I got a box in the mail and want to share it with you.

I’ve written blog posts galore. I’ve written magazine articles. I’ve written restaurant review on my own accord but this is my very first product review. I was sent several Proctor and Gamble products to try out and write about what I thought. I’m a complete tightwad so I thought this was a great idea. I get free stuff and then write a review about how it’s okay but nothing special, which was my immediate opinion before the stuff even came to my door. I was surprised however to find out that I actually LIKE the products! I was shocked!

In case you haven’t been reading my blog, perhaps you live under a rock somewhere, (man I’m funny) but I am a stay at home, homeschooling mom of four children. Two of my children would be considered tiny, meaning messy and disastrous. My box of products to try arrived unexpectedly, because I’d forgotten I had agreed to write the review, on a day when the kids and I had been learning some new things in school which translates to a cyclone of filth on my main floor. We get too busy to clean so I had dried cereal on my table, bench and floor as well as the accompanying dried milk. I had smooshed berries in my daughter’s highchair, dishes piled to overflowing and a multitude of other junk strewn everywhere. I opened the box, saw the cleaners and all of a sudden my house was a challenge, not an obstacle.

I grabbed the Swiffer Wet Jet in one hand and the Mr. Clean disinfecting wipes in the other hand like a samurai warrior and I attacked every surface from the ground up. I can’t boast that my house is kept cleaner, more often because of the P&G products but it does smell nicer and is cleaner faster once I decide to actually clean up after myself, which isn’t often enough.

Here’s the cast of characters.
1.Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Extra Power
2.Mr. Clean Disinfecting Wipes
3.Dawn Plus dishwashing soap
4.Cascade dishwasher detergent All-in-1 pouches
5.Febreeze fabric refresher
6.Swiffer Dust & Shine furniture spray
7.Febreeze Noticeables scented oil warmer
8.Febreeze Candle in Vanilla & Refresh scent
9.Swiffer Wet Jet

Swiffer WetJet
First off, because it’s my favorite and I’m too impatient to write about it last like most smart people would do, is the Swiffer Wet Jet. Now, the first thing I thought of, and several friends warned me of this as well, was the email scare that went around warning people of the Wet Jet. When I first saw the email I was just grateful that I didn’t have a Wet Jet so I didn’t have to worry about antifreeze in the cleaning solution and having pets and small children walk over top of the cleaner and get sick or die. It’s a scary warning so as I said, I was happy I didn’t have to worry about it. Now I did. I never planned on having a Wet Jet and I certainly wouldn’t have bought one with Laurelyn crawling all over my floors.

Well, I found the email that had me and my friends scared so I thought I’d share it with you. You can read it in its entirety if you follow this link to snopes.com. You might be familiar with snopes.com because they are a website that separates fact from fiction and this email about the WetJet is Fiction. You can read it for yourself but the gist of it is that there is a chemical in antifreeze called propylene glycol. In the Wet Jet cleaner is a chemical called propylene glycol n-propyl ether which is “an ingredient found in many, many different brands and types of household cleaning products.” snopes.com went on to say, “If this compound truly posed a significant risk of causing fatal liver damage in cats and dogs, we should be hearing about many more pet deaths associated with cleaning products other than the Swiffer WetJet. snopes.com went on to poke holes through the claim that the cleaner is any more harmful than any products most people use in their home. Obviously there are natural products which would contain no chemicals at all but the households that use those products is quite small. If you happen to be one of those households then I commend you and would love to pick your brain on how best to do that BUT if you are a mom like me and want something fast and close at hand a WetJet would do the trick.

Now that that’s settled let me tell you about my experience actually using the dang thing so I can move on to other products. The WetJet states that they want you to test a small, inconspicuous spot on your hardwood if you’re going to use the WetJet and since I have hardwood in my messiest area I did just that and I found that my flooring had no problems with the cleaner. They suggest that you test your floor because the WetJet cleaner can take the wax off the floor but if you haven’t waxed your wood then you’re safe.

