Arm & Hammer's New Laundry Detergent for Sensitive Skin - With Fragrance!

We're a family of sensitive skin. OK, maybe not my husband - his skin can withstand anything. But both of daughters inherited my rash-prone skin that reacts to any tiny affront. Our skin erupts into an itchy rash at chemicals, fragrances, grass...too many things to list. As a result, we can't use lotions with fragrance or too many chemicals in them, we have to sleep on cotton sheets, and we need laundry detergent that is completely dye and fragrance free.

Or so I thought.

Mom Central asked if I was interested in trying the new Arm & Hammer Sensitive Skin Plus Skin-Friendly Fresh Scent laundry detergent, and beyond the long name, I was intrigued by the product's claims. Unlike other sensitive skin formulas, which are usually dye-free and fragrance-free, this one has an added "fresh scent" that is designed to keep sensitive skin free of irritation. Pretty big claim for me, so I was willing to put it to the test.

I've appreciated that our other previous laundry detergents kept us itch-free, but I'll admit I do regret that they don't leave my clothing with that fresh laundry scent. But keeping our skin safe has always been my first concern, and with no clothes lines allowed in our neighborhood I've resigned myself to laundry with no scent when clean. (Which I guess is still better than dirty scented laundry.)

I tried the detergent with a load of my own clothing first, choosing to play the guinea pig before taking the risk of making my girls uncomfortable. As I poured in the liquid detergent, I was surprised at how strong the scent was. At first I was worried that this might be a bad idea, but added my clothing and hoped for the best.

After washing and then drying, I pulled my clothing into a laundry basket and took a deep breath over the pile of warm clothing. The strong scent of the detergent had mellowed out quite a bit, leaving behind a light, fresh scent. (In case you were wondering, I used a fragrance-free laundry softener in the washer.) It was actually quite nice.

The moment of truth was putting on my first set of clothing from this load of laundry. Thanks to an unusually hot few weeks, I put a lot of sweat into the outfit (which often makes reactions worse for me), but had no difficulties with itching or redness. Yay!

After a week I switched my kids' clothing to the Arm & Hammer laundry detergent. They spent the past week out in the hot, humid weather every day with no issues at all. My five year old told me she liked that her dresses smelled "pretty" now.

As for the cleaning power of the laundry detergent, I saw no noticeable differences between it and my previous detergent - both did an excellent job at stain fighting. 

So for us it's been a success. We're nearly all the way through the bottle of detergent that we received and no reactions so far. I know it can sometimes take a few exposures to see a reaction, but after two weeks I'm ready to declare it safe for us.

I appreciate that Arm & Hammer Sensitive Skin Plus Skin-Friendly Fresh Scent laundry detergent has a pleasant scent that is safe for sensitive skin. (Finally!) I also like that the scent is very light on dry clothing - you'll notice it when you put something on, but it won't be overpowering and will fade after a bit against your own skin.

For more information on Arm & Hammer Sensitive Skin Plus Skin-Friendly Fresh Scent laundry detergent, check out the product page on the Arm & Hammer's website, or visit their Facebook page. 


Full disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Arm & Hammer and received a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

A Mother's Day Gift That Shows You Really Care

Mother's Day is coming up fast, and my inbox is being flooded with emails about what moms really want for Mother's Day with tips for finding that perfect gift. I don't think the talented people who wrote these gift guides have ever met my family, however.

A sentimental gift? Nope, that won't do for my mom. She generally doesn't like a lot of stuff, feeling it's just one more thing to clutter up her house. As for me, I like some sentimental gifts, but I'm also in the process of purging a lot of useless junk from my house, so... not so much at the moment.

A spa day? Yes for me, no way for my mom. She has never liked anything girly, preferring a simple shower to get the dirt off of her after a day of working hard in the garden than anything involving smelly lotions or people touching her.

It's taken me years to figure out my own mother. When I was younger I tried everything to get her to have that big WOW moment with a gift, but I never managed more than a "oh, how nice, thank you," that was in many ways sincere, but clearly indicated it was nothing she really wanted.

As a mother myself, I now understand what I can do to really show how much I care for my mom. Mother's Day now is usually about providing a service for her in some way. She's amazingly talented - she could teach you how to grow the perfect garden, clean your house, shoot a gun, balance your checkbook, cook a fantastic meal, and gather honey from hives without getting stung by a bee. But even though I used to think there was nothing I could ever do that my mom didn't already do better, I've found her one weak spot.

