Maybe I’m over thinking it but I assume most families are like mine in that they live on a budget. We love nice quality things, taking vacations and living a comfortable life but we also don’t like doing it in debt. When I started my natural living journey I had to account for what it would cost (and save) as well as the overall value it would give to my family and me. That mattered a great deal to us. I didn’t want to buy another thing that promised great things in our lives and then just ended up not being used, not working well and being a big waste of money. It had to work in my life as much as it had to fit in our budget.
It’s this line of thinking that usually gets my clients and I talking about their budget and needs when we are designing a natural living path for them. As a natural living support resource that is Dragonspit Apothecary, it is important to me that my clients have information to form decisions that are right for them and their families. I wouldn’t ask anyone to do something that isn’t right for them or not in their budget for my own gain. It’s just not worth it to me if in the end it’s not helping your family physically, mentally or financially. The beauty of the process for defining a family’s plan to natural living is the versatility and options to fit any budget and like my family most realize a lot of savings as the proceed on that journey as well. If we can’t meet those goals than I have failed at my job.
One of the most popular blog posts I’ve written is the Living Natural on a Shoestring Budget where I walk you through how to use $50 each month, filling your home with personal care products, cleaning solutions to transition your life while getting your full $50 back at the end of your first 6 months. (link: https://www.dragonspitapothecary.com/post/living-natural-on-a-shoestring-budget)
It’s like using a ton of coupons and walking out of the grocery store with your entire cart free. Due to the popularity of that post I also created a downloadable template to help people figure out their 6 month natural living budget strategy. (link: https://www.dragonspitapothecary.com/product-page/living-natural-on-a-shoestring-budget)
Taking that a step further, the Lifestyle & Wellness Questionnaire personalizes your plan for your specific needs. (https://forms.gle/83RxVfZGK3DoFq9y9)
These tools though are only part of the solution in getting that perfect fit.
What really supports these decisions upfront is having knowledge to know what you use for what, how much to use, how to use them safely and where to look for answers and support. Without that in place, there is a lot of likelihood your oils will go unused, be wasted or result in less than desirable results. Again, from my own experience I went in with determination of making sure our budget wasn’t going to be wasted and these things really worked. I wanted real solutions and results not just promises of another product I bought that was sitting in my cabinet expiring. Here’s what I share with all my new clients as we begin planning their natural living journey.
Essential oils are medicines
We use essential oils to support our health. We use them as medicine, cleaning products and personal care products that all support and influence our health. While we don’t need much per use to have benefits and results, we also need to make sure what we use is of the highest quality possible. Safety matters. Unfortunately due to the popularity of essential oils the market has become flooded with products and brands. Over 80% of them are adulterated and contaiminated meaning they are not going to work for anything and may even cause harm.
The price tag is not indicative of quality either. To know if you are getting a good therapuetic grade oil you have to know where that oil came from, how it was tested, the company and their transparency in information about that oil. It is absolutely for this reason I only use doTERRA oils. They are the only company I have found that double tests all their oils, gives you a website to look up your specific bottle of oil for those results and stands behind their product. They are partnering with the Univeristy of Alabama Pharmacy School and other leading health care organizations to integrate natural pure essential oils into our healthcare sytsems. No other essential oil company that I have found is taking it this far or has the oil that can be used in this way.
So just like when you use medicine, amount matters. One single drop equates to a lot per real life plant, flower or tree. Normal dose amounts is usually 1 to 3 drops. There are times you may use more and times you may only use a 1/2 of a drop or less. I offer a lot of recipes, support and the Virtual Wellness online classes to help you find appropriate dosage amounts for what you making, using or doing with your oils.
Saving on your purchases
When you are starting out on your natural living journey and on a budget, I recommend people use what they already have in their homes and gradually transition. It is wasteful to just toss products you already have on hand. Pick an area you want to start on and are in need of having new products to support and expand from there. While it would be fantastic to do it all in one day there isn’t need for that and the advantages of this strategy are tremendous including:
Making sure the new things you are using are working for you
Having time to experiment and modify where you need
Learning to use the new solutions properly
Exploring the versatility of oils
The great things about essential oils is most have a multitude of things they can do in your home and health care. For example, Tee Tree can be used to disinfect and clean your bathroom and kitchen. It is a great add in to towels and really stinky laundry and it also works well for acne, first aid, yeast infections, ear infections, pinkeye, hives and more. One single bottle and you’ve already replaced a lot of other products in your home. You also reduced potentially an office visit to the doctor for antibodics.
This is why I encourage my clients to use my blog and me for support in knowing what oils have a lot of versatility and purchasing those first. Long term you will find these are the oils you use the most. What I realized too with doTERRA is these are usually the least expensive.
The other thing in saving money on your purchases is to take advantage of shopper programs, discounts, promotions and sales. This is an obvious one but so many people are intimidated that it means a long term commitment. I love the doTERRA Loyalty Rewards Program because you can stop and start it anytime you want, you earn points back on your purchases and shipping every time and you get free products. doTERRA also has regular sales and promotions that are quite attractive in family budgeting on what you need.
Accessories
The natural living market has exploded with extra goodies intended to support your new lifestyle. There are fancy spray bottles, roller ball bottles, bottles with crystals, doppers, cases, holders, labels and simply a lot of stuff. Most of it is pretty cool and some of it is very clever.
When you are starting out the accessories and add-ons are overwhelming and you think you need it all upfront. You don’t. You also don’t need the majority of it later either. There are a couple things I recommend starting out with to make your use of oils more pleasant and viable.
For cleaners invest in some pretty glass spray bottles of 6 and 8 ounces, a couple will do
For roller ball blends you make yourself a set of 6 to 10 with metal balls in the bottls is perfect
Labels with the oil names on them is important because you can label your oils but also put those on your roller ball bottles and sprays to know what you used in those
A small notebook to keep your recipes and notes about what you used and liked
Veggie caps for making capsules
Fractionated coconut oil for mixing blends and diluting oils for skin use
A high quality diffuser
Other basic ingredients like Castile soap, baking soda, white vinegar, unscented natural lotion
For resources and references to get good recipes, blends, diffuser blends and more I provide a lot of those on my website under the Recipes section. There are also a couple good reference books and online resources I provide my clients. Here too you want to make sure you are investing in good quality reliable information so you don’t waste your oils.
Help
I love helping someone new start their natural living journey. To me it is fun to help fit it into a budget. It is rewarding to work with a family’s cleaning product budget, personal care budget, medicine and health care numbers and turn that into something that not only saves them money but offers them transformation in their health. Working with that family to make that happen is special and I know life changing for them because it happened to my own family. Anyone who says living naturally costs more or isn’t economical hasn’t really lived natural yet.
If you’re looking for help and support to live more naturally on your budget please reach out. https://www.dragonspitapothecary.com/contact
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