Archive for the 'Reviews' Category

July 4, 2007 | Reviews, Outdoors, Shopping, Lifestyle

Lots of areas in the US are experiencing severe drought right now, and many are exercising water restrictions. Here’s a nifty idea to salvage those trees and plants without draining your municipal water supply.

Landscape USA sells Aqua Cones -6 for $12.99. They screw on to the top of 2-liter soda bottles, and you insert the cone into the ground. They give water directly to the roots, where it’s most needed. That way water isn’t wasted on leaves or in places where it will quickly evaporate.

The truly green-minded will save ‘waste’ water from the tap - from washing dishes, or from waiting for the water to warm up.

June 18, 2007 | Reviews, Cleaning products

It was brilliant. The problem: I have to wait to sweep my tile floors until the kids are in bed so they won’t track through my swept-up-crumbs pile and kick it all over the kitchen. BUT (eurkea!) if I had one of those cool non-electric dirt-grabber-sweeper things they use in restaurants I could actually have my 3 year old sweep up for me! (And oh, how she loves to help clean! No really, I’m serious!) Brilliant. Right?

But then I went to the Oreck store to try their Restaurateur. It turns out they only work well on that thin restaurant-style carpet. Not on tile. Or hardwoods. There are a couple more on the market - Hoover makes one. Maybe I’ll go to my friendly Hoover store just down the street and try one. I’m still hoping. How much easier would my life be if my kids could sweep the crumbs off the floor? Hmm… If only I had that, I’d be happy… (well, no. Let’s try again.) If only I had that, I’d be a better mom… (still not right.) If only I had that, my kids could contribute more to the household upkeep and share the load with me! Now wouldn’t that be nice?

June 12, 2007 | Water, Reviews, Broom Hugged, Food & drink, Being Green, Shopping

Did you know that in most cities the municipal water supply goes through much greater scrutiny than bottled waters? That means your tap water may be healthier than bottled water. And frankly, the plastic used in bottled waters is atrocious for the environment. Really, if you’re drinking bottled water - especially from those little throw-away single use bottles - consider switching to something a little more earth friendly. Either get yourself a water cooler if you’re too cool for tap water, or if you just don’t like the taste, get a decent filter for your tap. And spend the money you would have used on bottled water to get yourself a nice reusable bottle to keep with you on the go. It wouldn’t hurt if it was pretty too, right?

Klean Kanteen has sippy adapters now for use with toddlers and preschoolers. Turn your stainless steel Klean Kanteen into your child’s spill-proof sippy, and you won’t have to worry about the carcinogenic hazards of poor quality plastics leeching into little Johnny’s juice. They’re on sale now at Reusable Bags. And while you’re there, pick up a tote bag for your groceries. Save us from plastic-bag-dependency!

June 9, 2007 | Reviews, Broom Hugged, Kitchen, Being Green, Cleaning products

I’ve never been a huge fan of Simple Green, even though it was my first foray into healthier cleaning products. In fact, I learned about it and got my first sample and coupon at a Baby Fair (no, it wasn’t a fair selling babies, silly! It was a product fair for people with babies!). I liked it, it did an okay job for me, and through it I learned about the health hazards to me and my baby from regular household cleaners.

That said, Simple Green always seemed to me like it did everything half way. It was half-way environmentally-friendly, and half-way healthy. It did a decent job cleaning, but nothing I’d write a blog about. Now, before I move on to tell you why I’m a convert, let me elaborate for a moment on the chemical composition of Simple Green. It’s made from a solvent called 2-butoxyethanol, which is a known environmental hazard, and it causes a whole range of health problems. But, according to the MSDS sheet, upon completion of the manufacturing process, Simple Green� does not possess the occupational health risks associated with exposure to undiluted 2-butoxyethanol, it is non-carcinogenic and non-mutagenic. Simple Green’s Clean Building products (lemon scent is not included) have also received the Green Seal, which is pretty trustworthy for making steps toward environmental accountability. The good: it’s safe, concentrated, and healthy. The bad: it has a pretty big footprint in the grand scheme of things.

