Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Grapefruit Goodness

Can you believe it's Wednesday again?! Since I started up my little business the days just seem to fly by- it's true what they say, you never work harder than when you are your own boss lol! I really want to work in some time in my week to relax and do some stamping though, so I've treated myself to signing up to the Holiday Card Boot Camp with Jennifer McGuire hoping it will force me to take some time out to relax and learn and get inky! It starts on November 7th, can't wait!!

For now though, it's time for another Watkins Wednesday :)

One of my little Watkins addictions has to be the Grapefruit flavored Cleaning products...


What I love most about them is that they don't smell like cleaning products- they just leave a nice clean grapefruity smell in your kitchen. Once again, I'm a sucker for that label too- those bottles look so pretty sitting out on my counter!

Importantly, they are all natural- so good for us, and for the environment. Why is it important to use natural home care products? Well, I'm glad you asked ;)....

To Protect Your Family -90% of our time is spent indoors.
-Triple pane windows and high efficiency insulation make it harder for indoor air to escape.
–The products you use are directly released into the air and stay on the surfaces of your home.
–Children breathe faster in proportion to their body weight than adults, making them more vulnerable to chemical exposure. (www.healthychild.org)
EPA reports that air pollution in our homes is five times worse inside than outside and ranks indoor air quality among the top five risks to human health. (www.epa.gov) ... Eww!

To Protect the Environment
What you use at home has a direct effect on the ecosystem around you! What you use goes down the drains, into the water ways, and releases into the soil and water supply. Certain chemicals in cleaning products act as a food source to algae. When they reproduce to this extent they do not allow oxygen into the water source and kill the fish, damaging the eco system. (Smith and Schindler, 2009) These chemicals also end up in the water supply which pollutes ground soil feeding your vegetables and fruits. These chemicals can end up in the water that you drink. (http://www.thegreenguide.com/)

What’s the difference between cleaners that are plant-based vs. petroleum based?
•Studies have shown that making household cleaners from plant-based materials uses less energy than making the same cleaners from petroleum.
•Using less energy helps reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses.
If every household in the U.S. replaced just one bottle of 24 oz. petroleum-based dishwashing liquid with our 24 oz. plant-based product, we could save 85,886 barrels of oil!
•That is enough to heat and cool 4,941 U.S. homes for a year!

That blurb was pulled from the Watkins website- but I find it really interesting, and had to share! Can you believe that if each of us replaced just one bottle of regular dishwashing liquid with one plant based one, it would save that much oil!! That's crazy! Plus, from experience I can tell you the Watkins plant based dishwashing liquid works just as good as any yucky petroleum based one, and it's much kinder on your hands.

I'm sad that my favorite thing in the whole catalog isn't available in Grapefruit yet- but I'm holding out hope it will be soon.

Isn't this Sink Set, containing natural hand soap and lotion, just gorgeous!! It's perfect for the guest bathroom, or by the kitchen sink. It's great to have lotion right there by the sink too- especially when it's getting cold and our hands are getting dry this time of year. Like I said, they don't do it in grapefruit yet, but it does come in Lemon, Lavender, and Aloe & Green Tea. Even better, this month it's on sale!!! Yep, buy one at regular price, and get one 50% off (just add one set to your cart, and you will be invited to add a second matching set for 50% off at checkout)!

Woo hoo!!!  That's two christmas gifts taken care of in one go, or one for you and one for them! Wouldn't it be nice to have this in the guest bathroom for when you start getting company for the holidays- you wouldn't believe how much sitting this set by the sink can spruce up even the plainest bathroom!

Well, that's all for now- I have two custom coaster orders to work on and another package to mail out by tomorrow too so I'd better get a move on! I'll hopefully be back on Friday to update you all a little more on what we've been getting up to, and I may even have a card to share- shocking, I know!!!

Lynsey x