TRULite Premium Smooth Mattress Protector

We have used CoopHomeGood's King mattress protector for some time now and were unhappy with it due to fit and it moving around. It is a highly reviewed and pricey mattress protector so we were really disappointed with it. We ended up finding TruLite Home and found their mattress protectors to be superior and at a lower cost!

TRULite began in a mattress store and has evolved into a company that sells mattress covers and other protection for mattresses themselves. The mattress cover we are reviewing is their Premium Smooth Mattress Protector in King.

The mattress protector is a polyester blend and contains no phthalates, vinyl, PVC, or other irritants. The soft side isn't slippery against our sheets and the mattress cover fits very snug on our Eastern King (which is just known as a King sized mattress).

The opposite / underside is waterproof. It doesn't feel plastic-y when it's on the bed or make any noises when we are sleeping on it. We have a memory foam mattress pad and this doesn't add or trap extra heat when sleeping.

This mattress cover didn't have any smells upon opening and I was able to launder it before using it. It is machine washable (I washed in cold) and I dried it on low setting. You should always dry waterproof covers on the low setting to protect the waterproof lining. I was afraid these wouldn't fit snug because it accommodates very deep pockets like the one we previously had but this set was perfect. It doesn't slide anywhere, make any crinkly noises, or make us sleep hot. We absolutely love and recommend this affordable mattress cover!!

Buy your mattress protector here!

Disclosure: This complimentary item was provided for review purposes. As always, all opinions are my own and no compensation was received. This post contains affiliate links.

SomniLight Dimmable Nursery Lamp and Red LED Night Light

With a baby coming in just a week or two, we were on the lookout for a good red night light for our nursery after reading about blue light emission and how it can alter sleep cycles. That is definitely not what we want with a newborn that we aim to have sleep peacefully through the night (laughable as a newborn, I know). We wanted to be prepared! We stumbled across SomniLight in our research for red LED night lights and it also led us to discovering their dimmable nursery lamp in an Amber color as well. We will be reviewing both of these products in this post.

SomniLight was founded by Jordan and Kelly Burr in 2014.  In their research, they found how blue light emissions negatively affect their circadian rhythm and that was what led to their developing a line of products that effective address this issue. Their product line offers more than the two products we are reviewing here and their full line can be found here.

First up for review is SomniLight's red LED night light. It comes in a two pack and are perfect to use in the bathroom, hallways, bedrooms, or in a nursery. We purchased this specifically for the nursery and use one in there, but also use one out in the living room and have really liked it there. Originally we used it in our bathroom, but it was always on due to the nightlight having a dawn/dusk sensor that automatically shuts off when there is any ambient light and then turns on when there isn't. Since there's normally no light in the bathroom, this resulted to the nightlight always being on. So we ended up using it in the living room and it functions perfectly there!

The reason we wanted these lights for the nursery was because we've learned from our own research the effect of blue light emission from standard light bulbs and nightlights can interfere with sleep patterns. Since we wanted a very very small amount of light in the room for late night diaper changes and nursing, we wanted a light that was not going to interfere with us trying to establish sleep patterns with a baby.

 In the photo above you can see the motion sensor on the night light.

The photo (above) shows just how thin the light actually is from the side profile. Not bulky at all!

SomniLight's night lights were cool to the touch after hours of being on so they are definitely safe to use around children without fear of them touching the light and hurting themselves. These were the perfect nightlights to get for the nursery and our hallway. They don't disturb my sleep and I can't "see" the light through my eyelids when it produces ambient red light in the room. These are a great 2 pack deal and we recommend these if you are looking for a night light that truly will not disturb your sleep pattern!

Saving the best for last: SomniLight's dimmable nursery lamp! This was truly a lucky treasure we found when looking for a nursery night light that with low blue light emissions. This nursery lamp uses an A/C that provides consistent lighting without needing to recharge like some other lights that have been very popular these days. We were looking for a warm lighting that was dimmable for our nursery that wouldn't wake up the baby or make them too alert during middle of the night feedings or diaper changes and this light fit the bill.  SomniLight dimmable nursery lamp comes in at just 1 lb, 5 oz and measure 16"H by 7"L by 3.75"W - does not take up much space at all!

