8 Thrifty Strategies to Get the Best Essential Oils for the Lowest Possible Price

Disclaimer: I am sharing my own personal experience, but I am NOT offering medical advice of any sort.  Please consult your physician should you have any questions or concerns about how essential oils will interface with any medication you are currently taking. Essential oils have not been tested by the FDA. 

There was a season of my life when I was pretty darn good at rockin’ the coupons. I didn’t have a spare room in my house dedicated to my stash of freebies, or anything, but I did have a closet, and it was stuffed with mouthwash, shampoo, toothpaste, diapers and razors that I’d gotten for free or close to free. My pantry and my freezer were the same way…plenty of boxes of super cheap food at the ready!

The only problem was that most of the stuff I got for free was actually quite terrible for us. The food was, generally speaking, loaded with sodium an preservatives and the toiletries had all sorts of questionable chemicals in them. What I learned over time is that everything comes with a price, and if you aren’t paying that price in dollars you might well be paying it in other ways. I was compromising my family’s health to cut some costs in our monthly budget. I was the perfect example of being penny-wise and pound foolish. 

I’m sharing this story with you because I get a lot of push back from people about the cost of Young Living essential oils. And on the surface, I can totally understand why it might seem ludicrous to pay $23.50 for a bottle of lavender when the health food store down the street sells lavender oil for $9. But I can promise you, this: when it comes to essential oils, you get what you pay for. Do you only want your house to smell good? Then go for that $9 bottle, friend. Do you NOT want to be inhaling chemicals and synthetic additives when you diffuse your lavender oil? And do you want therapeutic benefits from your oil? Then you might want to hold off on that $9 purchase, because it will only be a waste of your $9.

We’ve talked about the unparalleled quality of Young Living’s products. Their seed to seal guarantee will leave you absolutely confident that you have made an investment in quality that will pay dividends for you as a consumer. The difference will be like night and day, and I speak from experience on that one.

But still…the price is the price, and while the per drop price point for most of the oils is actually quite thrifty, it may still sting a bit at the point of purchase, especially if you are the type of person who loves a good bargain. I can totally empathize with this point of view because it speaks to me and to how I am inclined to shop. So with that in mind, I wanted to share with you all some thrifty strategies that I have put into place so that I can get the best essential oils for the lowest possible price. Now that I have experienced the quality difference, I can’t go back to lower grade oils. So I have to work the system for the best possible prices. Here are 8 strategies you can use to get the best possible prices, too!

1. Ask for a Coupon

Young Living distributors, on occasion, have $20 off coupons for their brand new members who purchase the premium starter kit. I have been with Young Living for a year now and have earned 3 of these coupons. I want to emphasize that they aren’t regular occurrences, and that the distributors EARN them. So they aren’t freely available, I promise. But it never hurts to ask, and you just might get lucky. If you are thinking about signing up for a wholesale membership, reach out to the person you’d like to sign up under and see if they have a coupon to use when signing up. They just might! (hint, hint…I might have one right now! stuffparentsneed (at) gmail (dot) com). 

2. Get a Wholesale Membership

If you are budget-conscious, you may think it is NOT a good idea to sign up as a wholesale member and purchase the premium starter kit on account of the $150 cost. But let me break it down for you, friend: this is the best deal on the entire Young Living site! The kit comes with a difuser, which retails for $99 (and trust me, the $25 diffusers on the market are not at all like this one…another case of getting what you pay for) and it comes with a collection of 10 oils that retails for $163 AND a bonus Citrus Fresh oil which retails for $20 and some great samples and the product catalog and….are you starting to see what I’m saying, here??? I’ve purchased the kit three times because the value is just that great. You literally cannot buy the components of the kit without spending FAR more on your purchase. And guess what? Because you bought the kit, you have a wholesale membership which means that any purchase you make from here on out is 24% off. BOOM.

3. Share the Love and Get Your Kit Paid For

So what if that $150 price tag is just a bit too much for your budget, even if you totally get that it’s a great deal? I understand that situation, for sure, and I have more good news for you. As a wholesale member, in any given month when you spend at least 50PV (which for the sake of simplicity is like spending $50), you can earn referral bonuses for signing up your friends and family with Young Living. You will have a unique referral link that you can share with anyone who asks you about your oils and if they sign up under you and purchase a kit, you earn $50. So all you need to do is get 3 of your friends to try out the oils with you and your kit is basically paid for, simple as that.

