10 Tips for Using Less Essential Oil to Save Money and Support Conservation

Dropper carefully dispensing essential oil from a bottle

Essential oils are highly concentrated, and a little goes a long way.

Using oils sparingly can help save money and support the sustainability of the plants used to produce them.

When using essential oils, a helpful phrase to remember is less is more.

The wellness benefits that essential oils offer when used knowledgeably are priceless.

However, essential oils can be expensive, and it's wise to be sensible when using them.

Photo of children holding a living seedling and small model of the earth

Using Essential Oils Mindfully Also Helps Essential Oil Conservation and Sustainability

Doing our part to use essential oils in moderation can be helpful to our budget, and knowledgeable usage can also make a collective difference in supporting the conservation of essential oil-bearing plants.

Even though an essential oil is readily available today, it doesn't mean that it will always be easy or affordable to purchase.

It takes a significant amount of plant material to produce essential oils, and essential oil yields tend to be very low.

Explore AromaWeb's Money-Saving and Eco-Friendly Essential Oil Tips

Tip 1:

Many essential oil safety tips and guidelines support using essential oils in moderation. Consider implementing them into your aromatherapy regimen. Essential oil safety protocols automatically encourage using the least amount of essential oil necessary.

Tip 2:

Less is More. Don't use more essential oil than necessary to accomplish your goal. If only a drop is needed to achieve your goal, don't use more than that.

Tip 3:

If you are new to making essential oil recipes, your essential oil blends and formulations may smell weak at first. Try to resist the temptation to add more essential oil. This can be wasteful and even risky.

Tip 4:

Adequately dilute essential oils before applying them topically.

This recommendation falls under the umbrella of essential oil safety, but it also is an important tip for using essential oils sparingly.

Some companies and sellers promote using essential oils at full strength on the skin. I do not recommend this practice. It unsafely encourages customers to use more, leading to more frequent purchases by their customers. This practice can be unsafe and can lead to wasting essential oil.

Tip 5:

Confirm that your essential oil method of use is optimal for the benefit that you're trying to achieve. Otherwise, you may be wasting essential oil.

For example, suppose you want to use an essential oil to help you relax. In that case, you may reap more benefits by using a personal inhaler than by applying the essential oil or blend (safely diluted) to the bottoms of your feet.

Tip 6:

Don't diffuse essential oils continuously. Diffusing intermittently is safer and helps conserve the essential oil. For more information, read AromaWeb's Essential Oil Diffuser Safety Tips.

Tip 7:

Except in particular circumstances, diffusing essential oils should be done for a specific reason, not just to make the room smell "nice."

Tip 8:

Consider using personal inhalers.

An essential oil personal inhaler and requires only about 10-15 drops of essential oil. I love essential oil inhalers because they are so portable, allowing you to inhale your preferred essential oil or blend anytime.

Tip 9:

Consider adding a single drop of an essential oil or a blend to a fragrance test strip and use the test strip as a passive diffuser.

Fragrance test strips are affordable, making it easy to assess and enjoy a single drop of essential oil aromatically. I use a small wire place card/photo holder to hold the fragrance test strip in place. Fragrance test strips are available from several of AromaWeb's valued advertisers, and the holders are also available affordably on Amazon.

Whenever I want to inhale the aroma, I raise the test strip to my nose by holding the base of the holder. AromaWeb's Guide to Evaluating the Aroma of an Essential Oil provides more details about fragrance test strips.

Tip 10:

Sniffing an essential oil repeatedly out of the bottle isn't an effective way to conserve essential oil.

We certainly all do this when we receive a new essential oil and at varying times after. However, the more we do this, the more oxygen we expose to the oil. Oxygen can cause an essential oil to oxidize and shorten its shelf life and therapeutic benefit. Over time, this can ruin the effectiveness of the essential oil, leading to wastefulness. It can also make some essential oils more sensitizing to the skin. Instead, using a fragrance test strip or personal inhaler is best.