Like I said, the WetJet showed up on a day when I had a pretty big job against which I could test the snot out of this baby’s endurance and it did really well. One of the problems I’ve been having with cleaning my wood was that my floor got streaks on it, great big nasty streaks and after all the hard work of keeping everyone off the wood long enough for me to clean it, the last thing I wanted was streaks all over. The WetJet cleaned everything I put in front of it, the removable scrubber on one side was a great help, and it left no streaks. None. I was so happy. My floors smelled great, a light smell of cleanliness which is not often associated with my home so I am extremely happy with the WetJet. I highly recommend it be close at hand to take care of the spills that happen right away. I also am thinking of purchasing another one to keep in my upstairs bathroom. I have little man who’s using his little potty and I swear he deliberately misses the potty sometimes just to make me crawl under my skin.

I love the WetJet so much that I went out and spent my own money, shocker I know, and bought more WetJet wipes. The WetJet itself only comes with 2 wipes and in my house that didn’t last me more than 2 days. Although I have been able to keep my floors cleaner since I had the WetJet. I can quickly clean a mess up without dirtying a cloth, filling a bucket or my sink and without getting my hands wet.

Mr. Clean Erasers.
I don’t know a single mom who doesn’t use these at some time in their mothering experience. I won’t spend a lot of time on this product because any woman you know can tell you the same thing I’m going to tell you so I don’t have to make a case for the erasers. Like I said, I would love to use all natural products but for some messes you need to pull out the big guns and in this case the big gun comes in a small, white rectangle with a bald man on the front. I have found that a Mr. Clean Eraser will get ink, non washable marker, crayons and colored pencils off of leather and walls. Those are the two places I’ve used it most because my two year old is either coloring on my walls or my couch. Mr. Clean has saved me countless times. Now there have been reports of skin burns which you can read about on snopes at this link and I would not be writing a very good review if I didn’t atleast tell you about it but in my experience, and I know my sister in law does the same thing, we have made it a kids chore to wash the walls with Mr. Clean Erasers and have never had a problem. My kids have never had red, raised or itchy spots anywhere on there body after having used them. I keep a box or two in my kitchen at all times, just in case my little David gets into the marker box again.

Mr. Clean Disinfecting Wipes
This was another product that I found myself using more often then I thought I would. The wipes are intended for disinfecting, not cleaning. So, if you’re countertop has spaghetti sauce all over it, like my did, then use a damp cloth, let it dry and then use the disinfecting wipes. The Wipes are in a small rectangle box which I found easy to keep close by but I also found that the packaging was confusing to use the way they intended. You’re suppose to put your thumb on the front and your fingers behind, squeeze and pull the top back. I’ve been using the box for 2 weeks and just realized that the lid isn’t suppose to come completely off every time. It’s suppose to be like to One-Up diaper wipes boxes where you lift the lid and expose a second lid with a hole in the middle to pull out the wipes without needing to dig for them or get five at a time, not saying that happened to me. My kids picked up a bug at the swimming pool and Chuck caught a bug on his plane ride home so I was using the Mr. Clean disinfecting wipes on my counters, leather bar stools, door knobs and fridge handles. I don’t know for certain that it made a difference but Jason and I didn’t get sick. Call it what you will. I personally love them and will keep buying them.

Dawn Plus Dishwashing Soap
I think soap is soap and this didn’t make any dents in that theory. It has a nice scent but I am beginning to think that anything Proctor & Gamble puts out lately is meant to have a good scent. There are some nasty smells out there in the cleaning aisle so I usually try to avoid that section of the grocery store but Proctor & Gamble is doing a great job with that. As far as washing my dishes, it’s just as good as the other stuff I use.

