It might sound a little strange, but I’m 100% serious when I say that essential oils have made me a better person.

I’m not even talking about the effects of a specific oil (although if I were, we all know it would probably be lavender). I mean more in the sense of the act of using essential oils has made me a better person, with better habits, and even an improved attitude regarding life in general.

It’s not just because of our family business here at Aroma Outfitters either. Yes, I’ve had the absolutely lovely privilege of meeting so many wonderful people in this community, attending essential oil events and conventions, and even making a lot of new friends from all walks of life. I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything, and I’ll be eternally grateful for them.

But the real changes—the changes that improved me—were all thanks to using essential oils all by themselves. Therefore, I’m convinced that anyone reading this post can enjoy the same lifestyle benefits as I have. Let me explain what I mean by all of this in more detail and I promise you’ll be nodding your head and agreeing in no time.

Organizing My Essential Oils Gave me the Habits I Needed in Other Areas of My Life

When I first started using essential oils, like most people, I wasn’t very good at keeping them organized. They would roll around in drawers, rattle about in the glove compartment of the car (not a great place to keep them, by the way), and get lost in all kinds of places.

Members of the free Aroma Outfitters newsletter might already know the story (if you don’t get it yet, make sure to sign up—you’ll even get a free book). Basically, I realized that I had to get organized when one of my children got a hold of an oil bottle. They were still quite young at the time, so I was in a bit of a panic when I realized what was going on. Nothing happened, thank goodness, but that was the moment I knew that I had to, at the very least, keep my oils in a safe location away from tiny hands.

This lead to looking for storage solutions. I wasn’t really happy with anything on the market, and so one thing lead to another and Aroma Outfitters was born. We started this family business to solve a problem—to provide people like me with truly great storage boxes, travel cases, and other important essential oil accessories. I love our essential oil storage boxes and I use them myself (more on that in the following section).

When I finally had a storage box for my essential oils that I truly loved—one that I felt worked for me, not against me—I started getting organized. I was able to grow my collection, because I actually had a place for all the new oils I was getting. I started using my oils more often, instead of store-bought things. I got my first diffuser.

I immediately realized that after having my oils all in the same place, all nicely labeled and easily accessible, that I started using them more often. Instead of spritzing the store-bought air freshener with who-knows-what kind of chemicals in it, I started making my own with essential oils, distilled water, and witch hazel. It worked amazingly well (still does, in point of fact). I became a professional germ-slayer with real pine-scented cleaner that I made my self using essential oils.

Around the house, everything changed. I actually knew what was in the “products” I was using. I didn’t have to wonder about what kind of chemicals were in the cleaner I used on the kitchen table, or what I was spraying into the air in my children’s room. Or even what was happening with my family’s laundry.

Essential oils were responsible for making me a more conscious person. I was actually interested in learning about how to do things the right way—more naturally, cleaner, and I would argue more responsibly. Everything I learned started seeping into other areas of my life, not the least of which was my ability to get and stay organized.

After I realized how positive keeping my essential oils organized made me feel, I started getting organized in other areas of my life too. Our home is cleaner, our business at Aroma Outfitters is on point, and my kids actually get to school on time. Thanks to these organizational skills, we managed to travel the country with our kids in an RV and launch our other business, Grateful Glamper (come and say hi over there sometime!).

If you struggle with organization but you love essential oils, why not start there?

I’ll explain exactly how I organize my oils so you can try it out for yourself—just wait and see, because you’ll be well on the way to becoming a happier, more organized version of yourself by the time you’re done!

How I Organize My Essential Oils (And Trust Me – I Have a Lot!)

The way that I organize my essential oils might not be exactly how you want to organize your own collection, but I’ll share with you anyway so you can get some ideas about my reasoning and general methodology.

First, at home, I have two of these two-layer beauties:

Yes, I know, that’s a lot of storage. One of these two-layer wooden essential oil storage boxes is for my day-to-day oils, and the other is for my overstock oils (what can I say, I don’t like to run out). Now… I understand that most of you reading this don’t have huge essential oil collections like I do, so two might be overkill.

But if you have a big collection, or you plan to expand your collection (trust me, you will), one would be perfect to start with. These boxes are the largest practical way to safely store your oils, including roller bottles.

Each box has a total capacity of 147 bottles and comes with circle labels and foam padding for even more protection. The lid stays in an upright position, making it perfect for displaying your collection. Trust me when I say these boxes are absolutely gorgeous and I love mine.