Per SomniLight's website, "SomniLight's dimmable nursery lamp uses specially designed amber LEDs which emit only amber wavelengths of light (peaking at 592 nM), free from the blue and green wavelengths that can disrupt the sleep of mother and baby. As numerous studies have found, even bright amber light has no negative effect on melatonin production (Kayumov, 2005). Our dimmable amber nursery lamp allows you to use as much or as little light as you need to safely navigate the nursery and care for your baby, without worrying about the harmful effects of blue light on your sleep."

We love the option of having LED lights because it conserves energy (up to 90% less energy than your standard incandescent bulbs) using just 6 W of power. We've converted all the lights in our home to energy efficient bulbs so it was only natural to look for a product that had those same standards for our nursery!

My favorite part of this lamp is that the dimmable touch sensor panel at the base that allows for three brightness levels: low (nightlight setting), medium, and high light settings. This is not a primary lamp I plan on using for the nursery as we have a ceiling lamp, but this is what we will be using during sleep/nap times when mom or dad need light to check on baby so we don't alert and wake him. The feature I like most about this dimmable lamp is that it has a memory of your last brightness level selection!! We have a few touch lamps that are dimmable at home, both wireless and A/C and none of them turn on at the level of brightness you turned it off on and requires you to circulate through all the settings to turn it off. Meaning, if you only want to use the low light, when you are going to turn if off, you just need to long press the lamp base and it turns off without having you cycle through medium and high light settings - possibly waking up your precious one!

To demonstrate this favorite feature of mine with the nursery lamp and its memory of its last light setting, I've uploaded this video below!

Buy your red LED night light here and your dimmable nursery lamp here!

Disclosure: This complimentary item was provided for review purposes. As always, all opinions are my own and no compensation was received. This post contains affiliate links.

Charlie's Soap Laundry and Kitchen Review and Giveaway!

Charlie's soap is a family business that was started by Charlie Sr. himself. Read about his story here! I stumbled across this wonderful company in doing research for natural laundry and cleaning products for our home as we have been slowly transitioning to greener products both for the environment and for our health. The biggest push lately has been due to an expected arrival of our first baby in the coming months. We wanted green cleaners that actually clean. Especially laundering baby clothes and stains. We heard some good things about Charlie's soap on the web and decided to test it out to see if it lives up it's hype. Our biggest issue with a lot of green products is its cleaning power. Though it's green and great for your health and environment, when it's not actually cleaning what you want it to clean off. Those products don't resonate well with our household.

We will be reviewing the following four products from Charlie's soap: Laundry powder, Booster, Kitchen & Bath spray, and Indoor/Outdoor spray. You'll want to keep reading because there is giveaway happening!!

The ingredients for both the sprays are:

• NATURAL MINERAL INGREDIENTS: Water, Sodium carbonate
• BIODEGRADABLE INGREDIENTS: C12-15, Pareth-2 (Vegetable and mineral sourced surfactants)

Yep! They have the same ingredients. And then I read a review on Amazon that someone used it as a laundry spray too, so I thought I'd show you how that went for a grease stain on my husband's polo. So I'm making a wild guess that the laundry spray may be the same ingredients, too.

The bottle squeeze handle is very comfortable and the actual spray is very nice. By nice I mean it sprays wide and very evenly in a mist-like manner instead of like the ones that have some areas that come out like a stream. Having an easy to squeeze bottle that is ergonomic is helpful when you are spraying an entire shower stall and are having to squeeze a LOT. It decreases hand fatigue.

Here are some stains on my husbands shirt. He seems to always get grease stains on his shirt, but that's another story. This is bike grease, in case you are interested. Not easy to get out.

This is the first application of the indoor/outdoor cleaner. I let this sit for about 10 minutes before I came back to look at the shirt. I never scrubbed or patted the shirt. I did not touch it besides spraying it.

The picture above is what it looked like when I came back to check on the shirt 10 minutes later. Not gone, but you can see the grease stained lightened with ZERO work from me. I wasn't expecting a miracle, so this was surprising that it even lightened with no scrubbing. So I reapplied the spray and waited another 10 minutes, then forgot to take a picture. But I'll just tell you the stains were still visible and looked more or less like the photo above. So at this point, I took it to the sink and hand washed the stained area and to my surprise, the stains came out! See for yourself!

