Go Green!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

You may have just finished your green breakfast, put on your green shirt and started planning your green dinner, but "green" has new meaning in our everyday vocabulary these days. Conversations about saving the planet, recycling, reducing your carbon footprint and living plastic free are more commonplace. I love all of it. I can't say that we have fully embraced every "green" idea, but we do what we can and are always looking for small ways we can make our contribution to a better earth.

I couldn't help but pass on this creative idea from Laura Wilson: Re-useable Snack Bags. Click here for her tutorial. I have not made my own yet, but can't wait to get started. I am not a seamstress by any stretch of the word. Looking over the tutorial, it doesn't look like you need to be a rocket scientist to make these -- my kind of project. I would love to see my family use less plastic bags. This seems like an easy solution though you couldn't use them for everything you use a ziploc bag for.

Give Away: Bissell Steam Mop

From the moment our family moved into our most recent apartment I found myself on the lookout for a way to sanitize my floors. Our parquet wood flooring circa 1970 has been met with one-too-many a shoe that has walked the streets of Manhattan-and it showed. I knew this was a job bigger than my Swiffer Wet Jet could handle- so I was on the hunt for something new.

In my search for floor sterilization products, I came across a whole myriad of steam mops.
Some were European, some were industrial strength- all were tempting.....and expensive. I loved the idea though- a chemical free way to clean (and even sterilize!:) your floors by using steam.

As I furthered my search, in hopes of finding a cheaper steam mop alternative, I came across the Bissell Steam Mop. It was much cheaper than the competition ($79), and had some pretty high ratings, so I thought I would give it a try.

Overall, I love this mop. It ships mostly assembled- which is nice. You have to pop the head on, and screw in the handle, pop on the filter, and that is it assembly-wise. Slide on the microfiber cover (it comes with 3!), fill up the water tank, plug it in, and within a minute or so you are ready to steam your floors. Very easy.

I love that the head of the Steam Mop swivels. It can fit in the little space around my toilet, and slide under my couches and beds. One of my favorite things about this mop is that there is not much to buy beyond the original purchase of the mop. No refill cleaners or expensive paper replacement mop heads like I have had to purchase in the past with the Swiffer Wet Jet.
The only thing that requires replacement is the water filter ($10). You can prolong the life of your filter by using distilled water in your Steam Mop.

The Steam Mop covers slide easily over the base of the mop, and can be tightened securely with the attached toggle. When you are done mopping, the cover can be easily taken off and machine washed.

Some things to be aware of if you are considering purchasing the Steam Mop:

• The Steam Mop only emits steam when you push down on the steam trigger. It will not release a continuous steam. I found myself pushing the steam button for most of my mopping experience (yes, I am a clean freak) and getting a finger cramp at times.
  
• The Steam Mop will not work miracles. It does a fantastic job at cleaning my floors- much better than any mop I have previously owned- but with that said you still have to do some bicep work. The mop is somewhat difficult to push across my hardwood floor (although it does glide nicely over my tile).
  
• You have to be careful about what kind of flooring you use it on. It cannot be used on unsealed wood. Period. Some people have reported problems when they used it on their old linoleum. I have no problem using it on my bathroom tile, kitchen tile and parquet wood floor.
  

With caveats aside, I love this mop. I use it twice a week in our home. After mopping my floors I occasionally change the mop cover and steam my low-pile area rugs. It cleans them very well (not recommended by Bissell, and I wouldn't do this on a priceless rug, just IKEA rugs like I have). I love the idea of cleaning my floors without chemicals. My kids spend most of their day on the floor playing so keeping the floor clean and chemical-free is a big deal to me.

Who wants to clean their floors with the chemical-free BISSELL Steam Mop?? One lucky reader will win their very own BISSELL Steam mop! Enter by leaving a comment on this post before midnight October 14th. The winner will be randomly selected and announced on the morning of the 15th. Shipping to continental US only. Thank you BISSELL!!

Dropps

It seems like everything is showing up in "tablet" form now. I have to say, when dish washing detergent started coming in tablet form, I quickly converted- and never turned back. I do not miss those annoying granules or liquid squeeze bottles at all.
Now it is your washing machine's turn to give the tablet idea a whirl. Dropps Detergent comes in these little portion sized tablets (they call them liquid pacs) that you just throw in with you load of laundry- and start up your machine. These liquid pacs dissolve completely in your laundry load. There are no cups to fill. No liquid detergent residue gookiness on the top of your dryer. No stray laundry granules collecting on your floor. Laundry Nirvana.
Dropps are especially handy for laundry room/laundry mat patrons here in NYC. Who wants to lug a jug and a weeks worth of laundry with them down the block? With Dropps, you just bring along a tiny liquid pac for each load you anticipate washing, and you are set. No plastic jugs or cardboard cartons to deal with transporting.
Dropps bills itself as an eco-friendly company. Dropps are biodegradable, phosphate-free, and chlorine free. The packaging "footprint" is also considerably smaller than the average laundry container.
Dropps are perfect for front loading, high efficiency machines, but can also be used in standard washers. You may, however need to use two tablets if your standard wash load is large. We have a small front loading machine in our apartment and the Dropps pacs keeps me from overdosing the machine with too much detergent.
Many of the reviewers on Amazon stated that they loved Dropps because this product helped simplify the laundry process- allowing their older children to help out with the laundry. Several reviewers wrote that they sent their laundry un-savvy college-bound kids to school with a Dropps supply. All of these are great ideas. My kids are too young to help me with the laundry yet....but I am filing this idea away for later.
Dropps are slightly more expensive than the average detergent. On Amazon, a 60 load pack will cost about $22. That works out to be $0.36 a load. In comparison, a Tide HE detergent 124 load pack will cost you about $35. At a cost of $0.29 a load. If you purchase Dropps directly from the Dropps website, you will pay $0.30 a load if you opt for the 240 pack, which is $72 and free shipping.

Some Target stores carry Dropps. You can enter your zip code to see if you are lucky.

*Hot diggity dog, I just found Dropps on sale at Walmart.com- $4.47 for a 20 pack. That works out to be $0.22 a load. You will have to add on shipping if you are unable to take advantage of the "site to store" free shipping. Even with the shipping added on, it is still cheaper than Amazon.
-Theresa