4. Get Additional Discounts Through Essential Rewards

For us thrifty folks, this next idea is also not going to sound like a good idea, at first. But just hear me out and you will see how this strategy is GREAT for getting your oils at a better price. Young Living loves to reward its regular customers by offering additional discounts to them through the Essential Rewards (ER) program. You commit to purchasing 50PV/month on oils, and in return, you earn a percentage back on your ER purchase in the form of credit that you can later spend on products. Additionally, there are special bonuses offered for higher volume orders each month exclusively for ER members. This means that there are FREEBIES to be had (and I have more details in strategy #6 on how to snag those freebies without spending your own money). By placing these monthly orders, you will save money on your oils and other Young Living products, and you will also get discounted shipping on your order. In the last year and a half I have personally earned enough credits to “purchase” over $900 in Young Living products FOR FREE. 🙂

5. Continue to Share the Love Get Your Essential Rewards Order Paid For

So the ER program sounds like a good deal for folks, but $50/month is still $50/month, and might be a tough thing to build into your budget. No problem, though! Remember how you got your Premium Starter Kit paid for? All you need to do is make a goal of referring 1 friend each month to Young Living and that will cover your Essential Rewards expenses. You will be totally shocked by how easy it is to refer your friends, too. Pinky promise. You are going to be having an amazing experience with the oils, and just by sharing your thoughts with others, you are going to pique their interest. The oils really do sell themselves. The post I did on Facebook just a few weeks ago got 8 comments. People are totally curious and want to try the oils, you’ll see! 🙂

6. Earn those Monthly Freebies Without Spending Your Own Money

I mentioned in strategy #4 that Young Living offers monthly promotional items to Essential Rewards members who place higher volume ER orders. Here’s the example from March 2015 just to give you an idea.

This month with a 190PV or higher order, you get a 5 ml of Marjoram free. If you are on Essential Rewards, you also get a 5ml of Idaho Balsam Fir for free. If your order goes up to 250PV, you earn a $20 enrollment coupon (like the ones mentioned above) to gift to someone else. And if your over goes to 300PV+, you also get a free Ortho Ease. The retail value at the 300PV level is $117.37. So as you can see, you can place a large order and get totally free products from Young Living as a thank you gift. And friends, there’s no reason for all of that money to be YOUR money! All you need to do is let your friends and family who are curious about Young Living and who want to try a few oils  go in on your monthly ER order. Every single month, for example, I am ordering the weight loss trio for at least 2 different people. That adds $100 to my order that I didn’t have to spend and helps me earn more ER credits (yay!) AND pushes me towards those bonuses. I personally typically spend $75-$100/month on my own oils and other products, and the rest of my order, which is almost always over 300PV, comes from other people going in on the order. They try the products for a good price. I earn the credits and keep those freebies. Win/win!

7. Start Replacing Products You Need to Purchase with Young Living Products

Another way to make the most of your Essential Rewards orders is to start replacing those chemical-filled products you likely have stuffed in your bathroom with products that are SO much better for you. I have donated my old toothpaste, mouthwash, deodorant, shampoo, body wash, lotion, and household cleaners and have replaced them with Young Living products that are absolutely AMAZING. I’m not spending that time clipping coupons, running from store to store to try to get the deal, and I’m feeling absolutely great about the products that are in my home. They are worth every single penny, and I get them for free now because that’s what I like to spend my earned Essential Rewards credits on. 🙂

8. Consider the Business Opportunity

If you are finding that your referrals are more numerous than the amount you need to cover your kit and your monthly ER purchases, then you might want to take a minute to explore the business opportunity that is staring you in the face right now. You may have started out looking for a way to get your essential oils for free but instead discovered something even more lucrative. I order a generous amount of product every month and my commission checks FAR exceed what I’m spending on products. I have turned something I enjoy sharing about into a legitimate business, and all on my own terms and during the hours that I choose to work. It’s a beautiful thing, and it is leading my family in the direction of financial peace and security. All that time spent clipping coupons got me on the path to thinking strategically about my purchases, which eventually led to me thinking strategically about my family’s health, which led me down this path toward abundance. If that sounds like something you might want to explore, I always love sharing my story with others, so don’t hesitate to reach out and we can talk more about it. stuffparentsneed (at) gmail (dot) com.