EcoUsable Bottles Review and Giveaway

As a progressive mother of 2 (and a half) I am always looking for to help us live as eco-friendly/eco-conscious as we can.  And since we are a family that doesn't drink soda, most juices-virtually everything except for water and token amounts of milk; a huge portion of our liquid intake comes from WATER.

We drink COPIOUS amounts of water.  And since Jet Pilot and I educated ourselves on what and where bottled water comes from-that is no longer an option for us to intake if we can help it.  So we (read-I) started looking into alternative sources for bringing our own home filtered water with us everywhere we went.

Enter EcoUsable.  From their site:
"EcoUsable provides consumers with affordable planet–friendly, reusable products that are recyclable, health conscious and designed to improve the lives of people worldwide. EcoUsable pioneered the world’s first stainless filtered water bottle, the ECH20, which includes its own portable filtration system and provides instantly filtered water from almost any fresh water source. It removes harmful contaminants as you drink through the flip top straw.

EcoUsable stainless steel water bottles are:

• Available in an assortment of graphic prints & solid colors. 
• Made from 304 food grade stainless steel (18/8). 
• BPA free & Aluminum free. 
• Non-leaching & liner free. 

Since our bottles are stainless steel we don’t have to line

them like aluminum bottles. The consumer doesn’t have to worry about scratching

the liner, which could potentially leach aluminum into their water. 

• 100% recyclable. 
• Half turn loop top; fewer threads mean less chance of bacterial growth. (Most other bottles require 3-8 turns to open.) 
• Easy to clean and fits ice cubes. 
• Exclusive skid-proof mat bottom."

Plus EcoUsable also does custom jobs/fundraising so that you can get something completely unique to your needs to promote your business/event.  They also do:

• Custom designed hangtags
• Download codes to feature 100MG of content such as music, videos, PDF content, etc.
• Sports tops 
• Bottle wrapz

EcoUsable provided me with an awesome bottle package and as part of my awesomeness I am sharing some stainless steel bottle love with you all The Dill-io readers!!  Up for grabs is the purple bottle with the screw top!!

 

 

My EcoUsable Collection

BUY IT:

You can purchase EcoUsable Bottles from here and use the CODE: ECO10 to receive 10% off your order

WIN IT:

One lucky The Dill-io reader can win the Purple EcoUsable Bottle pictured above

Required to enter:

If you would like to enter, just leave a comment!

Be sure to leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win!

If you would like additional entries, you may add seperate comments for each additional thing you do, but you MUST do the required entry for any of the additional ones to count.

Additional ways to enter:

- Follow my blog via google friend connect

- Subscribe by email to my blog updates

- Tweet about this giveaway - this can be done once daily, for an extra entry each day - 

- "Like" my blog on facebook, left side of page

- Follow me on Twitter, left side of page

- If you have a blog, add my button and get 5 extra entries

Please be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry, and your email so I can contact you if you win.

This giveaway will end March 10th, at 12 pm EST. Winner will be chosen via random.org, and I will contact the winner through email, and they have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.

EcoUsable provided me with all information, and the products and I will be providing the winner with the noted water bottle prize as above.  No other compensation was given that biased the outcome of this post/review.

Green Ostrich Utensil Set Review

As a wannabe crunchy family we try to live green as much as we can.  We reuse and recycle, we   always have reusable shopping bags in the van for shopping trips and use eco-friendly/homemade cleaning supplies, and detergent.  However, there is always room for improvement.  Ideally I would like for our family to make the switch to all bamboo products for our plates, utensils, mixing bowls-bamboo is more sustainable and a natural product.  Not to mention extremely durable and able to stand the test of time--and here is this house, THAT'S A MUST. 

So you can imagine how pumped I was when Green Ostrich asked me to review their To-Go Ware Bamboo Utensil Set.  The set includes a bamboo fork, spoon, knife, and a set of chopsticks in a handy little carrying case.  All of the utensils are dishwasher safe, stain resistant, and heat resistant.  LOVE LOVE LOVE THE DISHWASHER SAFE PART!

We have all used this set at one time or another recently.  Usually everyone fights over who gets the chopsticks when we eat go eat sushi/Chinese as a family.  Yes, I have a 1st grader that uses chopsticks better than I do--its a total embarrassment but whatever.  I am a work in progress.  The utensils rock because even Clyde can use them without any problems and he is usually the one who still wants to use toddler/baby silverware.

Besides using these at work or school, the Utensil Set would be great for camping and picnics.  The set has made a permanent home in our glove compartment for out of town trips, or fast food in the car that needs utensils.

I think these are a great product and would not mind converting my whole family to a set like this!  
Green Details:
- Carrying case is made out of recycled PET plastic (plastic tea, juice, soda, and water bottles)
- Bamboo is 100% biodegradable and eco-friendly
- Each utensil is made of a single sheet of bamboo so there is no glue used in the manufacturing of them
- The utensils are sealed with a natural, vegan, food-safe sealant made of Potassium Permanganate (a water-soluble salt often used as a disinfectant), Acetic Acid (an organic, relatively weak acid found universally in food, water, and soil), Heptane (most frequently used as oil repellant, distilled from the resin of the Jeffery Pine and the fruit of the Petroleum Nut Tree), and Ethanol (sugar-based and the most commonly used form of alcohol)
- They contain no BPA, PVC, phthalates, lead, arsenic, mercury, or chromium

Buy It

You can buy your own To-Go Ware Bamboo Utensil Set from Green Ostrich for only $12.12

THANKS GREEN OSTRICH FOR THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO TRY YOUR PRODUCTS!!