I'm my mother's technical support.

It sounds funny, I know, and probably not very sentimental. But helping my mom build a laptop with everything she needs, or configuring her wireless network so she can take that laptop anywhere in her house, or walking her though the steps to set up her Netflix account? Those offers of help mean a lot to her and make her life easier.

She's done so much to teach me throughout my life, and now I finally have a skill I can teach back to her so she can enjoy all of the advances in technology that she wants to embrace but doesn't fully understand.

So this Mother's Day, I'm setting up an iTunes account for her and teaching her how to use it so she can download her own apps on the iPhone I gave her recently. (It was my old iPhone - she didn't want to spend a lot on her own iPhone.) She's genuinely thrilled about this upcoming event, and can't wait to learn how to get her own apps. My mom doesn't need a lot, but this simple task for me - which is something she would struggle with - shows her just how much I care about her.

As for me? I'm slowly becoming more like my mom each year. Instead of objects, I want someone to do something for me that I can't do myself or provide a service for something I don't like to do. A massage would be nice to help with all of the stress I store in my back. Or a Maid Service gift certificate to unburden me from my least favorite chore, leaving me time to devote to things I enjoy. Or a Time Lord to take me back in time to give me more hours in the day.

Honestly, house cleaning is my ultimate weak area. Not only is my house a wreck, but I hate cleaning more than just about any other chore and I'm sure I'm not alone. Yes, I'm sure there are some people who truly take pleasure from a job well-done in making their house spotless, but many of us don't count ourselves in that group.

This year, not only am I getting what I want for Mother's Day, but you can get the same special treatment!  I'm giving away a $100 gift certificate to Molly Maid so one reader can also relax in a clean home, spending more time on the things she really cares about than scrubbing the toilet.

Giveaway Rules
Win a $100 gift certificate toward a cleaning from Molly Maid!

Please note that Molly Maid does not offer service in the following locations: Louisiana, Wyoming, Vermont, West Virginia, Maine, Montana, and Alabama. Also Molly Maid does not have coverage in the following Metro areas: Madison, WI, Green Bay, WI, Buffalo, NY, and Syracuse, NY. If you live in any of these locations, you can still enter to win, but will not be able to have a home in those areas serviced. Home cleaning estimates will vary. Winner may use gift certificate toward total cost.

This giveaway will end May 7 at 11:59PM PT, so enter now! A winner will be selected randomly from the comments on May 8 and contacted via email.

Enter up to four times by doing each of the following:

• One Entry - Tweet about the Molly Maid contest (you can even use the handy-dandy Tweet below, if you like) and leave a comment here with either the Tweet or the URL to the Tweet. Please be sure to tag your Tweet with #MollyMaid4Mom.
• One Entry - Post about this contest on Facebook, and leave a comment here saying what you posted. Please tag the post with the #MollyMaid4Mom hashtag.
• One Entry - Write a blog post about the contest and -- you guessed it -- leave a comment here with the URL to the blog post.
• One Entry - Just leave a comment on this blog post!

Sample Tweet: I just entered to win $100 toward a cleaning from Molly Maid! You can too! http://bit.ly/JJCm0B #MollyMaid4Mom

Good luck, and may we all get exactly what we want on Mother's Day!

Full disclosure: Sponsored posts are purely editorial content that we are pleased to have presented by a participating sponsor. Advertisers do not produce the content. I was compensated for this post as a member of Clever Girls Collective, but the content is all my own.

Finally! A Non-Germy Hand Towel for the Bathroom!

I have a little confession - I hate bathroom hand towels. I mean, sure they're pretty and they can match your decor, but when I'm at someone's house, I feel really awkward using those towels to dry my hands after I wash them. I'm not a super germ-a-phobe by any means, but reaching for a hand towel only to discover someone else has used it recently and it's still damp grosses me out. 

Of course, your hands are only as clean as the towel used to dry them, so when no one else is here, I often go to the kitchen for a paper towel to dry my hands. But putting a big roll of paper towels in the bathroom isn't exactly pretty, and a roll of paper towels soaks up any water splashed on the counter by children (or adults), putting me back in the same predicament again.

