Soft Scrub Total Bath and Bowl Review and Giveaway

My first duty as a Soft Scrub Club Captain is to share information with you about how new Soft Scrub products work.  I received my first product last week and actually made a video showing how well it works, but am having a hard time getting it posted.  So as soon as I work out the bugs with that, I'll get the video on here. 

In the meantime, let me tell you a bit about Soft Scrub's new Total Bath and Bowl.  It's made to clean the entire bathroom, whcih means I don't have to lug around nine bottles of product to clean one room.  Me likee!!  It can clean tough tub rings and soap residue along with sinks, counters and toilets.

The bottle has some unique design features that allow you to use the product a few different ways.  First of all, you have the option of foam or spray.  I found that on tough, small jobs, like the toilet and my shower stall, the foam was great because it clings to the areas that I need it to work much longer than the spray would, giving Total Bath and Bowl more time to loosen the tough dirt and soap scum. 

There is a little tab that you flip over and snap into place to change from foam to spray.  Very easy and user friendly!   I used the spray on the jobs that had large areas to cover, like my countertops and bathroom sinks, as well as my big garden tub.  Both the foam and the spray do their job and my bathrooms were the cleanest they have been in awhile, without me having to spend hours really scrubbing! 

The other feature I loved about Soft Scrub Total Bath and Bowl is that the bottle is shaped so that you can flip it upside down and spray under the toilet rim.  I know...how many years did it take for someone to finally figure that out?  Yay for Soft Scrub! And it actually works!

I used it on all of my bathrooms, which were really in need of some serious cleaning.  It worked really well on the tubs, sinks, showers and countertops, it even removed some of the hard water deposits from my glass shower door!  It tackled everything but the hard water deposits (we have extremely hard water here!) at the water line of my toilet bowls.  Unfortunately, it didn't make much of a dent in those, but nothing but a jack hammer or hours of pumice stone can really handle those bad boys!  But the rest of the bowl looks sparkling clean, which is saying a lot given the fact that I live in a house full of males with poor aim!

Soft Scrub Total Bath and Bowl really is an all in one bathroom cleaner that saved me A LOT of time and made cleaning my bathrooms very, very easy and I can honestly say I will purchase the product again when this bottle is gone.  I am looking forward to trying out the other Soft Scrub "Total" products as they hit the market.

Win a bottle of Soft Scrub Total Bath and Bowl for yourself! Leave a comment telling me what part of the bathroom you hate cleaning the most! Winner will be chosen using Random.org and I will send the winner a coupon for free Soft Scrub Total Bath and Bowl. If you want extra entries you know the drill: Twitter the contest or post it on Facebook and leave me a separate comment! Contest ends on February 5th, at 12 midnight Arizona Time.

Winner - Ecostore Gift Card!

Congrats to Heidi! And thanks to everyone who took the time to read the review and enter the giveaway!

Trident Layers Gum Review

I have been chewing Trident gum since I was a kid. That was a long, long time ago, which should tell you young people that Trident has been around for awhile. Which is good as far as businesses go. It means they must know what they are doing when it comes to gum, yes?

My "go to" flavor (when I didn't feel like experimenting) has always been the classic pink bubblegum, with cinammon being the backup, because that's what my Grandma always carried in her purse.

So when Trident asked me to review two new flavors, I was all over it, because frankly? I ready for something new when it comes to a favorite chew. So in return for this review, Trident sent me 2 packs of Trident Layers: Wild Strawberry & Tangy Citrus and Green Apple & Golden Pineapple.

First off, I just want to say, I love the way the gum is packaged now, with the neat little carrying cases. Much easier to find in a purse. When you remove the foil wrappers you can immediately smell the fruit and it looks like a little gum sandwich in your hand with the different colored layers! My boys thought that was awesome.

After tasting both flavors, I have to say I have become a fan of the green apple/pinapple combo, which is really surprising, because I am normally really into citrus and strawberry, seperately or together! I like the strawberry/citrus combo well enough and my boys really liked it too, we just all agreed that the green apple/pineapple combo had a stronger flavor that lasted longer.

I love the fact that the gum is sugarless, especially when the kids chew it. Actually, we don't really ever chew sugary gum. It would be nice to see Trident incorporate a natural sweetener like Truvia into the "Layers" line. I know some of their other gum products contain an all natural sweetener, not sure why this one is different, but with all the confusing information out there about artificial sweeteners, I would feel a lot better about my kids chewing this gum more often with that minor switch!

Having said that, both my packs are gone now, so Trident Layers was definitely a hit in my house. I'm interested to see what other flavor combos Trident will introduce! After trying new Trident layers I can say one thing for certain: I don't think I'll be going back to the pink bubblegum for a long time. I'm kinda diggin' on the new fruity layer flavors! They are fun to look at and they taste great.

