Naglene Bottles -Reusable Water Bottle

June 21, 2012 By Anne

We are big into reusable water bottles. We have several in our cabinets, but we all have our favorites.

I like the idea of the metal water bottles, but am not able to use them myself. I don’t like the taste of the metal. I really like the glass water bottles the best, but my last one dropped and that was the last of that!

Soooo I use mostly PBA Free plastic bottles. They take a lot of abuse and work wonderful!

I was able to try the Neglene Water Bottle. I picked a large, wide mouth Naglene bottle in pink. There are many varieties of the Naglene bottles to choose from.

My only complaint with the bottle I received was that it did not fit into my car cup holder. 🙁

All Naglene bottles are BPA and phthalate free. Plus you get replacement parts.

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Do you use a reusable water bottle? What is your favorite?

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Anne

I'm a mother of 2 who likes to get involved in too much! Besides writing here I started a non-profit, I'm on the PTO board, very active in my community and volunteer in the school. I enjoy music, reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with my family. We just adopted our 3rd cat and love them all!

10 Environmentally Friendly Alternatives to Buying Wrapping Paper – Guest Post

June 12, 2012 By Anne

By Andrew Kardon

Wrapping paper? Seriously? I get the chance to guest post on Anne’s incredibly awesome blog and I choose to write about wrapping paper. It’s probably half a step more interesting than watching paint dry. But trust me, this’ll be short, sweet, save you some money and help the environment all at once. You can’t argue with that, can you?

The Sunday Funnies – Growing up, I remember my mom using the Sunday comics section as wrapping paper for a lot of our own gifts. It was so much fun, actually. Bright, colorful paper covered in cartoonish characters! And when you’re done opening the presents, the newspaper just goes right back in the recycle bin!
Reuse Gift Bags – Ever get a gift that comes in a gorgeous colorful bag with tissue paper inside? Be sure to save it next time you get one. Yeah, it’s somewhat like “re-gifting” but less frowned upon.
Brown Paper Bag – Know those bags you get at the supermarket? Grab one and go to town decorating it. Add stickers, pictures and drawings all over the bag to make it look extra special.
Old Maps – Everybody has a drawer somewhere in their house filled with old, useless maps. Road maps, hiking maps, world maps, whatever. Grab a big one and wrap a gift in it. Your gift will most definitely stand out from the crowd!
Kid Art – Your kids have drawn you umpteen million pictures haven’t they? Chances are they’re not ALL up on your fridge. Take some old drawings (or have your kids make some new ones!) and wrap the present in them. Your kids will be ecstatic to see their artwork given to someone in such a unique fashion!
Boxes – If you order anything online, save all your small and medium-sized boxes. Then, just like the paper bag above, grab some markers, stickers, construction paper, etc., and have fun decorating.
Wallpaper Samples – Wallpaper samples make great gift wrap because they’re so thick and sturdy! Save extra scraps next time you or a friend install wallpaper, or visit a store and ask if there are any extras or samples around you can take.
Wrapping Paper – Uh, yeah. When someone gives you a gift, chances are they’re not as frugally minded or ecocentric as you, so they probably spent good money on some nice wrapping paper. Assuming you didn’t rip it to shreds opening your gift, save the wrapping paper and just reuse it on someone else’s gift in the future.
Cereal Boxes – Just like the comics section of the newspaper, cereal boxes are a lot of fun too. If your gift is small enough (and not too heavy) to fit in one, pick a fun colorful box to use and wrap a simple ribbon around it to complete the package.
Comic Books – Next time you’re at a garage sale, flea market or even local comic book shop, pick up a slew of cheap comics. The bright colorful superheroes make for some excellent wrapping material!

What do you use instead of wrapping paper?

BIO: Andrew Kardon writes about saving money and being frugal over on JoeShopping .com. He’s also a proud Daddy Blogger who loves going on and on about superheroes, Legos, sushi, and his two awesome boys at Mommy ‘s Busy … Go Ask Daddy.

Anne

Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler Review & Giveaway

April 29, 2012 By Anne

Recycling can be a hassle sometimes. Never knowing where to put the bottles and cans and boxes until you take them out to the curb. For us, we went out and bought a large garbage can just to use for recycling. But for someone like my mom, she has limited space and has a hard time finding a place to keep her recyclables.