But Kleenex clearly tapped into my head and realized something needed to be done about this, creating the new Kleenex Hand Towels. These single-use, disposable hand towels are perfect for drying hands and the cute dispenser makes them decorative as well as practical. I've been waiting for someone to think up this idea for a long time now!

The Kleenex Hand Towels are in a pop-up type dispenser that can either sit on the counter or be inverted on the towel bar. When one is pulled out, another is ready to go. The towels are amazingly soft and free of dyes and fragrances. Dry-touch fibers also make them super absorbent for the sloppiest of hand-washers.  

Many of you are aware I'm a nurse, and I can guarantee that you won't see anyone at a hospital using a cloth hand towel to dry their hands! No way - we have disposable paper towel dispensers over every sink! You also wouldn't expect to see cloth towels in a public restroom - if that's all they had, I doubt you'd go back again.

Hospitals know that wet towels can spread germs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for hand washing recommends hand drying with a single-use towel to help reduce the spread of germs, yet in the U.S. alone, people dry their hands on cloth bathroom towels approximately 200 billion times per year.

Kleenex conducted a survey on hand-washing perceptions, and found that three quarters of Americans (73%) believe hand drying is less important than hand washing when it comes to helping stop the spread of germs. This, of course, isn't the truth.

According to the CDC, freshly cleaned, wet hands transfer pathogens more readily than dry hands or hands not washed at all. The residual moisture determines the level of bacterial and viral transfer following hand washing. Careful hand drying is a critical factor for bacterial transfer to skin, food and environmental surfaces.

So even though we're often in a hurry, it's important to make sure your hands are completely dry after washing them. And Kleenex Hand Towels provide a clean, fresh towel every time for better hygiene. Of course, try getting this message to kids, right? It's hard enough to even make them wash their hands, let alone dry them. Kleenex thought of that, too, and came up with this clever little hand-washing song to encourage kids to thoroughly wash and dry their hands.

I've tried to get my daughters to sing the song on video, but they are being extremely camera shy with their singing abilities. But they love the new towels - the hardest part is making sure they only grab one and not try to pull more out of the box each time! Mira even tries to make up reasons to go wash her hands again, just to play in the water and then pull out a new towel for herself. 

I'm completely in love with Kleenex Hand Towels and they are now a staple in my house. Oh sure, the little cloth hand towels will stay in the bathroom, but everyone will know they're strictly for decoration only. Need to dry your hands? Try a Kleenex Hand Towel and keep the germ spread to a minimum.

Win Some Cleaning Of Your Own!

Kleenex knows how important it is to have a clean home, and to celebrate the launch of Kleenex Hand Towels, I have a $50 gift card to ServiceMaster to give away to one lucky reader! ServiceMaster is a fantastic all-purpose cleaning and house service company. Whether it’s used towards a Merry Maids cleaning service so your bathroom is clean, tidy and ready for a fresh box of Kleenex Hand Towels or towards a lawn care service (summer is just around the corner!), you can experience a clean, fresh home.

To enter, visit the Kleenex Hand Towels site, then leave a comment here telling me one hand-washing fact you learned from the site. This entry is required.

For an additional entry, join The Motherhood's Hand Drying Song Circle and leave a comment here with your username.

For another additional entry, follow @TheMotherhood and @mommystory on Twitter and tweet this phrase:

RT Learn the Kleenex Hand Towels Drying Song and win a $50 ServiceMaster gift card! http://tinyurl.com/22u9849 #kleenexsong

Be sure to leave a separate comment with a link to your specific tweet for this to count!

For THREE extra entries, create a video about Kleenex Hand Towels featuring the Hand Drying Song. (If you're not musically inclined, get your kids to sing it!) Leave a link to your video in three comments on this post.

All entries must be received by 5/15/10 at 11:59pm EDT. One entry per type of entry per person - duplicates will be removed from consideration. Please make sure you leave your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win.

One winner will be chosen at random after the closing date and e-mailed confirmation. If winner does not respond within three days, another winner will be randomly selected.

Good luck and happy hand drying!

--
Full disclosure: I was contacted by The Motherhood and Kleenex to learn about the new Kleenex Hand Towels and spread the word about the Hand Drying Song. In return I received product samples and compensation for my time involved in this project. All opinions on this product are my own and are 100% honest.

