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.

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

Delidge Professional Non-stick Silicone Baking Mat

Delidge Professional Non-stick Silicone Baking Mat with Measurements Set of 3 - 2 Standard Half Sheets, 1 Quarter Sheet

I love baking with silicone mats because it cuts out oil and is easier to clean than scrubbing my baking pans or sheets. Not only is it healthful and easier to clean up, I am also able to cut out using parchment paper!

These silicone mats are BPA, PVC, and phthalate free. I got a set of 3. Two of them are half sheet size coming in at 6.5" x 11.6" and the other one is a quarter sheet size (or toaster oven size) that comes in at 11.5" x 8.5".  Keep in mind these are heat resistant up to 482 degrees.

It has measurements and template so you can evenly space out what you are baking!

These sheets work great and I'm in love with the quarter sheet size because now I finally have a mat for my toaster oven. My toaster oven gets used more than my large, standard oven because for a small family, sometimes you only need a bake a small amount. Plus, my toaster oven actually fits ony of my large baking pans. I can make an entire casserole dish in it if I wanted!! 

I love the rounded edges on these mats because another mat of mine has pointed corners which presents a problem because most baking pans have rounded corners. The famous french Silpat brand features a cut off edge for these purposes. This mat fits perfectly in my pan whereas my other quarter sheet mat is a smidge too large and doesn't fit because of those corners.

These mats can be put in the dishwasher or hand washed. I prefer the latter though. I love these mats and the size it perfect for what I need them for! They are a great deal!

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.

Yogourmet Electric Yogurt Maker

I had been making yogurt using various methods at home with mixed results. The mixed results were likely due to not being able to consistently incubate my yogurt at a specific temperature. I was putting it in the oven, wrapped in a towel, to incubate it it. Always crossing my fingers. It was finally time to get an actual yogurt maker.

Inner and outer container nestled together

There are so many different types of yogurt makers available and I was able to quickly find one that best suited my needs. I wanted one that didn't require multiple jars because I was going to strain the yogurt to make greek yogurt and that would mean I'd have to dump x-amount of jars to strain it then put it back! That was way too much work and too many dishes. So I wanted one large jar. My second criteria was that I wanted something inexpensive. I found all of that in Yogourmet's electric yogurt maker!!

When you order the Yogourmet, it comes with everything you need to get started, except the milk. IT comes with an outer container, inner container where the yogurt goes, thermometer, cotton bag for straining, yogurt starter, and instruction manual.

Thermometer included

The yogurt maker is extremely easy to use. You fill the water up to the line indicator in the outer container, then when you are ready to incubate the milk, you put the milk in the inner container and seal the lid then put it into the water in the outer container. What you created is a water bath that maintains the yogurt temperature so that it is the ideal environment for your yogurt to culture. Each time I measured the water temp, I got around 109-110 fahrenheit.

Yogurt starter included

The verdict? My yogurt came out smooth and creamy! I was extremely pleased with the results and plan to make this every weekend! You can throw the inner container into the dishwasher for an easy clean up or store your yogurt in it afterwards.

Cotton bag for straining

Purchase 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.

BBQ Scraper - Natural Wooden Grill Cleaner

Recently I've read some news article about some people accidentally consuming a wire bristle from the commonly used wire grill brushes. It was alarming to say the least because that's all we have been using to clean the grill. Here are just a few articles in the past year regarding the dangers of using wire brushes to clean your grill: CNN, Fox news, CBC news, and an article from consumer reports. So what are we to do? The solution is to use a wooden scraper! 

This particular BBQ scraper being reviewed is by produced by MollenLiving, a company focused on producing lifestyle products that embody the Scandinavian way of life, and manufactured in Canada. This BBQ scraper is made from Canadian birch hardwood, making it durable enough to use to scrape off hard encrusted food debris on your grill, and without risk of scratching even the most delicate of cooking surfaces.

Theoretically, this thin edge in the photo above and below are supposed to conform to the shape of your grilling grates as you use it because it claims to burn the pattern into the wood.  Since using it only once, I cannot speak to that. However, it seems to make sense that it would eventually bend to for your unique grill pattern with use since wood has some give.

The edge is thin and sharp. The sharpness allows you to get into crevices and hard to reach areas. The scraper features a long handle to enable leverage to really put the pressure to scrape off food debris.

At the end of the handle, they have beautifully branded their logo design. It is not just printed on either. This is a nicely made wooden scraper. I do think it is slightly expensive for a piece of wood and wish the price were a bit lower. However, if you search on Amazon for wooden BBQ scrapers, they are more expensive that the cost of this one. This would definitely be my pick for anyone wanting to try out a wooden BBQ scraper so they don't risk ingesting a wire bristle.

Purchase 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.