A good friend of mine recently shared this fun tip with me for what to do with your leftover essential oils bottles. I thought the idea was pure genius, because it ensured that you will get every last drippity drop out of your bottles. Quality essential oils are not exactly cheap, so I’m all for any hack that will help me make sure no drop gets wasted!
Here’s a 1 minute video showing you exactly what I’ve done with all my empty 5 ml bottles.
Very simple, right? All you need to do is grab a large glass container
To get the bottles fully open, including the stopper on the inside, you need to check out the essential oil bottle opener that has come out. It is inexpensive and AMAZING!!! It saves your nails and saves you some time when you are trying to take apart your bottles. HIGHLY recommend!
Since the end result is still going to be bath salts that only have trace amounts of essential oils, I don’t think it too much matters which oil bottles you add. I added every single empty bottle I currently own, and I plan to keep adding to it as I empty more bottles!
Let me know if you try this essential oils hack out and what you think!
Other Helpful Essential Oils Posts
How to Get Free Essential Oils Without Starting a Business (It’s EASY!!!)
- Starting My Oil Journey as a Skeptic
- How to Get Started with Essential Oils
- Essential Oils for Weight Loss
- Natural Allergy Relief
- My TV segment on natural allergy relief and Young Living
- DIY Shower Disks for Congestion
- Sugar and Essential Oils Scrub for Keratosis Pilaris (bumpy skin)
- How to Get Rid of Hiccups with Peppermint Oil
- Use Lemon Essential Oil to Safely Remove Crayon Marks
- How to Strengthen Brittle Nails with Essential Oils
- How to Neutralize Bathroom Odors in a Flash
Hi! I saw you posted about a EO bottle opener to save your nails. The YL caps are designed to be an opener! Just take the cap, sit it on top of the bottle and tilt it to the side with a bit of pressure. The ridges inside the cap will grab the little plastic top and pull it off!
My daughter wires three bottles together at the neck of the bottle & sits them in the windowsill as tiny flower vases. Sooo cute!
That such a clever idea. Thank you for sharing.
I read an article where some people take their empties and boil them in a small amount of water on the stove to “diffuse” the scent in the air. That’s what I was planning to do with my empty bottles since I only shower.
I take the essential oils bottles and I buy the roller fitments that work out to 1.00 a piece and when I do my “make and take” parties I use the empty bottles that I cleaned well and make the mixes according to the class and incorporate the price of the roller fitment into the blend they are making. E.G.: if we do a beauty class we make serums in a roller bottle that won’t degrade because it all comes form the Young Living company made not to degrade. for that I charge A fee to cover cost of fitment and oils used and label. TAA DAA! As well as using only oils form the starter kit to show the versatility of the kit. I get rid of bottles and also save on paying amazon for roller bottles whose ball falls out because the oil degraded the plastic that holds the ball in place.
What do you do with the bottles after?
When they get low or you think they are empty, use a q-tip to get the very last bit out. Remember, it doesn’t take much for what ever you are using it for. I haven’t empties any yet but this is what I was thinking I would do when they get low or ’empty’.
The idea is great but the mixing together process not so good. By mixing all your essential oils together into one salt bath, you are losing the therapeutic benefits that each oil provides. You could be mixing calming oils with energizing oils. Sorry, but you are better knowing the benefits of each oil before mixing them all together. I would separate them into different bath salt bottles according to the use for each oil.
I totally agree some oils are energizing and if you use them at bedtime they can keep you awake which is not what we need why not use 2 separate smaller jars and sort relaxing separate from energizing solving both problems
I also will take bottles with just a tiny bit left and fill them with fractionated coconut oil. These are great for taking on trips, so you don’t have to worry so much if you lose them. I also carry a couple with me in my purse so that if I talk to anyone that I think could use a particular oil, I can gift them with it. I was running out of mini rollers before by doing this, so this has allowed me to save those and also introduce people to oils in a less expensive way;)
I love that idea!
Just wondering after you leave it to soak up all the oil will the Epsom salt just dry and pour out of the empty bottle or is there something else that has to be done? Like rinsing.
