I bought this on a whim when I saw the cover; I've always been interested in using the inherent properties of plants to do things that we normally rely on chemicals to do.

This was exactly what I'd hoped it would be and exactly what it says it is in the title: recipes for using essential oils and other natural, easily attainable ingredients to accomplish... just about everything. I'm not ready to tackle making my own dishwasher tablets (yet) but I am totally going to try making my own rinse aid. The recipe for deterring spiders is #1 on the list (they love to make webs in my window screens and on my clothes line) and I'm keen to try the bathroom grout cleaner, along with a number of others.

While I haven't tried any yet (which is why I stuck with 4 stars), I flipped through and read through all the recipes and they all look very simple and use a minimum of ingredients. The oils are pricey, but they're measured out in drops and most of the recipes seem to rely on tea tree and lemon oil; I'm pretty sure just having these two oils on-hand will cover a lot of the stuff in this book. My only complaint thus far: the author occasionally suggests alternative oils to use in the recipes, but I'd have liked more of this; I'm not particularly a fan of the lemon scent, for example, and I'd like to know what other oils would work as well but also suit my personal tastes.

I'll be oil shopping this weekend, and I'm thinking I'll order a copy for my BF as a surprise; if this kind of thing interests you, I'd definitely recommend taking a look. ( )