DIY Essential Oils Storage - Guest Post

I have used essential oils for several years now. I have gotten oils from different companies, and I've had times where I use them more than other times. I also use tinctures (some homemade, some purchased), homeopathics, herbs in capsule form, and random other natural cures (like raw honey for example). I have a strong passion to avoid pharmaceuticals, and my family hasn't needed a doctor, other than for stitches [eeeeek] for over 5 years now!
I recently signed up with Young Living Essential oils, and fell in love with the quality of their oils over what I had previously been using! I could tell a HUGE difference, in the smell and in how well they worked. But as I looked for how to store my oils, I was having a lot of trouble, as everything is SO expensive. So, what's a mama to do? Pinterest - of course. What else? Only I wasn't coming up with much that didn't require power tools, and as much fun as those are,  I wasn't in the mood to go ask hubby or my dad for their "toys". I just wanted something I could do, in my home, without their ... errrr.... "Help" (??) yeah. Their help. ... ok, well, anyway, I wanted something that I could do on my own.
So I kept searching. Pinterest now adds pins that it thinks you may like - so of course there were some "off topic" - which is EXACTLY where I found my inspiration! (Have I mentioned how much I love Pinterest?!) So a post for "lipstick storage" popped up - and while the title had me skimming past, the photo caught my eye so I clicked the link. It showed how to use cardstock to make dividers in a drawer for lipstick. I thought, ok, I'm totally adapting this and using it for my oils!
Next, I scavenged the house - I'm good at THIS,  partly because I can't seem to figure out how to throw crap away ... ... I'm not a hoarder, but I hoard some things some times. .. Anyway.... I found a shoebox, and then I cut off the sides of a box that was bound for the trash bin, I got out my rotary cutting mat and my craft knife and set to work, having no real clue as to what I was doing.

I started my daughter with the craft paints and the shoebox - she's my artist.

And I started in on the cutting the dividers. My son decided to help.... "help" (?) yeah. Help.

It really was quite simple. And I impressed myself.  Just measure your oil bottles - for me I didn't measure the largest I have (I buy lemon oil in 4 oz bottles and lavender in 2 oz bottles, and I have some repurposed 2 oz bottles that I've used for my homemade blends, with carrier oils - pre mixed, to just grab and use! Wonderful for my "use on the chest for congestion" blend) ... Back to the point - after measuring, you can mark how large you want each section to be. I made mine 1 1/2 inches, but if you only use 15ml or 5 ml bottles you may want yours to be smaller.
Then measure how tall your bottles are and decide if you want half of them in the divider, or the whole thing, and if you're measuring for multiple bottle sizes, you may want to use your smallest bottle for this size. This will be how wide to cut your dividers. Then the slots will be 1/2 way up each piece.

After I fit them all together to make sure they worked, I painted. Things are so much cuter with a bit of craft paint, don't you think? Well. I do.

(I found 1 of the side pieces under everything as I cleaned up -- I might go back and paint it to match. I think my creativity may be done for awhile though lol)

  (please ignore the background *cringe*)

 (again with the background *eeeeek*)

Didn't Sierha do an excellent job painting?! I knew she would!!

(ugh .... won't even ask again that you ignore that background :-) )


Now I need to order some labels, so I can find my oils... because now I can't see the side of the bottles. A few different companies have these for sale - I even saw some on Amazon.


So, for now at least, I have all of my oils in one spot. I do keep getting more oils, though, so I'm sure I'll need another one sooner rather than later.