have picked the colored labels instead of plain white and color coded them by whether they could be used neat or should be diluted.  It would be nice to be able to tell that at a glance, but I suppose I could accomplish the same thing by writing in different colors.

While the box is "home base" for all my oils, they do tend to wander.

Sometimes they turn up near my diffuser.  Bergamot & cinnamon is my latest favorite smell recipe, and Lemon/Eucalyptus is an old favorite.  

Sometimes they turn up in my bathroom drawer.  I often put a drop or two of lemon, lime, or orange into my Glasstic water bottle with some watermelon vitamin powder to sip at while homeschooling.  

Paul recently put a shelf up over the changing table for me.  

Peace & Calming has greatly reduced Lukey's teeth grinding, cedarwood is good for the brain, and I used lemon last week when he was feverish at bedtime.  So you can see how some of my oils would migrate into the panda room, as well.  

While this is what works for me, I realize not every system works for every person, and I'd like to send you to check out the artistic and functional oil holders sold by fellow homeschool mama Jennifer Lambert.  

Another idea I've seen is to use a spice rack.  I could see myself putting up one of these or or these.  If you're getting into oils, or you need a new storage solution for yours, you might keep an eye out at garage sales for a spice rack to repurpose.  I haven't tried it, but I'm wondering if a K-Cup Carousel might work to hold essential oils?  If anyone knows, please leave a comment!  One final option might be this tilted rack inside a drawer.  

However you store them, the important thing is keeping them accessible so that it's easy for you to use them, and out of little hands, so there are no unfortunate mishaps.  How do you store your essential oils?  

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