I haven’t tried to reuse the bottles, personally, but when I’m using my epsom salts, it’s not uncommon for me to just put one of the bottles that was in the jar in my bath, too. I figure that’s yet another way to try to pry more oil residue from the bottle. 🙂
Oils can’t mix with water so if you put the oil directly in the water, it’ll just sit on top. If you mix with Epsom Salts, the oil will be absorbed by the salt & the salt by the water so you’re getting the benefit of the essential oil 🙂
Be careful with glass in bath tub,I would think if you want to reuse make necklaces or put more oil in boil them in hot water with maybe baking soda?
An excellent point and one I definitely should have clarified. I only put bottles in the tub with me after I’m already in there, and I never do it if the tub is full of bubbles and therefore I can’t see the bottles. And I would never let my kids do this, either. This is an area where you absolutely have to be very careful!
I use my p touch labeler to name all my mixes, and put dates on them,
love that idea! Thanks for sharing!
Brilliant idea. I can’t seem to part with my empty bottles. Giving this a go ? X
Thank you. I have probably 50 empty bottles I couldn’t make myself throw away and now I know what to do with them! Thank you.
I do this it is awesome
Instant bath salts and super easy to clean and reuse the bottles
i use Epsom salt as a fabric softener so this is a great tip for the laundry.
Do you have a recipe for the softener?
I would love to see a recipe for the Epson salt softener. I currently use vinegar.
I would also love a recipe.
That’s a great idea! I’ll pin this for when I use up a bottle of oil.
Great idea! One I must try!!!!!
You are brilliant! Thank you! Getting that last little drop of oil out of the tiny bottles has bugged me for years – I’m so going to do this now! …and the eucalyptus oil bottle is going in the laundry powder 🙂 Thank You thank you thank you
It always makes my day to hear that something I wrote has helped someone, so thank YOU for your sweet comment! 🙂
Cool. Awesome idea 🙂
One of the biggest Why didn’t I think of that moments 🙂
I would very much like to know about how long it takes, for those who like to use their bottles again, the salt takes to remove the oils? I really don’t have the time or memory to be checking every day until they are reusable and would love to know if anyone has any idea.
I leave mine in a couple of weeks or longer. This process makes it so easy to clean those little bottles out to reuse for blends or sharing!!
you can also reuse the bottles to make your own blends. Btw…it’s called an orifice reducer.
love this idea! Thank you. The aroma that greets me Idaho time I open my essential oil box is magic (hold 60x17ml bottles). I cam imagine the wonderful bath salts this suggestion might create.
And love the idea of washing the bottles in a laundry bag whyever didn’t I think of that?!
Will be back to visit regularly. Look forward to your posts.
Best wishes and thank you again.
This is a great idea. I think I will separate into smaller batches for each EO, unless I know I like a combination for certain things. You could easily do this in mason jars (small) and then have the Epsom’s salts for specific uses based on their oils. Epsom’s salts are great for so very many things all by themselves, but adding in the bit of EO that would just have been wasted well that is just a win win!
Great idea! I went with one huge bottle simply because space is at a premium in my house, so it was better for me to have 1 tall jar instead of several smaller ones. But I think if you have the space for it, the smaller jars will be excellent and very useful, because like you said, you can reach for each jar for specific reasons. Thanks for sharing that idea!
If I’m not mistaken, you can make your own powder doing this. Just put the open bottles in corn starch for a few days (I would only use one scent) and you now have scented talc you can use with a powder puff. You can also use perfume of your choice on a cotton ball to make scented talc.
My dermatologist had me stop using cornstarch as a body powder. It’s basically the primary ingredient for the medium in which bacteria and all other types of nasties are grown in Petri dishes!
So I went back to talc powder (magnesium silicate) which is not the same thing as cornstarch (corn). There’ve been safety questions about talc floating around for years, but there’s been nothing concrete to support them.
That said, I’ve cut back on using talc powder, generally using it only on areas where skin meets skin — between toes, under breasts, etc.
For a powder, I use sifted rice flour and a small amount of baking soda, sifted several times. I also sometimes use a small amount of powdered rose hips or frankensence powder sifted in as well.
Great idea. Currently, I add my bottles to DIY laundry powder. And when I think they have given up everything, I place them in a lingerie laundry bag & wash them with clothes. I like your idea better because using Epsom Salts is much more versatile. Plus I can still do the fianl laundry trick.