Cascade All-In-1 Dishwasher Pouches
I really like these as well. I like these for convenience sake. I can grab one, drop it on and I don’t have to fiddle with the stupid, and necessary, safety lid on my gigantic bottle of liquid soap. Anything I can grab and go with is fantastic. I found that is does clean very well and its easy. I meant to compare prices with this product and the No Name brand I usually buy but I forgot to. I’m willing to bet my French toast breakfast tomorrow morning on the Cascade costing more than No Name but I’m interested in seeing how much more because I really liked grabbing a pouch and being done with it. Word of caution though, the pouch is intended to break down and dissolve in the dishwasher so you MUST have dry hands when you open the bag and pull them out. Otherwise the pouch will start to dissolve in your hand and that’s just gross and nasty. Trust me. It’s also best to keep the bag sealed after each use to keep moisture out of the bag.

Febreeze Fabric Refresher
This is similar to the Mr. Clean Erasers. I don’t have to tell you about Febreeze. You’ve already tried it and you either love it or hate it. I personally love it and I’ve found that it doesn’t bother my daughter’s airways like most scented products do. I was curious to see how she would react with all the scents and odors around because it usually causes her to flare up and have problems. Funny though, she didn’t get her croup cough until after I stopped using the really scented stuff and she was taking swimming lessons. Pools are germ bowls, by the way. Super gross and nasty. Febreeze on the other hand is not nasty and I use it when I want to impress people. I send Jason around to spray all the fabric in the house, including my dining room chairs because they’re the fabric closest to the door and most people usually end up massaging one of the chairs while we’re talking. I don’t know why they do it, it’s weird.

Swiffer Dust & Shine Furniture Spray.
I only used this a couple times because it’s Lavender Vanilla Scented and I HATE vanilla. It’s gaggy and I can’t stand it but I LOVE lavender so I tried it. I love how it makes the wood shine and my leather shine and it doesn’t make streaks on my wood dining room table. I think one bottle would last me a good long time because you don’t need much. You spray either directly on the furniture or onto a clean cloth. I chose to spray the table and I could have gotten away with a lot less. After that I sprayed a cloth and I used less with just as great results. No streaks and lots of shine. If I happen to walk past this in the grocery store and see it in a different scent I’ll probably buy it but I won’t go to the store intending to buy it.

Febreeze Noticeables Scented Oil Warmer
I have the scent called Morning Walk and I am infatuated with it. I keep smelling the box, that’s how retarded I am about it. I loved it but my husband hated it. He didn’t mind the smell but he found it extremely strong. Now, my husband has the most sensitive ears and nose that you’ll find on any person but if you happen to run sensitive with scents then I’d stay away from this one. If you love scents, like I do, I would suggest trying the Morning Walk. I will say that it doesn’t encourage you to walk at all. All I want to do is sit next to it with a good book and breathe.

The Warmer comes with two vials that plug into the adapter. You plug the adapter into an electrical outlet and the warmer takes turns between the two vials and different scents to give you a combination of pure heaven. Make sure you love the scent though because like I said, you’re going to get a lot of it. If you have a foul smell to cover up though, I bet this would do the trick.

Febreeze Candle in Vanilla Refresh Scent
I already told you how I feel about vanilla scented anything so I won’t get into it but let’s just say that I gave away this candle to someone who I knew would use it and tell me about it. I didn’t realize she would be so thorough in her experience with the vanilla candle. She timed the burn time of the candle. She’s had it for 2 weeks and still has almost all of it. Granted she works during the day so she’s not using it during the day often but she’s up last at night and burns her candle late into the night. Get it, burning her candle late at night? Okay, that one wasn’t so funny. I get points for trying though, don’t I? My friend took a poll in her home and her family all said they liked the scent and thought their house smelled better with the candle burning. She likes it and recommends it to anyone who likes candles.

This concludes my product review. I hope it helps you get familiar with some products you might not necessarily think of purchasing and I hope it means more products for me because this was a lot of fun. I got to clean my house and then write about my experience. What could be more fun?

Don’t answer that.