Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!! Today was the first year that my husband, daughters and I have had a Thanksgiving meal with just the four of us. It was our first year cooking a turkey as well. Our meal turned out well, considering that we weren't initially planning on making a meal today and were only planning on going to family dinners. So the question after the meal is...WHO HAS TO DO CLEAN UP? The dreaded clean up after a large meal; no one ever really wants to volunteer. Well, this year I was more than prepared for the challenge and everything only took me a matter of minutes. YES, minutes, not hours or even one full hour! Hopefully I have your attention by now and you are wondering to yourself, how is this even possible to do on your own?!
The answer is...Dawn Power Clean! This dish soap really is amazing! It claims to do the same as an overnight soak on dishes and bakeware, but in only 5 minutes. Okay...so that seems absolutely impossible, right? Well, yes and no. Certain types of food that is caked onto dishes can easily come off with this product in 5 minutes, foods that are baked goods, like breads, cookies, cakes etc. Meat, fatty tissue, sauces and cheese that have been baked onto dishes do take a little while longer. This soap works best when used with hot water, just apply small amount of soap, pour hot water onto dish and let it rest. About 10 minutes later you can come back and most of your food can be easily wiped off or sprayed off with the sprayer attachment on your sink (if you have one). Anything else might take a very small amount of rubbing, but nothing compared to just using any regular soap. After that, I just put it straight into the dishwasher (if you have one of those) and let the machine do the rest! If you do not have the dishwasher, I recommend not spraying everything off your dish and just take a dish cloth to it and washing the dish all at once, then you are finished.
This is a great soap! It has the grease fighting power of Dawn that you would normally find, but it cuts through everything else very quickly. Hopefully if you haven't done your clean up yet, or have yet to have your Thanksgiving dinner this will help and you will know what will help you in your clean up! In any case, when Christmas comes around, now you'll know what works great! Dawn often has coupons out for their products, and a lot of them are unspecified for which type of Dawn, so I'm sure you will easily find a coupon you can use. Giant Eagle doubles coupons up to $0.99 too. Target will allow you to use a manufacturer's coupon in conjunction to a Target coupon (which you can print off of their website at no charge).
Hopefully this keeps your holidays free of one less argument about who has to clean the dishes! It helped in my house! Happy Holidays everybody!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Clorox vs. Lysol antibacterial wipes
I love antibacterial wipes! For the longest time I would use a powder cleaner for my counters with a dish rag, the problem with that is that dish rags carry a lot of bacteria!! If you are using a new one each time you do anything then there is no problem, however if you are wiping dishes, tables, kids hands and faces, as well as your counter tops, you are allowing the bacteria that is picked up from one spot to just spread from one area to another. Dishrags never quite dry out, after being rinsed out, before you need to use them again. They are just overall not the best for your cleaning needs. In comes antibacterial wipes, the main two competitive brands are Clorox and Lysol. There are so many uses and each brand has their own pros and cons depending on what is expected of them from the user.
If I remember right, Clorox was the first to come out with antibacterial cleaning wipes (not completely sure about this). Clorox wipes....I am personally not the biggest fan. There is a lot of liquid that makes it so that when you are wiping anything down there is puddle left in the wipe's wake. The texture is more of a plastic type of feel in my opinion. On the other hand, they do smell great and they do the job of getting your counters clean.
Lysol antibacterial wipes feel like a great woven cloth. There is something about it that is like a super durable paper towel and at the same time like a dish rag (as far as the feel is concerned). While Clorox has a lot of liquid, Lysol seems to have just enough to get the job done. Both brands tend to have more liquid on the wipe towards then end of the roll, and when the last one is pulled out there is a good amount of liquid left in the bottom of the container that somehow seems wasteful to leave it in and throw out the container.
As far as cost is concerned, both of these brands are around the $4.00 mark. I am all about using antibacterial wipes, but I am also all about finding something that works for you and your budget! Both Walmart and Target have a generic brand of these wipes, these brands are normally at least $1 less than the name brands. Great Value brand (Walmart) is similar to Clorox in texture. Up & Up (Target) is much more like Lysol. Both generic products work just as well as the name brands. I personally lean more toward Up & Up. They have chemicals that help to cut down on flu germs, including H1N1, as well as everyday germs we come across. I know I have mentioned that these wipes can be used on countertops, but there are so many more uses for them!
