A few weeks ago, Maggie from ecoSTORE USA offered me the chance* to try some cleaning items that are eco friendly products. I had a number of things to choose from, but finally landed on 2 things I was out of, and that I thought I could do a good job of reviewing, since they are things that either I use all the time, or really pay attention to when I DO use them. This was really a two-for-one deal for me, since it met 2 needs.
The first thing I decided to review was the toilet cleaner. I went back to the site to look, and it was less expensive than I remembered. Currently it’s $3.00 US. I think that is less than or equal to what I pay for the chemical cleaners at the grocery store. I was especially excited to try out a natural toilet cleaner, because we have our own septic system and not the public sewers that most people are used to. I can’t flush tampons, or anything else basically that’s not tissue, and eventually, everything that goes down comes out at some point into our property, and I have small children. Fewer chemicals=better, and ecoSTORE USA’s tagline is ‘no nasty chemicals’. Awesome. Back to the toilet cleaner. I had just finished using a bottle of a branded cleaner, it worked okay, but it stunk. The chemical smell was overwhelming, and it made me want to clean my toilets even LESS than I normally do. Which if you’re new here, is not very often. My daughter sees me cleaning a toilet and says ‘are we having company?’ Yeah. Now, a note about our toilets, they get pretty dirty. I was raised where we lived on well water, when we were in a drought, which was often, you had to pay for more water if the well went dry, in which case anything going into and out of the toilet you don’t have for cooking, washing dishes, showering, etc. Right when I got pregnant with my oldest, we ended up in a flood zone where we were asked to conserve water because the sewage plant had gone under water and everything coming out of the sewers went directly into the Mississippi river and downstream. Gross, right? Old habits came back. After reading about saving water by skipping a flush (and thus conserving water to wash your diapers), I now flush about every 2 times a toilet is just used for pee. Every time for anything else. Obviously that means that our toilets are bit more stained than other people’s that are continually flushed in between cleanings. Sometimes my daughter uses the one upstairs in the morning and we don’t find it until the night time and flush it when she’s going to bed, and that’s a while to have it sitting there. Obviously, our toilets are a challenge! I was surprised and pleased to use this cleaner and it smelled like lemons. No reflex/gag action because of the chemical smell, I could actually breathe while cleaning the toilet! It worked just as well as the name brand product. I actually enjoyed cleaning my toilets, and I tried this out 4 or 5 times over the last few weeks to be sure of consistency, and was very happy to see the same level of clean each time. My daughter even asked if she could have some soda. I was totally confused, til I realized she thought I was drinking a 7/up, not cleaning the toilet!
The second product I decided to try was the orange hand wash which retails for $3.40 US for a pump bottle. This was a lesson for me in ‘always know what the ingredients are’. This one included patchouli which I’d never heard of, but smells a lot like the incense our floor-mates in college used to cover up the smell of their ‘mary jane’. I’m not a big fan of strong smells, so it took me a while to get used to this. My husband never ended up liking it, he thought it was too strong, too. The scent aside (they have 2 others), this was a great hand wash, and I have used it nearly every time I washed my hands in the kitchen over the last several weeks. I probably wash my hands 10 times while I make dinner, so I’ve used it a lot! It cut through grease on my hands and left them feeling smooth and soft. With a lot of other cleaners, I have to wash 2 times in order to get them as clean as ONE wash with this ecoSTORE USA handwash. Two (very clean) thumbs up!
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*I was sent free product for testing, and this is my honest review. As always, this is my blog and I tell you the truth. My humble way of saying, the opinions are my own, and may differ from yours, so use your best judgement in every purchase decision you make–wise in these economic times, right?
Ooh. I’m excited to read about these two products, since I tried different ones. I really liked their products as well and was surprised by the affordability, especially since they are concentrated. I need to place an order!