Shocking, right? A natural cleaning spray that got out bike stains. I was VERY impressed and LOVE this for getting stains out of shirts! I did use it for its intended purpose, in the tub and kitchen sink. It didn't do so well for our porcelain kitchen sink. The stains didn't scrub out even after letting it sit. Same with the tub. What it did clean was the hard water stains on the shower curtain, again, without scrubbing.

I bet you are all wondering, does the laundry soap live up to its rave reviews. I am happy to report that it does!! Being pregnant, I have gotten pretty clumsy, and I've dropped food on myself so I can attest to the cleaning power of Charlie's laundry soap against food stains on white clothing. It does get the stains out! We were very happy with how well this laundry powder performed and at the cost per load, this was an easy switch. We highly recommend this for anyone thinking about going natural for laundry detergent and absolutely recommend it for anyone looking for a good baby safe laundry detergent!!

The booster is a hard water treatment for those living in areas where hard water is an issue...which is pretty much all urban and suburban areas. That makes up, what, a majority of the population? Who knows. All I know is we have hard water in Los Angeles and it is a pain to deal with. It wasn't worth it to get a water softener. We were using tide before this and it did a good enough job with the chemicals it uses to wash our laundry well- stains and all. But now we can use eco-friend and non-toxic laundry cleaner with this booster!

And now, what you've all been waiting for!! Our giveaway! Charlie's soap was kind enough to provide 2 sampler packs and 1 FULL sized laundry soap! That's three prizes to give away! All you need to do to enter the giveaway drawing is to comment with the following: 1) How you stumbled onto Charlie's soap and 2) What about Charlie's soap appeals to you! Your name will be entered into a drawing at the end of October and the winners will be contacted via email the first week of November, so be sure to enter a valid email!

In the sample pack, you get a trial sized indoor/outdoor & kitchen/bath spray, liquid laundry soap, and 4 packets of powdered laundry packets in a nice fabric drawstring bag!

Purchase your Charlie's soap products here!

Disclosure: This complimentary item was provided for review purposes. As always, all opinions are my own and no compensation was received. This post contains affiliate links.

Linen Storage Bin

We were looking for little storage containers for around the house and came across these linen storage bins on Amazon from a little store called Balamiya. When I saw these, I thought they would actually be PERFECT for our nursery! I needed some extra storage in our nursery for little things on top of the changing table and these fit the bill. I couldn't decide which of the designs I liked best so all four it was!

These little storage containers are made from a blend of cotton and linen material with some sort of plastic backing that makes the interior waterproof. The storage container measures 7.8”×6.3”×5.1” and is large enough to fit baby shampoo, a nail kit, a hairbrush kit, Mylicon, and a whole giant tub of aquaphor. I could definitely fit in a tube of diaper cream too. When I first received the package, it comes flat and all squished, so I put a few towel to stretch it out and give it shape. After a day or two, it held it shape without the towel. The fibers just need time to remold itself. Overall, these are a great set of organizers to help you store all your little personal belongings neatly in your house, in a nursery, or even in the bathroom. If I have one left, I would use it in my laundry room! But I doubt I have enough cubes for that.

Below are pictures of each of these beauties. 

This is the interior of the 4th storage cube to show you the stitching and how it looks inside. It's not super neat, but it didn't bother me or how it functions.

Buy your baskets here!

Disclosure: This complimentary item was provided for review purposes. As always, all opinions are my own and no compensation was received. This post contains affiliate links.

Wonder Balls: 100% Natural Wool Dryer Balls

Replace your dryer sheets with all natural 100% New Zealand wool dryer balls! These come in a pack of 6XL balls that replace the need for chemicals and unnatural toxins loaded in your dryer sheets and cuts your drying time as well. They are made entirely of wool, unlike some that are just wrapped in wool. They also come in a drawstring bag for easy storage! 

I use about three balls in my medium large loads and notice that it cut down the drying time (about 25% for large loads and 40% for smaller loads). If you like scent on your clothing, you can add some essential oils to the balls then throw them in the dryer, but we are okay with not having the scent most of the time. The only time I put scents on is when I dry sheets and I use lavender for the calming effect of the smell when I put my bedding on. 