The obvious answer for what to use antibacterial wipes is for countertops! However, I use them on the toilet, the kitchen and bathroom sink, my girl's messy highchairs, on any liquid and food that is dropped on carpet, and the dashboard in my car! The one thing I don't recommend using them on is on anything that is going to be putting food/drink into your body, as well as, on the body. When using wipes on the carpet or fabric in general first dab to soak up any liquid that is resting on top of the fabric, then depending on what type of fabric, you can wipe/rub the remainder off. It has worked really well for me on red sauces that have been dropped onto the carpet by my girls. This advice is based on addressing the food/liquid immediately. All of the other uses I have listed are things that you just will wipe down the surface to clean it. It is harder to pick up dust with these wipes, so in conjunction to the wipes I advise using a paper towel to just quickly pick up the wet dust that has been gathered. I personally am constantly wiping down my walls in the kitchen (food), bathroom (watermarks, toothpaste), okay, pretty much all over my house! Having 2 toddlers I am constantly wiping off food, lotion, toothpaste, crayon and a number of other things off of my walls! Antibacterial wipes cut right through whatever is on my walls and doesnt damage the paint or change the shade at all!
I did not advise using this on your skin because of the chemicals that are in the wipe. They dry out the skin and depending on skin sensitivity can irritate. It states directly on the label that it is not for personal use.
If you are looking for a wipe that is inexpensive to use on skin to remove food (kids, and those of us who are messy eaters), or makeup, I suggest baby wipes! You can buy baby wipes that are for sensitive skin that are fragrance free, or if you want you can have a nice scented wipe. They are gentle enough for a baby's soft, sensitive skin, so why not for you?! They easily remove eye makeup and are much less expensive than buying a makeup remover wipe that is designated only for makeup. At Walmart I can buy a 3-pack of Parent's Choice baby wipes for less than $5, which is much more budget friendly than buying a makeup wipe from the cosmetics aisle.
So I'm hoping that I have addressed all the uses and pros and cons of these products, as well as the many ways they can be used! I hope this helped and you were able to learn something new! That's kind of the whole point of this blog...I want you to take away something from every post. I also hope to learn from you guys! I definitely encourage you to post what products you use and how you use them, if there is something that I have missed, post it for others to see! Until next time, happy cleaning!!
If I remember right, Clorox was the first to come out with antibacterial cleaning wipes (not completely sure about this). Clorox wipes....I am personally not the biggest fan. There is a lot of liquid that makes it so that when you are wiping anything down there is puddle left in the wipe's wake. The texture is more of a plastic type of feel in my opinion. On the other hand, they do smell great and they do the job of getting your counters clean.
Lysol antibacterial wipes feel like a great woven cloth. There is something about it that is like a super durable paper towel and at the same time like a dish rag (as far as the feel is concerned). While Clorox has a lot of liquid, Lysol seems to have just enough to get the job done. Both brands tend to have more liquid on the wipe towards then end of the roll, and when the last one is pulled out there is a good amount of liquid left in the bottom of the container that somehow seems wasteful to leave it in and throw out the container.
As far as cost is concerned, both of these brands are around the $4.00 mark. I am all about using antibacterial wipes, but I am also all about finding something that works for you and your budget! Both Walmart and Target have a generic brand of these wipes, these brands are normally at least $1 less than the name brands. Great Value brand (Walmart) is similar to Clorox in texture. Up & Up (Target) is much more like Lysol. Both generic products work just as well as the name brands. I personally lean more toward Up & Up. They have chemicals that help to cut down on flu germs, including H1N1, as well as everyday germs we come across. I know I have mentioned that these wipes can be used on countertops, but there are so many more uses for them!