Now, on to cleaning capabilities. I wasn’t impressed - at first. I found that it cleaned most surfaces just as well as other cleaners, with no difference in effort or time spent cleaning. So if I’m not going to save myself time or effort, I might as well go with something that has less of an environmental footprint. Right? Until I cleaned my stove top and oven with it tonight! Oh. my. goodness. I breezed through my stove top. The stove backsplash didn’t clean as easily - it’s a softer vinly-ish surface so I had to use a scraper (my scraper from Pampered Chef is perfect) to get off some of the grease spots there. But I’ve never cleaned my stove top faster than I did today. And I was so impressed, I decided to give it a real test and try it on my oven then and there! Now, this never happens. I have 2 toddlers. In other words, I only have time for one cleaning task at any given moment. But, I was actually so excited about cleaning that I couldn’t stop myself! I cleaned my oven. And it was easy!

So, as a degreaser (which is basically what you need for stovetop and oven), Simple Green is amazing. I’ve compared it to most of the other oven cleaners out there, and there isn’t an oven cleaner on the market that equals (much less beats) Simple Green when it comes to health and environmental concerns.

June 7, 2007 | Reviews, Broom Hugged, Bathroom, Cleaning tips

Wanna know the best way to clean your shower? Don’t let it get dirty! How do you do that? Squeegee it every day! Really, it doesn’t take long. Just a few flicks of the wrist and you’re done. It’ll keep mold and mildew from growing, it’ll keep the soap scum and lime deposits from building up… There’s not much it won’t do! (Except your shower head… you’ll still have to use other means to clean that.)

This is an especially helpful tip if your house is on the market. Save yourself hours of scrubbing the tile and shower doors by taking a couple minutes after each shower to squeegee. It’ll keep that shower bright and shiny - and buyer-friendly! Get a cute squeegee like this one, and it even looks kind of decorative!

May 11, 2007 | Reviews, Broom Hugged, Cleaning tips, Cleaning products

If you haven’t used them, they’re *fantastic*! There are different kinds of cloths - you can get them for all-purpose (kind of your go-to solution for most surfaces), for glass, for stainless steel, even for cars. You can use them with or without cleaning solutions. That is, you can spay on some vinegar and water (or your favorite cleaning product), and wipe-wipe; or just use it dry! When you’re done, throw it in the wash and use it again after it dries!� And ya know what else? You can find them in lots of yummy colors!

These cloths really bring out the power of your cleaning solution, or help you maintain a clean and healthy environment minus the chemicals (or vinegar or lemon juice - pick your weapon!). You can get them at Home Depot, the grocery store, Whole Foods, or even warehouse discount stores. If you haven’t tried them, make them your new addition to your cleaning regime this summer. They’ll cut down on your work tremendously, and once you start you’ll never go back to paper towels and t-shirt rags.

May 9, 2007 | Water, Reviews, Broom Hugged, Food & drink, Being Green, Shopping

Here it is. Featured on Oprah. Called the toughest water bottle by Backpacker Magazine.

Sigg water bottles are a great looking, fully-functional way to tote your water and be kind to the earth. They keep your water tasting like water and don’t allow particles to seep into it.

They’re dishwasher safe. And the rest of the good news? After 10-15 uses, it pays for itself! Yes, your tap water is most likely perfectly safe and clean, and if you filter it well you can be sure it is. In fact, it’s probably cleaner than most bottled waters. And… no more putting plastic water bottles in the landfills. Check it out here!

April 2, 2007 | Reviews, Being Green, Shopping

Check this out! It’s biodegradable, earthy-friendly, plant based lipstick. The packaging is plant-based and biodegradable too. And what’s best? Plant the box it came in, and it’ll sprout flowers! Plant Love lipstick by CARGO is available exclusively at Sephora. Reviewers say the lipstick feels great on, so I can’t wait to buy mine. And try it. And plant it!

Now that’s clever.