Thursday, January 15, 2009

favorite products of 2008

I've been meaning to post this for two weeks now.

I discovered some products in 2008 that really are fantastic and really do make your life easier, and I thought I'd put them here.

Kids 'N Pets. This is an enzyme solution that really does remove the smell (and often stain, too) from the nastiest kid messes in the hardest to clean places. It takes vomit and pee out of mattresses and carpets, and blood stains out of pillows, and it's relatively cheap. We buy it at WalMart--bottom shelf half-way down the cleaning stuff aisle. It beats carpet cleaner hands-down at getting the smell of vomit and diarrhea out of carpets and mattresses--and there's no scrubbing involved. Squirt it on and let it dry, and the stain and smell go away.

Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner. I'm generally opposed to adding more chemicals to our lives by cleaning with cleaning solutions. Water cleans most things just fine, and the old tried-and-true (and safer) alternatives of bleach solution, ammonia solution, or vinegar (not all together--that would literally be suicide) tend to work on the tougher or dirtier stuff. But scrubbing bubbles spray-on foam really does spray on and wipe off, taking the toughest bathroom messes (including soap scum) right off. No more scrubbing in the bathroom!

Magic Eraser. It actually cleans crayons off walls without removing the paint. Cleans those textured handles on the large kitchen appliances that never quite look clean. Wipes fingerprints off walls. And is cheap and lasts a long long time.

Home made bread. I know this sounds like it would make your life harder, but there are few things as easy to make as bread (believe me--most people make it much harder than it needs to be). We started doing only home made to avoid preservatives that are in storebought bread. Not only is it healthier, but it's cheaper, especially if you consider the quality of the bread you get and the cost of going to the store to get it.

Speaking of which, I have to go punch down the bread that is raising right now.....

2 comments:

Heather said...

I've had some recent success with magic eraser on crayon and red permanent marker... on our new paint. Couldn't last long I guess. I'll have to try the other stuff.

Congratulations on the baby. I hope you made it to the hospital "way off in the distance" in time!

Misty Lynne said...

I actually discovered the scrubbing bubbles a few years ago. They are wonderful, and this year I found another wonderful use for them.

We didn't have to deal with throw-up or anything, but my youngest did have a nasty week long bout of croup. Needless to say, we steamed his room like nuts, and, of course, that left us with mold growing on the walls. Yuck. Anyway, after trying a bunch of other stuff on the walls, I was cleaning the bathroom and noticed that the scrubbing bubbles were for mold and mildew. I sprayed it on the mold on the walls, left it for ten minutes, and simply whipped it away. All gone. Yeah!!!