I'll Admit It: My Carpets Stink

It's true. I have two children, three cats, and wall-to-wall carpeting. Of course my carpets aren't always fresh. We generally have the carpets steam cleaned twice a year, but due to the economy, the recession, and uh, no job...we have to use cheaper ways to keep our carpets in good shape.

While we have several carpet cleaning products, they often leave behind a strong smell, either from the cleaning product or the smell of what was there before the stain was lifted.

I have to admit, I'm now a fan of Carpet Fresh Carpet & Room Odor Eliminator. Mom Central asked me to try this product, and I accepted with high hopes.

Carpet Fresh is a quick-dry foam that you simply spray on the carpet and let dry. It can also be used on car upholstery and drapes, although I haven't tried it on anything other than carpet yet. The spray nozzle is easy to use and sprays an even layer of foam onto the carpet. It took around 10 minutes to fully dry, but since I was only testing it on a small area of carpet, it wasn't hard to avoid the area. After it dried, there was no residue on the carpet - it felt soft and plush.

There are five different scents available - I tried the Super Pet scent, seeing how I have three bulimic cats. The scent was a little strong for me at first - a slightly perfumey floral scent - but after a half hour or so the scent had diffused and wasn't so strong. I'd like to try the other scents, too. Apple cinnamon may be a better fit for me.

Lately I've noticed our carpet's odor when I've been working out. While we use odor eliminating candles, they don't help when your face is close to the carpet for pushups. Carpet Fresh does a good job of conquering pet odors easily without taking up a lot of my time. Spray it on, go make lunch, and by the time you're done the carpet is dry and smells fresh.

Want to try it for yourself? Carpet Fresh currently has coupons available for download on their website!

A Better Wipe For Your Counters

There was a time when I believed that the only way to know something was truly clean was the scrub it down with some kind of cleaner that smelled harsh, had warnings about not touching your skin, and was completely toxic. That's the way my mom cleaned in the 80's, and anything else just didn't seem strong enough.

I've thankfully realized that not only are products like that bad for me, but they're also bad for the environment. Last year I had the chance to try out several of the Clorox Green Works products, and overall I was impressed with their cleaning ability and their non-toxic properties. I don't want my girls around something that will give off chemical fumes or leave a residue.

Mom Central recently sent me the newest product from the Clorox Green Works line - cleaning wipes. I've used wipes in the past, but gave them up after I had headaches from the smell and my skin was irritated from touching them. These, however, looked promising. No phosphorous or bleach is used, essential oils are included and the entire wipe is biodegradable. I couldn't wait to try them out.

My first impression of these wipes was how good they smelled! Seriously, after wiping down the kitchen counter I walked around smelling the scent left on my hands. I'm no good with placing scents, but it smells like some kind of citrus oil. They did a good job of removing the drops of grape jam my husband had left on the counter, too.

After using roughly half of the container, I'm still happy with this product. The smell is pleasant, it doesn't irritate my skin, and it does a good job cleaning up. I have no worries about my daughters coming in contact with these wipes, either. And when you're out of paper towels (like I was last week), these wipes can handle anything a paper towel and spray cleaner could handle.

I've never been all that excited about cleaning or cleaning products, but I have to give the Clorox Green Works wipes a gold star for ease of use and for being non-toxic. Anything that makes cleaning the kitchen or bathroom easy without knocking me out from strong fumes is a winner for me!

How To NOT Ruin Your Clothing

I've said many times that I'm a domestic zero, failing at many simple household tasks like cooking and cleaning. But in our household I'm the one in charge of laundry, and so every few days I must make sure to get stains out and keep our clothing clean, without shrinking anything or turning white socks pink.

I've always been nervous about bleach. Knowing it's powerful ability to whiten anything - whether it was white to begin with or not - I rarely use it because I don't know when it should be used. Must the entire load be white? If some of the t-shirts are white with a design on them, will the design be ruined?

Recently Mom Central gave me the chance to try out Clorox 2, a color-safe bleach alternative. It's been around forever I'm told, but since it had the word bleach in it, I avoided it. After being assured that it really is safe to use on colors, I gave it a try.