The obvious answer for what to use antibacterial wipes is for countertops! However, I use them on the toilet, the kitchen and bathroom sink, my girl's messy highchairs, on any liquid and food that is dropped on carpet, and the dashboard in my car! The one thing I don't recommend using them on is on anything that is going to be putting food/drink into your body, as well as, on the body. When using wipes on the carpet or fabric in general first dab to soak up any liquid that is resting on top of the fabric, then depending on what type of fabric, you can wipe/rub the remainder off. It has worked really well for me on red sauces that have been dropped onto the carpet by my girls. This advice is based on addressing the food/liquid immediately. All of the other uses I have listed are things that you just will wipe down the surface to clean it. It is harder to pick up dust with these wipes, so in conjunction to the wipes I advise using a paper towel to just quickly pick up the wet dust that has been gathered. I personally am constantly wiping down my walls in the kitchen (food), bathroom (watermarks, toothpaste), okay, pretty much all over my house! Having 2 toddlers I am constantly wiping off food, lotion, toothpaste, crayon and a number of other things off of my walls! Antibacterial wipes cut right through whatever is on my walls and doesnt damage the paint or change the shade at all!
I did not advise using this on your skin because of the chemicals that are in the wipe. They dry out the skin and depending on skin sensitivity can irritate. It states directly on the label that it is not for personal use.
If you are looking for a wipe that is inexpensive to use on skin to remove food (kids, and those of us who are messy eaters), or makeup, I suggest baby wipes! You can buy baby wipes that are for sensitive skin that are fragrance free, or if you want you can have a nice scented wipe. They are gentle enough for a baby's soft, sensitive skin, so why not for you?! They easily remove eye makeup and are much less expensive than buying a makeup remover wipe that is designated only for makeup. At Walmart I can buy a 3-pack of Parent's Choice baby wipes for less than $5, which is much more budget friendly than buying a makeup wipe from the cosmetics aisle.
So I'm hoping that I have addressed all the uses and pros and cons of these products, as well as the many ways they can be used! I hope this helped and you were able to learn something new! That's kind of the whole point of this blog...I want you to take away something from every post. I also hope to learn from you guys! I definitely encourage you to post what products you use and how you use them, if there is something that I have missed, post it for others to see! Until next time, happy cleaning!!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Here We Go!
Hi Everyone!
A little introduction about myself...my name is Megan, I am a mom of 2 beautiful girls, Mackenzie (2), Morgan (1); wife to Michael. Having two young children I am constantly trying to figure out ways to cut down on how much time I spend cleaning, as well as, trying to cut down on clutter in a budget friendly way. Not only do I spend a ton of time cleaning up toddler messes, but I spend time cleaning grease and dirt off of almost every surface of my home and my husband's clothing (he works a very dirty job!).
My hope is that through this blog I can help others simplify their homes and be able to keep a clean home without taking too much time out of their days! I plan to review plenty of cleaning products that work great, cut down on time spent cleaning, and are at a price everyone can afford!
I would love to have input from you all on what products you would like to try but may not want to spend the money without knowing if it is worth it. So that is my job here! I'm gonna let you know what is worth spending your money on and how best to use it, as well as, what products aren't even worth a look!
Look back at my blog for updates, and reviews on cleaning, organizational and time saving products! I look forward to hearing from you all!
A little introduction about myself...my name is Megan, I am a mom of 2 beautiful girls, Mackenzie (2), Morgan (1); wife to Michael. Having two young children I am constantly trying to figure out ways to cut down on how much time I spend cleaning, as well as, trying to cut down on clutter in a budget friendly way. Not only do I spend a ton of time cleaning up toddler messes, but I spend time cleaning grease and dirt off of almost every surface of my home and my husband's clothing (he works a very dirty job!).
My hope is that through this blog I can help others simplify their homes and be able to keep a clean home without taking too much time out of their days! I plan to review plenty of cleaning products that work great, cut down on time spent cleaning, and are at a price everyone can afford!
I would love to have input from you all on what products you would like to try but may not want to spend the money without knowing if it is worth it. So that is my job here! I'm gonna let you know what is worth spending your money on and how best to use it, as well as, what products aren't even worth a look!
Look back at my blog for updates, and reviews on cleaning, organizational and time saving products! I look forward to hearing from you all!
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