Category : Natural Household Products

Detergents Giveaway Natural Household Products Review Washing

Yoreganics Laundry To Go Travel Trio Review & Giveaway (CLOSED 2/22)

yoreganics laundry to go

Yoreganics sells USDA organic personal care and laundry products including shave gel, lip balm, foaming wash, soap nuts, stain remover and brightener/whitener.
 

yoreganics natural laundry products

I received the travel size laundry trio, which is enough for 25 loads, and retails for $14.99.  The set is also available in sample, medium, large and extra-large sizes.  The travel set included a generous helping of soap nuts, a muslin bag, .41 oz stain remover spray, and two small baggies (6 oz.) of brightens & whitens.
 

yoreganics

Kim included a handwritten note, which was a really nice touch.  I realize she probably isn’t able to do that for every order, but as a reviewer, it was really nice to get!
 

soap nuts

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Natural Household Products Review

Staples Sustainable Earth Multi-Purpose Cleaner Review

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sustainable earth
When I think “Staples,” I think of office supplies (love office supply stores by the way, I’m weird, I know.)  I really don’t think of cleaning products, let alone earth-friendly products.  Staples does sell things like coffee, snacks and bottled water, as well as cleaning products, to make it a one-stop shop for an office or small business. 
They have just introduced a new line called Sustainable Earth.  The products are ammonia and phosphate free, and meet the Green Seal Environmental Standard for household cleaners.  The line consists of Mult-Purpose Cleaner and Glass Cleaner.  32 oz bottles sell for $2.99 and one gallon refills sell for $9.99.
I had the opportunity to try the Sustainable Earth Multi-Purpose Cleaner.
earth friendly cleaner
I used it to clean my counters, vanities and sinks.  All of my surfaces were clean with no streaks.  I used it with a microfiber towel that I received with a diaper (I prefer to use sewn inserts in my diapers.)
I ended up going on a bit of a cleaning frenzy and dusted everything, including our wood blinds.  They are so hard to get dust-free but it worked!

sustainable earth

It didn’t work as well on glass, so I’d recommend using the glass cleaner instead!
sustainable earth
I tried cleaning it again with a clean rag, but it was still streaky.
staples sustainable earth
I ended up using windex (shame on me, I know!) to get it clean.  I’d be interested to see how the glass cleaner performs, since the multi-purpose cleaner worked so well on other surfaces.  I never have good luck with multi purpose cleaners on glass!
The Sustainable Earth Multi-Purpose Cleaner contains Bio-based ingredients, and the ingredients read: Water, cleaning agents, corn-based ethanol, fragrance and colorant.  It has a mild scent, but I think it would be fine without the fragrance or colorant.  I’m also very curious as to what the cleaning agents actually are.
I am always happy to see affordable, “greener” options in mainstream stores, I think it’s a step in the right drection!
FTC compliance: I received a 4 oz. sample container of Multi-Purpose Cleaner for review purposes.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this post.
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Giveaway Natural Household Products Review

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Review & Giveaway (2 winners!) CLOSED

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Mrs. Meyer’s makes “Clean Day” aromatherapeutic household cleaners.  All products are cruelty-free, and have never been tested on animals.  There are no solvents, no petroleum distillates, no bleach, no phosphates and no ingredients that could cause harsh fumes.  Most of their products have a near neutral pH that makes them safe for skin contact.  

Their products are also environmentally friendly.  All of their liquid cleaning products are biodegradable, and the powdered products break down into “non-harmful decomposition products.”

They are middle of the road, in my opinion, as far as being “natural” goes.  Here is what they have to say: We use naturally derived ingredients whenever possible from corn, sugar cane, coconut and palm. When we cannot find a plant-derived ingredient that performs to our rigorous standards, we use ingredients from the world of safe synthetics. These are materials with a long history of safety and efficacy in use for people and the environment they live in. At Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day, we do our best every day to make our formulations as natural as possible without compromising freshness, and performance.