I can happily report that I did not ruin my clothing with Clorox 2. The colors are still just as bright as before they were washed (a big plus, since I tend to make colors fade), and stains came out easier than before. I forgot to put any stain treatment on one of Mira's shirts (dry-erase marker), and I was surprised to see it come out of the wash without a single stray black mark.

Clorox 2 comes in several scents, but I was thankful to see it came in a Free formula too - no dyes or perfumes. Due to Cordy's sensitive skin, we have to wash everything in dye-free, fragrance-free detergents.

Win it!
Want to try out Clorox 2 for yourself? I have three coupons for a free bottle of Clorox 2 (any scent) to give to three lucky readers.

To enter, leave a comment below with a story of your worst laundry disaster, and make sure I have a way to contact you should you win. You can comment anytime between now and Wednesday, December 10 at 11:59 pm. Three winners will be chosen at random.

Good luck!

Got Allergies? You Might Want To Try This Spray!

Around here, we're an allergy-type family. I have general hayfever, Aaron is extremely allergic to ragweed and slightly allergic to pets, Cordy has sensitive skin and food allergies, and Mira...well, she hasn't shown any allergies yet, lucky thing. Even one of our cats is allergic to dust, mites, dogs, and several foods.

I decided to try out a sample of the new Clorox Anywhere Anti-Allergen Fabric Spray to see if it could help keep the allergens under control. It boasts that just by spraying it on common items we all use - the couch, fabric chairs, our bedding, etc. - it can break up many of the allergens that lead to our sneezing, watery eyes, or itchy skin. The bottle specifically mentions cat and dog dander and dust mite matter, and it claims to be completely safe for kids and pets. I wondered about this last claim, since my family is fairly sensitive to any chemical products.

It's really easy to use - just spray a fine mist on any fabric surface and give it a little time to dry. As it dries, it breaks down any allergens on the fabric, making it safer for you to lay your head down on the pillow or relax on the couch. I especially like that it has no strong odor, or any odor at all, unless you put your nose directly down to the fabric right after spraying it. The very light scent is fresh and clean. It's even safe to use on stuffed animals.

I misted down most of the furniture in our living room and all of our beds. It dried in under five minutes, and left no odor behind. This isn't our peak allergy season right now, but I can say that there haven't been any serious allergy attacks in the past week or two. The cat even seems to be doing well - dust mites really bother him, and I can't wash all of the areas he lays on constantly, so the spray is helping him. And no one has had any kind of reaction to the spray, either.

More long term testing is needed in this house, I think, but so far I think the Clorox Anywhere Anti-Allergen Fabric Spray has potential to be a very useful tool in my cleaning. The lack of any strong odor and the fact that it is safe to use around kids and pets is a big plus for me, too.

Trying to Green Up My House

You may have noticed the new little icon in my left sidebar. I'm currently participating in the Green Works 30 Days to Natural experiment. In the past few years I've been wanting to make better choices for our family that helped us live healthier and protected the environment.

For this challenge, I'm trying out the Clorox Green Works line of cleaners, all made with biodegradable ingredients and free of phosphorus, bleach, and other toxic chemicals. None of the products are tested on animals, also. I'm replacing the remaining harsh cleaners we had with Green Works products to see if they clean just as well as the old products. I've already been using them, and so far I can tell you that I'm liking what I'm seeing. (And smelling!) Reviews will be coming soon.

The 30 Days to Natural website encourages you to sign up for an account, and in return provides you with a wealth of tips to live in a healthier, more environmentally-friendly way. You can have daily tips e-mailed to you or sent to your cell phone. And you can watch videos from three moms who are vlogging their 30 day transformation to a greener household.

It's been fun so far, and several of the daily tips have been useful and reminded me that it doesn't take a lot of effort to make eco-friendly choices.

A Laundry Miracle

You may remember that I'm domestically challenged. I hate cleaning, I have trouble with laundry stains, and don't even ask me to cook. The laundry is one of my chores, though, which means I'm responsible for trying to keep our clothes stain-free (and make sure they stay the colors they started out).

No easy feat for me, especially when dealing with bright yellow-orange baby poop blowouts. So when Parent Bloggers asked if I would like to try OxiClean, I jumped at the chance, if only for another product to use on some serious stains I was losing the battle against.