These balls don't leave a weird filmy texture like some dryer sheets do and are eco-friendly. I will say that they don't soften your clothing and linens as much as softer does, but we try and use as little un-natural products as we can in this household. One, to reduce toxicity and chemicals in our day-to-day life. Two, it's cheaper. Three, it's better for the environment. Four, to make our lives easier.

We are totally in love with these dryer balls and will be gifting them to family during the upcoming holidays!

Buy your set of dryer balls here!

Disclosure: This complimentary item was provided for review purposes. As always, all opinions are my own and no compensation was received. This post contains affiliate links.

TubShroom

TubShroom? What is this? Well, this is a GAME CHANGER when it comes to tub drain hair catchers!! We spent so much time and effort trying to find a drain cover that would effective catch my long hair in our tub and nothing ever fit well. Many times, we'd find that whatever we used would fill up with hair, and we'd have to remove it mid shower so that it wouldn't create a flood. Yes. That is how much hair I shed each shower. No, I'm not bald. Yet. In comes this unique and perfect little gadget that looks like a little mushroom that fits inside your tub drain to catch all your hair while still allowing water to pass through. Giving you a great shower experience and not having to clean out hair mid shower!!

This tub drain is made of soft silicone that fits neatly inside your drain and collects hair while you shower. Due to its ingenious design, you can set it and forget it and not clean your drain for a long time. I'm talking about at least a week with the amount of hair I am loosing each shower, too.

The TubShroom is designed to fit any standard 1.5" tub drain and comes in 5 colors: Clean White, Marine Blue, Neutral Gray, Organic Green, and Autumn Orange.

The TubShroom is built with long-lasting, industrial-strength silicone, so it should last for a very long time. Only time will tell! It looks very solidly built. Though this little wonder gadget costs more than your average run of the mill hair drains you might find at Target or the hardware store, it earns its keep by preventing the need to call a plumber or your time to unclog it yourself. Afterall, time is money! We highly recommend this hair drain!

There is also a ShowerShroom version created for shower stalls with larger drainage. I'm not sure how those work or how effective it is, but would love to find out someday! The idea behind it is that it is installed under the drainage cover and it doesn't "mushroom" at the top so that you can put the drainage cover back over it...I think. It sounds like a great concept!

Here are pictures of us installing it. It literally took 2 seconds!

Just push it in the drain and you're done! This gadget creates a tight seal.

This is the TubShroom fully installed.

That's it folks! Please excuse the nasty old tub we have!

Buy yours here or on Amazon.

Disclosure: This complimentary item was provided for review purposes. As always, all opinions are my own and no compensation was received. This post contains affiliate links.

Natural Bedding - Wool Comforter

DIY Natural Bedding

DIY Natural Bedding is a company that supplies bedding parts. Their purpose is to enable consumers to be able to construct their own natural and chemical-free bedding. They source their wool from local farms and their natural latex from Sri Lanka. They have a ton of resources and information to pass along to their consumer and their customer service is top notch. The story of how they got started is also a very interested read! Although their site and shop is geared toward DIY-ers to make their own natural bedding, this review is going to focus on their wool comforter that is already made.

I have their regular weight twin sized comforter. The twin comes in twin long and I found that it fit my regular twin duvet just fine. It is a little jammed packed, but it's not so long that it's curling at either ends. They offer 3 weights: tropical, regular, and winter weight. The tropical weight is described as the perfect fit for those living in Florida, Texas, California, and Arizona where the winters are not as cold as other regions. Regular weight is best fit for those living in areas that are 20-50 degrees in the winter. Lastly, the winter weight is for those in regions where it reaches below 20 degrees. I've had time to test the regular weight on both cool nights and warm nights. It is perfect for the cool nights and I live in Southern California. There are some winter lights were it is in the 50s and I wasn't sure that the tropical weight was going to be warm enough because I get very cold when it is in the low 50's here in the evening. I opted to go with the regular weight and it keeps me extremely cozy. However, the regula weight is definitely too warm for me during the warmer nights so I will definitely have to switch these out of thinner blanket in the summertime. I don't know if having a memory foam mattress contributes to it getting hot and sweaty on those warm nights but I do get so hot and sweaty that it wakes me up. It's not the most pleasant feeling to wake up to!! If I could, I would have loved to test out the tropical weight for the summer evenings as it is advertised but I am very happy with the regular weight as my winter comforter. It would have been a match made in heaven if I could have a comforter that was for all seasons here in Southern California.  It may be the tropical weight one, but I will never know! If you happen to go with the tropical weight and live in one of the aforementioned states, please let me know how it works for you during both winter and summer!

