HOW DO YOU STORE YOUR ESSENTIAL OILS?

WOW!  That is all I can say.  The more I learn about essential oils, the more I find that the care and use of them can be complicated, but very worth it! 

I currently have all of my oils stored on a couple of shelves in my office.  All in alphabetical order. 

Although my office is cool, I have recently learned that Essentials Oils will last longer in....wait for it....

Yep, that is right!  The fridge! Especially any citrus oils. 

I read the following from The Ananda Apothecary. 

"What we'll refer to as "shelf life" means the time for which the oil will retain the majority of its

aromatic and therapeutic potential when stored in common conditions: at room temperature, with the

cap on, out of sunlight, but not necessarily in the dark. It's important to note that even "sensitive" oils

stored undisturbed, sealed with as little air in the bottle as possible, in the refrigerator can last

significantly longer than the shelf life -- almost indefinitely, in-fact."

Reading more on what Ananda had to offer, the essential oils that degrade the fastest is cold-pressed citrus oils, with the most delicate one being Grapefruit.  Grapefruit, in a closed bottle, has been known to last only six months or less. 

To read more of what the Ananda Apothecary has to say about storing your oils and the shelf life of all oils from Citrus to Florals to herbs, grasses, and evergreens, CLICK HERE.  This is a PDF document that can be downloaded to your computer for reference. 

Another great article was written by Robert Tisserand.  You can read more of his article HERE

I was getting ready to start rearranging  my kitchen fridge to accommodate my essential oils, but Mr. Tisserand brought up a great point. 

 "If you put essential oil bottles into a fridge with food, some of that food may start to taste of essential oil. So keep them in a container: wooden box, plastic box or zip-up bag . If you have a large collection of oils, or plan to, buy a dedicated fridge – they come in all sizes."

This is now why I plan on investing on a compact size fridge to keep in my office that will be dedicated only to my essential oils. 

We all invest a lot of money in essential oils to better our health.  We need to respect what they can do for us and keep them for as long as we can.  There are a lot of oils that don't even last a month in my house, but for those that I only use a little at a time, the investment in a fridge will be well worth it.

10/29/2013 UPDATE: Thank you to my friend over at Created2Fly, she has done a wonderful follow up with additional information!  I urge you to please read this blog post on Protecting Your Investments!  Click Here to read more! 

Here are a few tips:  Look at garage sales, or even online garage sales.  Go to your local thrift store. 

Whatever you do, take care of you and your essential oils! 

This is just another example of doing your homework and researching when beginning to use essential oils.