I wrote before about a serious baby poop blowout on a onesie I wanted to save to pass down to Cordy if/when she has children. I was a fool and soaked it in hot water, thinking that hot water would help remove the stain. No one ever told me cold water was the key. So I probably set the stain.

There are a thousand products out there for stain removal, and I think I used about half of them, including another "oxy"-type product. While they all lessened the stain's appearance, it was still pretty obvious.


And then a couple of weeks ago, Mira had another blowout diaper, all over the cute outfit seen in this picture:


I liked that outfit, and wanted to save it as best I could. So I filled up the sink with cold water (see? I can be taught by the Internet!) and added a few scoops of the OxiClean powder. The package said I could soak it for several hours, and so I left the mess for an entire afternoon. I was hoping that, at best, it would weaken the stain enough so that it would be hard to see. I didn't expect a miracle.

When I came back at the end of the day, I was prepared to see a lighter stain. I didn't expect to see no stain at all! Seriously, I held that outfit up and looked everywhere for the stain. I brought it into another room to look under different lights. The stain was completely gone, and the colors on the outfit were just as bright as before!

After that clothing resurrection, I grabbed the onesie with the set-in stain and soaked it, too. The results were a huge improvement on the stain - some parts were completely gone, and the last stray spots were a lot lighter. Now I could use a bleach pen on the last stubborn spots and have a like-new onesie. I have no "after" picture, because there's nothing to see. Just imagine the picture above with no yellow on it. Yay!

I was seriously impressed with OxiClean as a pre-wash soak for stains. I also used it in the wash, and while I'm horrible at noticing these things, I think it did help keep the colors brighter versus detergent alone. And it helped with stain removal in the wash, too.

If you have a baby and need good stain removal, I highly recommend OxiClean powder, especially as a soak for newly stained items. Fill the sink with water (cold water), add several scoops, and soak for several hours. We'll soon be starting solids, and I have a feeling this will also come in handy for food stains, too. I'm keeping a bucket of OxiClean on hand from here on out.

De-Stinkify Your House

Babies are small and sweet creatures, but I think we can all agree that they don't always smell so sweet. Add in some pets with touchy digestive systems as well, and it can be pretty easy for a room to smell not-so-fresh. Cleaning helps, but what do you do when guests are coming any minute and you just had to change a toxic poopy diaper, leaving baby poop fumes floating in the room?

We've used scented candles to help hide diaper and pet odors, but most just add a new layer of scent over the smells already in the room. So I was skeptical when asked to try the new Febreze scented candles.

The Febreze candles are not only scented, but also contain a special core that helps to remove bad odors from the air. Seriously?

I was impressed by the performance of this candle. I have no idea how the special core works, but it does seem to remove bad odors. While it didn't get rid of the garlic odor in the kitchen as well as I hoped, it did seriously minimize the scent, and when used near the diaper pail I couldn't catch even the slightest hint of a dirty diaper.

Best of all, the scent provided by the candle isn't overpowering, either. I had the Apple Spice & Delight scent (one of my favorite smells), and I loved it. If that's not to your liking, there are four other scents to choose from.

If you like scented candles, I recommend giving the Febreze candles a try. With a 30 hour burn time, you'll be able to de-stinkify many areas of your house, or one particularly bad area, with just one candle.

Maybe Not The Worst Household Chore Now

When it comes down to household chores, bathroom cleaning ranks at the very bottom for me. I would rather scoop litterboxes and soak poop-stained toddler clothing than clean the bathroom. There's something about cleaning in and around the toilet that grosses me out (maybe it's the guy factor, with all of the drips on the rim?), and being forced to chip off dried toothpaste from the sink gives me chills. And let's not forget the harsh fumes from cleaners that burn my lungs and make my eyes water. That's why I usually leave the bathroom cleaning up to my husband.

But then Parent Bloggers sent me two new products to try: the Kaboom Neverscrub! Continuous Toilet Cleaning System and the Kaboom Shower, Tub, and Tile spray cleaner. The huz has slacked off a little in bathroom cleaning since Mira was born, so this was the perfect time to test out the products.

At first I was skeptical of a product who promised me I wouldn't have to use the toilet brush again. I tested the Neverscrub! Continuous Toilet Cleaning System on our downstairs half-bath. That toilet gets the most traffic, from both of us as well as any visitors.

