7th Generation Giveaway

January 21, 2013 By Anne

7th Generation has been a favorite of mine for a while now. Having children, I feel like I want to use products that are eco-friendly and not made from harsh products.

With flu season here and everyone worrying about germs, you’ve got to clean and clean to keep them at bay. So I feel better knowing I’m cleaning with products that won’t harm my pets or children and won’t cause harsh smells.

It’s super important to keep hands washed. I tell my children to wash their hands every time we come home form going out. Even if I use some disinfectant or wipes on them, I still like them to wash them the old fashioned way. What better way then to use 7th Generation Hand Wash in Fresh Citrus? The Hand Wash is a hypoallergenic formula that uses natural, plant-derived cleaners and is free of triclosan, dyes and synthetic fragrances.

I have the Citrus Scent in my kitchen and the Hand Wash in Lavender in my children’s bath. Lavender is such a wonderful soothing scent.

Tissues are super important to keep the germs at bay. My children are pretty good about covering up, but sometimes my daughter sneezes into her hands. So I have to remind her to go wash them. But at least she kept them from spreading! 7th Generation Tissues are made from 100% recycled paper with a minimum 50% post-consumer content.

Sanitizing!! Such an important thing to do all the time and more during flu season. 7th Generation Disinfecting Wipes are great! I used all mine up before I could get a picture!! These wipes kill over 99.99% of household germs, speciﬁcally: Influenza A viruses including H1N1, Rhinovirus (type 37, the Common Cold virus), Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enterica, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa on hard, nonporous surfaces. I use them in the kitchen and bathroom.

My favorite 7th Generation by far is the All Purpose Cleaner. You can use this anywhere for anything! The All Purpose Cleaner removes grease, grime and all dirt without harsh fumes. It’s non-toxic, VOC-free and works on marble, granite, stainless steel and many other surfaces. I use this everywhere!

7th Generation would like to give one Mommy Has to Work reader all the above mentioned products, 5 total!!

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I received the above products to review. All Opinions are my own.

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!

My Pretty Playhouse Review/Giveaway

January 9, 2013 By Anne

What little girl or boy doesn’t enjoy a playhouse? They make fort and house out of whatever they can get their hands on. Having a “playhouse” full time can take up a lot of room, so I love temporary houses. they get used and used and then they can go away.

We received My Pretty Playhouse, which a little bit of both. My Pretty Playhouse is made out from 100% recycled cardboard. The kids can decorate the playhouse and when your done you can fold it back up and save it for another day. Or use it until it’s done!

We put ours together in our den. I put most of it together by myself, but had to enlist my hubby or the roof. The directions do indicate that this a two person job. Once done, Savannah had a great time going in and looking out the windows.

She can stand up inside.

Then comes the fun part for her – decorating. We got out her markers and crayons, these did not come with the house. I help at her insistence. You can see the eggs the duck is sitting on below. My only wish was that there were more “items” to color. Some of the other house sold do have more to decorate. Savannah still had lots of fun coloring and starting coloring on the inside as well.

Savannah has had several friends over and they all have fun hiding and giggling in the playhouse.

My Pretty Playhouse is affordable at $34.99. The size is great and can work just about anywhere. Plus you can recycle it when you are all done. It is recommended for ages three and up. But it’s not the only cool toy from Boutique Cascades. They also carry other playhouse than this one, birdhouses, cars, tables and chairs – all made out of recycled cardboard! All ready to decorate!

For each playhouse sold in Canada and in United States, Cascades will donate two dollars to Habitat for Humanity. What a wonderful thing to do!

Cascades would like to give one Mommy Has to Work reader a My Pretty Playhouse of their own! See details below.

Also check them out on Facebook and Twitter.

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We received the above product for review. Opinions are my own.

Anne

Old Navy Flip Flops $1 – Saturday!

June 29, 2012 By Anne

Old Navy has their solid flip flops for only a dollar!! My daughter is in love with flip flops right now, so I will be making a trip to get a few more for the summer.

If you have old flip flops and don’t know what to do with them, check out Terracycle’s Flip Flop Brigade. Trade them in for money for your charity or school!

I love how Terracycle turns trash into new products – don’t you?

Anne

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

Green Kids Craft Review & Giveaway

May 17, 2012 By Anne

Since I’ve been staying home with Savannah these last few months, I’ve been looking for different crafts to do. I have so many scraps, but don’t know what to do with them!

I found this really cool website, GreenKidCrafts.com that puts together small craft kits that are easy and fun! All the crafts are Earth Friendly. Yeah!

At GreenKidCrafts.com they use recycled supplies whenever possible. Most of the materials can then be recycled. Foam and plastic materials are not used and packaging is minimal. I’vvve seen some crafts at the stores and the packaging is horrible! Shipping materials are also recycled. They also offset 100% of the carbon dioxide generated by their business and help to fund the development of renewable energy projects across the United States. I Love Green Companies!!

So how does it work?

Green Kids Crafts is a monthly craft subscription. They send out 3 craft kits a month and gear it toward the childs age. All materials are included, except scissors and glue. Some adult supervision and help may be needed. Examples of material s that may be include are recycled paper, recycled felt and recycled ribbon. Others are natural materials like canvas, noodles, stones, wool yarn, shells, cotton fabrics and wood. Sometimes salvaged buttons are included to! The subscriptions are $19.95 and again you get at least 3 crafts a month.

These are great for grandparents or relatives for gift suggestions. I know Savannah would love getting these in the mail.

So…..The crafts come like this. Three small packages.

We decided to do the Easter Egg Craft to decorate for Easter. These were very simple. Egg shaped card stock and scraps of yarns and ribbon, as well as little felt shapes.

Next up was the paper necklaces. Another simple craft, however, Savannah had a hard time wrapping the paper around the pencil. So I did those. But she was able to cut the paper and bead the necklace and bracelet.

We are still waiting to do craft number three, but it’s a greeting card craft. I should have done it for Mother’s Day. But I do have some Graduation cards to make….

Would you like to try Green Kids Craft? one Mommy Has to Work reader will win a three pack craft adjusted to your child’s age.

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I received the above crafts to facilitate this review. Opinions are my own.