You can try new Trident Layers yourself with this coupon for 75 cents off!

Ecostore Citrus Spray Cleaner Review

Okay, I have to be honest about my whole "green" mentality. I am a person of convenience. If it's fast and easy, I'm on it. Having said that, one of the big epiphanies that came from my blogging this year is the realization that my convenience mentality, while quick and easy in the moment, may not always be best for me or my family in the long run.

So we are trying to make somelifestyle changes here at the Boymom house. One of the areas we've chosen to look at is what is coming in and our of our home that can be eliminated in the way of chemicals. So when Ecostore USA asked me to review some of their natural cleaning products, I was quick to jump at the offer, as there is SOOO much "natural" product out on the market now, it's hard to know what's really worth buying.

I chose to try two products from the Ecostore USA website which I thought I would use the most.

The first is the Citrus Spray Cleaner. Ecostore's product description says they've had good feedback about this product working well for black appliances. I took that to mean that it would clean well and not leave a bunch of icky cleaner streaks. I was not disappointed. I have a black gas range that my husband thinks is the bacon frying Alter to the Gods. Every time he fries bacon, he cooks it on high, letting grease splatter over about a 6 foot radius of the kitchen. As thankful as I am for his willingness to cook, I later regret his generosity in the kitchen as I am left to clean up the aftermath. ANYWAY...I used the Citrus spray cleaner this time to see how it cut through the grease. I was expecting instantaneous results like I get with my regular chemical filled product. I will be honest and say that the cleaner did not cut through the grease quite as quickly as the chemical laced stuff. HOWEVER, I appreciated the wonderful smell that quickly cut through the bacony odor left behind with the grease and after I resprayed and let the Citrus Cleaner set for a few minutes, it did a really nice job on cleaning up the mess.

It looked clean and new and my kitchen smelled very, very nice. For some reason, knowing that there wasn't a bunch of chemical residue left around the kitchen made it feel better. More - ummm - natural. Does that make sense?

So while it may not work quite as fast as what I used to use, I am certainly willing to trade off a few extra minutes of letting the spray work if it means less harsh chemicals coming in contact with my family.

The 2nd product I chose to try is the Pure Oxygen Whitener. I use a similar product once in awhile around the house to remove stains and to whiten my laundry and I wanted to see how Ecostore's product compares. To date I have only used it with my laundry, not as a stain remover on anything else (like the myriad of carpet stains that appear out of nowhere everyday!). I have added it to my laundry loads as directed and at first I wans't sure i really noticed a difference, but after using it with every load I wash, I have noticed a slight change in the way my clothes look coming out of the dryer. The whites are starting to look less gray and dingy from our hard water. They definitely smell fresher and cleaner and I did have success removing a couple of stains on a white t-shirt in a regular wash cycle with the Pure Oxygen Whitener added to the load. Where I have found the most success with this product is when I soaked a few tops that had the major yellow underarm stains in hot water and the powder overnight. I have reached that age Ladies, where body stuff is changing and this new and annoying problem I have now with underarm stains is due to those lovely feminine late in life issues that we all get to experience. TMI? Sorry...just letting you know why I am so pleased that Ecostore's Pure Oxygen Whitener did it's job with my tops. No icky yellow pit stains! Yay!

Ecostore USA has lots of other products I will be looking to try, like toilet cleaner (if you read my "About Me" section, you know all about the issues I deal with as the only female in a house full of males with no aiming skills! I need some good product to keep on top of that chore.

What product would you try? You can check out their blog to learn more about Ecostore's products and their philosophy. They are an e-commerce site that has launched at all 186 MEIJER grocery stores. Ecostore USA always offers free shipping on orders of $25 and more. I like Ecostore. So far I've found them to be a friendly company, to the environment and to society in general.

In fact, they are so friendly, they want to offer my readers a chance to win a $25 Ecostore gift card so ya'll can try out some Ecostore products yourselves! Here's what to do to enter:

Go to the Ecostore blog and sign up for their newsletter. Then come back here and leave a comment telling which product you would like to try. If you want extra entries you can:

1. follow Ecostore on Twitter and tweet this contest or
2. become an Ecostore fan and post a status update about this giveaway on your Facebook page.

Just make sure you come back here and leave me the links for your extra entries in separate comments. Contest ends Saturday November 14th at 12 midnight PST. I'm off to reclean my stove..."Frying Man" struck again and made hamburgers. Hello!?! Isn't that why we have an outdoor grill?!

**Disclosure: I received free product from Ecostore USA in exchange for this review. Receipt of free product does not guarantee a postive review. My review is an honest and accurate assessment of my experience with Ecostore USA and their product.