Still too big? Pick up one of our smaller—but just as lovely!—68 bottle capacity essential oil storage boxes. It also includes a circle label set and has a removable portion of the wooden dividers so you can swap it out for a different kind (such as for roller bottles or other alternate bottle sizes).

While I have traveled with the two-layer storage box quite successfully (it comes with us on the RV), it’s a bit much to lug around for a day trip. Whenever we’re leaving for the day or just a weekend, I take this with me:

This hard sided essential oil travel case is the best way to keep a large-ish number of oils safe during transport. With a 30 bottle capacity, including slanted dividers for your favorite roller bottles. The outside is tough and durable, the inside is soft and well padded to keep your oils safe. Yes, I’ve dropped one of these before (both to test the case and as a legitimate accident), and my oils were absolutely fine.

This might seem like a minor point but trust me, it’s not. One of the most important things to us while making this case was making sure that the zipper was strong—there’s really nothing worse than a great case with a weak zipper. So we made sure that it has a super-strong double zipper. This case is easy to open, but let me tell you, once you close it, it stays closed.

Get one here and keep your oils organized no matter where you go.

Finally, I keep one of these cases on my desk during the daytime and move it to the bedroom at night for easy access to my favorite essential oils, roller bottles, and blends for my diffusers:

Pretty cute, right? It’s also incredibly functional. Pictured is our modular bamboo essential oil storage box. The unique thing about this box is that it’s stackable. Notice how there are three individual components: a large box compartment, a slimmer tray, and a lid. The boxes and trays can stack up on one another up to as many as you want—within reason, of course. (Yes, if you’re wondering, I did play with the ones we had around the house and managed to get five or six of each box and tray in a single mega-box.)

The end result is a customized essential oil storage box that holds exactly what you need—no more, no less. It also makes it really easy to pick and choose what roller bottles you want, or to look through your collection and pull out this or that oil. If you like the idea of a luxurious, space-saving box that can expand on command, you can pick one up now.

So, there you have it. That’s my process for keeping my essential oils safe and organized. These habits have made their way into every other part of my life, and I personally think that’s pretty amazing. If you want to learn more about how to keep your oils organized, make sure to check out our post The Complete Guide to Proper Essential Oil Storage.

Essential Oils Gave Me the Push I Need to Start Making “Me” Time in My Life

I’ve written a lot of posts on the Aroma Outfitters blog. In order to write these posts, I actually try out the things I tell you about—for example, I learned how to give myself the perfect essential oil home spa day. Easiest work day ever!

But I noticed something. In order to learn about how and why a certain essential oil works the way it does, how it benefits the user, what oils it pairs well with, why it works, and so on, I’ve had to do a lot of research. It doesn’t feel like work, because it’s a lot of fun and it’s a topic that I’m genuinely interested in (obviously). But in doing so, I’ve learned a lot about maintaining my own body, mind, and spirit.

For example, I was researching which oils can help you sleep (it’s lavender and roman chamomile among others, if you’re wondering). This lead me to learning more about just how incredibly important sleep is for your overall well being, hormonal balance, mood, and so on. Essential oils were my impetus to learn about all of these things, and as a result, I’ve changed my behavior to get better sleep.

I also started doing things like taking better care of my skin with essential oil DIY projects, taking aromatherapy more seriously, and generally just taking more “me” time to unwind and take care of myself. A lot of these habits were built as I worked on our “Everything You Need to Know About…” series of posts:selfI also started doing things like taking better care of my skin with essential oil DIY projects, taking aromatherapy more seriously, and generally just taking more “me” time to unwind and take care of myself. A lot of these habits were built as I worked on our “Everything You Need to Know About…” series of posts:

• Everything You Need to Know About Lavender Essential Oil
• Everything You Need to Know About Helichrysum Essential Oil
• Everything You Need to Know About Sandalwood Essential Oil
• Everything You Need to Know About Cypress Essential Oil
• Everything You need to Know About Black Pepper Essential Oil
• Everything You Need to Know About Bergamot Essential Oil

Now, I’m not saying that you need to start an essential oil blog to gain all of these benefits. Just keep doing what you’re doing right now: reading about and researching essential oils. The rest of the knowledge will come as a result, and if you apply what you learn in your life, you’ll start developing habits that lead you down the path of being a happier person with more positive habits.

What New Habits Will You Form Because of Essential Oils?

I hope that you found this post useful. Maybe it made you think a little bit more about the larger impact of essential oils in your life?

How do you organize your essential oils? How have they changed your life?

I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below or over on the Aroma Outfitters Facebook or Instagram. Happy oiling!