The all purpose cleaner is to be diluted 1/4 cup to 1 gallon of water.  You can also use 4 Tablespoons to a half bottle of water to make a refill for the countertop spray.  The MSRP of a 32 oz concentrated bottle is $7.99.
I went off in hunt of an empty spray bottle and came home with a bottle of countertop spray!
A 32 oz, empty Rubbermaid bottle (the only one I could find other than travel size/personal care bottles) was $3.99 and out of stock.  The 16 oz bottle of countertop spray was also $3.99!  Easy choice.
The countertop spray is basically the all purpose cleaner, with an additional vegetable protein extract added to remove odors.
The spray is safe for all non-porous surfaces, so I suppose I technically should not be using it on my counters.
Don’t tell the granite police on me, m’kay?  I think they look great!
The liquid hand soap is 12.5 ounces with an MSRP of $3.99.
It does contain sodium laureth sulfate.
I think the pump blends in nicely with my kitchen!
The soap foamed nicely, though it didn’t make big, giant bubbles.  It rinsed off cleanly and easily in our soft water, something I can’t say about other soaps.  Initially I thought the scent was a bit strong for my sensitive sniffer, but it mellowed out shortly after I washed my hands.  The scent sticks around, but it doesn’t stay terribly strong.
I also received the dish soap in the lemon verbena scent.
I really don’t hand wash a lot of dishes.  Mostly things that don’t fit in the dishwasher, can’t go in the dishwasher, or things that can’t wait for the dishwasher to be full.  I washed the cake saver thingie that my son’s Birthday cake was in; it had some pretty caked on, greasy buttercream icing and fondant on it.
Just a little squirt.
Nice and clean.  Rinsed easily.  The lemon verbena scent actually reminds me of lemon dish soap.  Hard to describe, but it is much milder and more earthy smelling then the fresh, citrusy “kitchen lemon” type scent.
Mrs. Meyers has so many more products.  I smelled the Baby Blossom scent at a store and it smells heavenly!  They have geranium, lavender and basil scents in all sorts of household products.  I’d love to try the automatic dish packs, window spray or toilet bowl cleaner.  Scrubbing toilets is bad enough; having to smell the stinky cleaner just adds insult to injury.  I’d rather smell geraniums! 
Interested?  Find Mrs. Meyer’s products at a store near you, or shop online.
Or, win it.  Mrs. Meyer’s is generously offering two winners Dish Soap, Hand Soap and Countertop spray in their choice of scent!

Here’s how to enter:  You may do any or all of the below.  Leave a separate comment for each entry.  Please be sure your email address is in at least one of your comments if it isn’t visible in your profile.

1. Browse Mrs. Meyer’s products and tell me what products and scents you like best.
2. Subscribe to my blog via RSS feed/feedburner.
3. “Like” me on Facebook.
4. “Follow” me on Twitter.  (Anyone else humming “every breath you take, every move you make, I’ll be watchin’ you?”)
5. Tweet about this giveaway.  One tweet per day please.  Please include a link to this post.  You may use this tweet if you like: Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day prize packs – 2 winners from @chgdiapers, ends 6/21 http://bit.ly/8ZWdrX

This is open to the U.S. only.  I will accept entries until Monday, June 21st, 2010 at 9 P.M. Eastern. I’ll select the winners with random.org’s true random number generator and contact the winners by email.  Products will be sent directly from the manufacturer.
Thank you to Mrs. Meyer’s for providing the review and giveaway products.  Though I was given products at no charge for review purposes, all opinions are genuine and my own.  Your opinions may vary.
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Natural Household Products Review

Ecover Ecological Dishwashing Liquid Review

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ecover

I don’t actually hand wash a whole lot of dishes anymore.  I often hand wash when I am baking and need some of my cups, measuring spoons etc. to be clean for another use.  This was true on Friday when I was making my hubby’s Birthday cake and needed the stuff to be clean in order to make the frosting.  My Ecover Ecological Dishwashing Liquid came in the mail that day, so it was perfect timing.
The Lemon and Aloe Vera Dishwashing Liquid came packaged in shredded material.  I love this re-purposing. 
The scent was mild and pleasant, just a light citrus. 
It’s both effective and environmentally friendly.
Simple ingredients, but do note that it contains wheat proteins.
I just used a little dab.
It was sudsy enough to work but didn’t make a big mess of bubbles.
I’m not too picky about my dish soap, but I know what I don’t like: too much/not enough sudsing, not rinsing clean, leaving water spots, strong scents (especially flowery stuff), leaving my hands either dry or slimy and other things I’m sure I’m not thinking of right now!  The Ecover was great.  The dishes were clean, my hands felt fine, the scent was light.
No suds mountain in the sink either.  Eek, my sink needs a good cleaning though!
One last shot, the fruits (cake?) of my labor!
Best.  Chocolate.  Cake.  Recipe.  Ever.  So gooey and delicious.  Even my Dad likes it and he’s a weirdo that likes everything “cakey.”  He even prefers dry, cakey brownies to rich, gooey ones.  I know, what a freak.  I must be adopted.
Ecover also makes automatic dishwasher tablets and powder, rinse aid, two other dish soap scents, lots of other environmentally friendly cleaning products, laundry products and even car and boat care products.
Check the store locator and then print coupons to save on Ecover products!
Thank you to Ecover for sending me the dish detergent at no charge.  The freebie in no way affected my review and all opinions (and cakes!) are my own.
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Cloth Diapering Detergents Eco-Friendly/Green Natural Household Products Review Washing

Naturoli Soap Nuts

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My friend Tonya is switching her household to all “green,” one week at a time.  She’s writing in on Cafemom’s The StirHere is the post that prompted the one I’m writing right now!  At the bottom of the post you can read the posts from prior weeks as well.
Anyhoo, when she bought her Naturoli soap nuts, she noticed that they were cloth diaper safe and offered to send me some.  I’ve been using them on my cloth diapers for over three weeks now and I am so grateful to her for sending them to me!
naturoli
What are soap nuts?  They’re the dried husks of the soapberry.  They contain saponin, which works as a natural surfactant.  They can be used for a lot more than laundry as well.
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