Rubbermaid has come up with a great new product, the Hidden Recycler! The Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler is a 5 gallon bag that can easily be attached to any kitchen cabinet with hooks that go over the door or with small screws. Thus hidden from view.

I received one for review and was quite impressed! The bag is nice and thick and is leak proof and can also be machine washed if needed. Best of all the bag and all materials are made from recyclable materials and can be recycled. The bag is big enough to hold a gallon milk jug!

I tried placing it on my cabinets but the door is a little too thick for the included hooks. I was hesitant about screwing it in my new cabinets, so I asked my mom if she would like to try it.

She has so much stuff inside her cabinets, we tried it on the outside. I thought this way she would see it and actually use it! And it fits! ( I had a picture, but for the life of, can not find it!)

See reviews and more info on thier website, Facebook and Twitter!

Would you like to try it? You can purchase this on line at Rubbermaid.com or one Mommy has to Work reader will win their own Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler!! See details below.

I recieved the above product in order to facilitate this review. Opinions are my own.

Anne

Waterpik EcoFlow Shower Head Giveaway #EcoFlow

April 26, 2012 By Anne

I love a nice long hot shower, who doesn’t right? But taking those long showers are not great for our finances or the environment. We do just about everything we can to be more eco-friendly. It was a challenge in the beginning, but comes natural now. One thing we did not change was our shower heads. I’ve been meaning to, but just never did.

Check out the Waterpik EcoFlow shower head we got to try out!

These Waterpik EcoFlow shower heads are made to save water and money without sacrificing your shower! The flow of water through the water channels and nozzles is optimized by the OptiFlow technology. Which basically means you save a gallon of water per minute, but still get a great shower!

WaterPik is partnering with Wyland Foundation’s national “Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation” in celebration of Earth Month, encouraging people to take the pledge to save water throughout April.

The Mayor’s Challenge is a friendly competition between residents of cities across the U.S., in which mayors will be asking their residents to make a free, online pledge to conserve water, save money and reduce pollution. Residents in the cities with the most participants will qualify to win hundreds of prizes, including Waterpik® EcoFlow® shower heads.

Will you take the pledge to save water? One thing you can do that’s super easy is turn the water off while brushing your teeth. Encourage your kids to the same!

So we’ve had the shower head up for about a week and while I love that I’m saving money and doing good by the environment, I kinda feel like I’m in a cheap hotel with not enough water pressure. Which is what it’s supposed to be, but….Sometimes I want a stronger shower, you know?

I love that I can take off the head and use it to get the shampoo out of my daughter’s hair. It’s much easier to do. So I will keep the Waterpik EcoFlow shower head, but I will place it in the kids bathroom. They take longer showers anyway and the savings will be more there!

Check out EcoFlow’s Facebook page.

Would you like to try it out? One Mommy Has to Work will win the Waterpick EcoFlow shower head, valued at $51.99. See below for details.

I received the above product for review purposed from Mom Select. Opinions are my own.

Anne

Earth Day Crafts

April 21, 2012 By Anne

Earth Day is almost here and I decided to have a little craft party with the neighbors and their children.

I saved up our toilet paper rolls and went to the craft store and bought some stickers, paint, necklace string and glue. We had some sea shells around the house and used those as well.

I looked up different crafts to make and asked my mother in law. I came up with pencil holders, napkin rings and shell necklaces.

For the napkin holders, I cut the roll into fours. We painted all pretty colors and placed shells on some and stickers on others and left some plain.

The pencil holders were pretty easy too. We decorated one roll and let dry, then glued it to another scrap square of cardboard.

As for the necklaces, I wanted a necklace with a clasp, but could not find them at my local craft store, so I went with string. We found lots of pretty shells while visiting the beach this week. Many had holes in them and everyone got to pick their favorite shell, place it through the string and viola! A pretty shell necklace!

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Did you make Earth Day crafts this year?

I participated in a campaign for Mom Central Consulting, on behalf of Cottonelle, and received product samples and a promotional item to facilitate my party.