Panic has gripped the world because of the Coronavirus and supermarkets are selling out of hand sanitiser, cleaning products, disinfectants, toilet paper and rice etc. It seems that people are easily panicked.
I heard a psychologist say on the news that the buying of sanitiser etc. helps people feel that they can take some control over the situation.
I have a few other ideas about the panic and a few common sense and proactive solutions that will help you avoid a frantic trip to the shops…..
Why the Panic?
1. The ‘convenience’ society!
Many people rely on pre-prepared foods these days and don’t have a stock of the food basics in their home. They also only buy household products in small quantities. This may be because they are time poor or because of a lack of storage space and/or because they live close to the supermarket, i.e. there has been a shift to shopping more frequently and buying less each shop.
In good times that is OK. But, it means that they are vulnerable when there are shortages! People then go panic buying. Where does this leave the rest of us who are just trying to do our weekly shop? With very small bags of groceries and a longer list for next week…..
2. The digital world
There are so many ways to connect with the world these days and we spend so much time connecting to it that we are bound to pick up a bit of anxiety at times. At the moment we are constantly being bombarded with information about the spread of the virus and the number of deaths. Even the intonation of the news reader’s voice can impact our response to what we hear. Yesterday I heard a newsreader talking about the number of cases of the disease in New South Wales (Australia). He said that the number had grown to FIFTEEN. (I wrote it in capitals and bold to demonstrate how he spoke the word.) Is fifteen a big number? No, not at all, but with strong emphasis it sounds bad. If he had said that there were fifteen cases i.e. with no emphasis, my response would have been – ‘OK, that’s not too many’.
But clearly the message of panic is louder than the one about using your common sense! I guess if you hear the same message enough times it might seem real for you.
3. Over reliance on Commercial Cleaning and Health Products
When I was growing up my mother used a lot of soap, hot water and elbow grease to clean our house. She worked hard and because she was a clean freak, she cleaned every day with basic soap based products. But over the years we have become over reliant on commercial cleaning products i.e. we have been introduced to an ever growing list of cleaning and health products that will apparently make our houses cleaner and safer than ever before!
But do they really do this or are we all just victims of very clever and well funded marketing departments?
If we buy into the belief that we need a complex range of products to wash our hands and clean our houses we become victims of these clever marketing campaigns and feel vulnerable when denied access to the products – which is exactly what is happening right now.
But are these products all necessary to stay clean and healthy?
Is it really necessary to panic buy or can you just use your common sense and get creative about cleaning?
For example, if you were quarantined for a week or two would you struggle to survive if you ran out of creamy hand wash? What would you use instead? A cake of soap perhaps? And what about the hand sanitisers that your see (or usually see) lining the shelves of chemists and supermarkets? Why do you need them in your home if you already have soap and hot water? I do understand that you might wish to have some sanitiser in your bag for when you are out. But there are other ways to stay clean and healthy.
So why not stop listening to the negative TV messages, do some research on the topic, start thinking for yourself and start making your own products?
Get Creative and Make Your Own
* Before I go on I just want to let you know that I have added some links to my doTERRA webpage throughout this post so you can check out any of the oils I mention.
I said in the title of this post ‘don’t panic, keep calm and get creative!!’ What do I mean by that? Make your own cleaning products from simple ingredients – that way you will have everything you need at hand when it is needed. It’s what I do every day/week/month of the year. We never use commercial cleaning or personal care products. In fact I can walk down the whole cleaning aisle in the supermarket without picking anything off the shelves. So when I hear that sanitisers are gone from the shelves I am not concerned. I have the raw materials at home to make my own cleaning products and soap.
And this is the crux of the matter – you only need a few simple ingredients to make any of the products necessary to clean you and and your house!
If you choose DIY you will also be doing your household a favour as you reduce the overall toxic load in your home.
The basic ingredients I would recommend for you at this time are Castile Soap, Rubbing Alcohol, Aloe Vera, Melt and Pour Soap and Vinegar. Other basics include Bicarbonate of Soda, Washing Soda, Salt and Citric acid. These ingredients don’t take much space and if you have them on hand you will be ready to make all sorts of products for your personal and household needs i.e. you can make a cleaning spray, washing up liquid, clothes washing liquid, dishwasher powder/tablets and an effective cleaner for your toilet. You can also make solid and liquid soaps. All of these products are easy to make and can be mixed up in minutes.
On top of the simple ingredients listed we use Essential Oils to add not only aroma to our DIY products but also to assist with cleaning and disinfecting. Here are two Oils that we use all the time around our house for cleaning and disinfecting purposes!
Most of these ingredients, including the Essential Oils, can be purchased online and delivered to your door.
How can you get started?
We have written a number of posts about getting started with DIY. These posts will help you to understand the types of ingredients you will need and the places where you can purchase the ingredients. We also provide some recipes to follow.
Getting Organised for DIY with Essential Oils
Quick Guide for Finding DIY Ingredients Part 1.
A Note on Soap for Handwashing
Although I do carry a doTERRA Hand Sanitiser in my bag, it is not really necessary because I also carry a small bottle of Foaming Handwash with me. The reason for this is that I don’t wish to use the highly coloured and perfumed soaps in public bathrooms. But at the moment, I want to be ready for all situations i.e. with my foaming handwash and water from my water bottle I can wash my hands wherever I am.
What Next?
Once you master the basics you can move on to personal care products such as face cream, perfume, body cream, hair conditioning sprays etc. But at this point in time, keep to the products that will help you stay healthy.
You can quite easily turn your day to day existence and dependence on commercial products into something that is enriched by Essential Oils, much more healthy for you and sustainable, even in the hard times that we may or may not be facing right now.
If you are ready to enter the world of essential oils and you decide to go the doTERRA way, I would love to help you get started and support you if you want some help. Here is how you can do this: go to my doTERRA website to find out about the range of oil and oil based products available for purchase. You can also sign up to become a member on this site. Once signed up you can purchase oils for wholesale prices! But if you would like some more information click on the Contact Me on the doTERRA website and I will respond to your questions.
We hope you will also join us at Helpful By Nature by subscribing to our email list. We would love to hear from you, take your questions and provide answers if we are able.
Until next time,
Gillian (and Andrew)