I haven't used many toilet cleaning products that are placed in the toilet tank, mostly because I worry about the chemicals being poured into the water with each flush. We usually keep the toilet lids down, but if they're up, our cats have been known to try for a quick drink. And while Cordy has shown no interest in playing with toilet water, I didn't want to test Murphy's Law in that way. But the Kaboom Neverscrub packaging calmed my fears - it's non-toxic to pets and kids!

The results after a few weeks were noticeable. The upstairs toilets looked dirtier than the downstairs one, even though the downstairs toilet had more use. While it wasn't perfectly spotless (I won't go into the intestinal problems of certain family members), I will say that the Kaboom system did a good job of keeping it as clean as it could, and it saved us the hassle of having to constantly scrub at the toilet, too.

Next up was the Kaboom Shower, Tub, and Tile cleaner. It's a spray that foams up and then wipes off, and it can be used for most bathroom surfaces. The first thing I noticed right away was that it contained no harsh chemicals like bleach or ammonia. So when testing it in the hall bathroom, which has no windows, I was spared the sting of chemical fumes - my eyes and lungs would like to thank Kaboom for that! It's not my favorite scent in the world, but the Kaboom cleaner scent is like fresh spring air compared to that other stuff we've used in the past.

Did it work? Yes, surprisingly well! I sprayed our guest bathtub, and after letting it sit for a few minutes, wiped the grime right off with barely any pressure. It took out a black ring around the tub without the need for a Brillo pad and lots of manual labor. No scrubbing, no multiple applications - it did the job easily the first time.

I was impressed with how well both of these Kaboom products work. With cleaners that make it this easy to clean the bathroom, maybe I'll pitch in on this chore more often? Nah, I'll let Aaron keep that job, but at least it won't take as long!

Bounty's One Sheet Challenge

Want to win a complete kitchen makeover? Bounty paper towels is having a contest with the top prize being a $30,000 kitchen makeover.

To enter, just go to this site and tell Bounty the worst mess you cleaned up with only one sheet of Bounty. That's it - a little creative writing (which should be no problem for our talented bloggers out there, right?), and possibly a new kitchen as a reward!

As for me, I was sent a roll of the new Bounty towels, and one sheet managed to clean up spit up on my shirt, spilled juice from Cordy's sippy cup on the kitchen floor, and cat vomit on the carpet, being rinsed between the juice and cat vomit. And yes, those all happened within 5 minutes.

Killing Germs Naturally

Want to know a secret? At work, I have to shake a lot of hands, and I'm a little bit of a germ-a-phobe. But washing my hands several times a day doesn't work for me. Actually, I have extremely sensitive skin, and many of the cheap industrial soaps purchased in bulk for public bathrooms irritate my skin. We won't even discuss the gross things Cordy touches within a day - and she has inherited my sensitive skin, too.

My purse generally contains a trial size bottle of a soap I can trust, and/or a bottle of hand sanitizer. While hand sanitizers are very useful, the alcohol in them is very drying. I also worry when using it with Cordy - what if she puts her hands in her mouth and ingests that gel before it dries?

Enter CleanWell hand sanitizer. It's an all-natural, alcohol-free antimicrobial. Instead of alcohol and unpronounceable chemicals, it contains Ingenium, which is made up of non-toxic plant oils that meet the FDA guidelines and kill 99.99% of germs.

Compared with the other hand sanitizers out there, this one is a winner. First, I feel safe using it on my daughter, knowing that there are no toxic ingredients in it. Second, instead of a goopy gel, it comes as a spray or a wet wipe, both of which are easier to use on a toddler than a gel. Neither leave any residue or sticky sensation on your skin after they dry. The spray is also useful for spraying on surfaces as well as hands.

Third, the smell is far better than any alcohol-based sanitizer. CleanWell has an herbal, earthy smell to it. The primary oil is thyme - it kind of smells like you've been working in a pizzeria, but the smell is pleasant compared to the chemical smell of other sanitizers. It also isn't a long-lingering scent, either.

If you need a good hand sanitizer, I highly recommend CleanWell. I appreciate the fact that the ingredients are all-natural, non-toxic, and will not harm the environment. I also really love the spray - it's the perfect size to keep in my purse, and won't leak like the alcohol gels.