The pre-made comforter is made with farm wool. Here is information that details what constitutes as farm wool and within the page, you can find a link that outlines the difference between farm wool and organic wool. The outer layer of the comforter is made with GOTS organic sateen fabric with beautiful stitching. They also sell this fabric in their online store as well. They have their local woolen mills sew the comforter together using the wool batts they procure from their local farms. The wool from this supplier is not superwashed which also means you get soft, non-itchy, wool.

The comforters come in 4 sizes. Below are all the sizes in each weight with the actual weight of the wool give for each size.

Crib: 40″ x 55″ 1/2 lb wool
Twin / Twin XL: 68″ x 86″ 2 lb wool
Queen: 86″x 86″ 3 lb wool
King: 100″ x 86″ 4 lb wool
REGULAR WEIGHT

Crib: 40″ x 55″ 1 lb wool
Twin / Twin XL: 68″ x 86″ 3 lb wool
Queen: 86″x 86″ 4 lb wool
King: 100″ x 86″ 5 lb wool
WINTER WEIGHT

Crib: 40″ x 55″ 2 lb wool
Twin / Twin XL: 68″ x 86″ 4 lb wool
Queen: 86″x 86″ 5 lb wool
King: 100″ x 86″ 6 lb wool

The price of a wool comforter is steep but it is a worthwhile investment. After researching around, the price of the premade comforters offered from this site is extremely competitive. Meaning, it was one of the lower priced comforters. Being that is it on the "low" side, the quality is not compromised. I find that this comforter is very well made and I am very happy with it. The only thing I wish could do was try out both the tropical and regular weight to really know which one would be the best fit for the area I live in for the 2 extreme seasons, summer and winter.

Buy yours here.


Disclosure: This complimentary item was provided for review purposes. As always, all opinions are my own and no compensation was received. This post contains affiliate links.

Farm Fresh To You Coupon

We recently decided to try a delivery subscription and now we don't know if we could live without it! We decided to go with Farm Fresh to You because we like organic fruits and veggies and like that I have the freedom to do what I'd like with the produce compared with getting a meal service like Blue Apron (which we tried and didn't love). It has been the best decision we've made! We get our deliveries on Tuesday in our city and it comes between 8pm the night before and 7am on the delivery morning. The reason they do this is for the perishables and the night time temps is like free refrigeration!

We select the fruit and veggies box and we always customize our box 2 days before delivery date so we get what we actually will use. The delivery service allows for weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly scheduled delivery. You can skip a week or two, or even three if you go on vacation or just want a break from the services.

There have been times that we received a box with a missing item. We contacted customer service and they credited back our account. It is relatively painless.

Having this subscription has allowed us to try produce we've never tried before! It has increased our produce repertoire. Some new things we have tried include (but are not limited to): Chanterelle mushrooms, maitake mushrooms, parsnips, romanesco cauliflower, and purple potatoes. They even have herbs like lemongrass, mint, dill, bay leaves and more.

Some items like avocados may not be ripe when you receive it, so make sure not to rely on using it for a dish the week you are getting it. Additionally, since the items are organic and fresh, you have to use it quickly because it does to bad faster than non-organic produce. 

Another great offer Farm Fresh to You is their refer-a-friend program. You can get a code once you sign up and anyone who uses that code will get $15 off their first order and you will get a $25 credit in your account to use for your next order. The great thing is that there is no restriction or expiration to the credit. There is no ceiling to the amount you can have in your account and you can use all the credit for each order (no money out of your pocket!)

This post is an honest review of the service as I was not given any discount or free service for this post. However, if you would be so kind as to use my code below if you decide to order this service, it would be much appreciated!

USE CODE: VICK3427