Check out this LOW ENTRY GIVEAWAY

My bloggy bestie is hosting a buysoapnuts.com giveaway that ends in 2 days...and it only has 12 entries!! So for all those crunchy mama's who wanted to win Soap Nuts from the giveaway I posted a while back and did not, check out her giveaway HERE!!!

Skoy Cloth Review and Giveaway

Confession time-I am kind of a chronic counter wiper downer.
With paper towels.
I like to wipe the counters-A LOT.  It gives me inner peace to see a freshly wiped counter.
I didn't used to be this way.
I was a partial slob for like the first 5 years of my marriage.  Clean counters never really mattered all that much to me, I used to work full time and in the days of one child I usually didn't have a mess on my counters.
So no biggie.
Fast forward to now-full time SAHM and homeschooling mom to 2, wife to a Pilot that is usually running out the door at all hours of the day and a man who can't really concern himself with counter crumbs.  Insert me and my pseudo-crunchiness, I am in the process of trying to un-paper towel my family.  Jet Pilot hates them, kids usually use baby wipes for their messy faces, so really when you get down to it, its just me that has the Paper Towel Addiction.
But I am getting better and just recently I was sent a product that I think will relieve a large portion of my paper towel addiction.

  
SKOY Cloth were created by 2 moms from Encinitas who wanted to create a cloth better than any cloth they have ever used in their kitchen that was both eco-friendly, and reusable.  The idea was born when one of the creators remembered one indispensable cloth she used while living in Europe in the 90's.  Skoy Cloth was later born from that idea.  Skoy Cloth are 100% biodegradable, reusable, absorbent and European Made.  They absorb 15 TIMES their weight and are the eco-friendly alternative to paper towels.  (Seeing as one Skoy is equivalent to 15 ROLLS OF PAPER TOWELS!)  Hello, how could you not want to use Skoy??  Plus since its reusable you can throw it in the wash, nuke it in the microwave (make sure the cloth is wet first), or just toss it in the dishwasher.  Eco-conscious and easy to maintain-THIS CHICK IS SOLD.

I used SKOY to wash my dishes, and to wipe down counters, stove, table, microwave..you get the idea.  My Skoy cloth got a LOT of use that first day.
And it stood up well.
I used it for 3 days and then tossed it in the washer, its now back to putting in work in my kitchen and it is holding up GREAT!  I give SKOY 2 GIGANTIC thumbs UP!!  Thanks Skoy for helping a girl un-paper towel herself!

BUY IT:

You can buy Skoy Cloth here

or

WIN IT:

Skoy Cloth has offered two "The Dill-io" readers a 4 pack of Skoy Cloth to use in their home! 

This giveaway is offered to US residents only.

MANDATORY ENTRY: Visit the Skoy site and let me know something you learned there.  Please leave an email addy in your comments so I have a way of contacting you when you win!!  

EXTRA ENTRIES:

• Follow The Dill-io thru GFC (+2 entry)
• Follow The Dill-io on Networked Blogs (+2 entries)
• Become an email subscriber of The Dill-io (+3 entries)
• Become an RSS Subscriber to The Dill-io (+2 entry)
• Become a fan of Skoy on Facebook (+1 entry)
• Follow The Dill-io on twitter (+2 entry) 
• Follow Skoy on twitter (+1 entry)
  
• Become a fan of The Dill-io on Facebook (+1 entry) 
• Tweet this giveaway (just hit the Retweet button at the top of this post!!) (+1 entry daily)

This contest is open to residents of the USA. Contest ends on September 13th at 11:59 pm CST. The winner will be chosen using random.org and will be notified via email.  The lucky winner will have 48 hours to contact me. If you fail to contact me within the 48 hour period, a new winner will be chosen.

Disclosure: I received no monetary compensation for this review. I received products from Skoy Cloth for review and was under no obligation from any person(s) or company to post a positive review. All information on Skoy Cloth was obtained from literature sent to me or published online on their website.  All thoughts and opinions are 100% mine.

So some that know me in real life know that I am kinda, sorta crunchy...I always want to be more crunchy but I get bogged down with other things and being green and reducing my carbon footprint just kinda sort fall to the back burner.
But I discovered this very cool program today--its called "My blog is carbon neutral".

“My blog is carbon neutral” is an initiative, originally started in Germany by the “Make it Green” programme, that has the goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. From the Site:

How much carbon dioxide does your blog create?

According to a study by Alexander Wissner-Gross, PhD, physicist at Harvard University and environmental activist, an average website causes about 0.02g (0,0008oz.) of carbon dioxide for each visit. Assuming an average blog gets 15,000 visits a month, it has yearly carbon dioxide emissions of 3,6kg (8lb.). This can mainly be tracked back to the immense energy usage from (mainframe) computers, servers, and their cooling systems.

How much carbon dioxide does a tree absorb?

Unfortunately, no precise answer is possible. The carbon dioxide absorption of a tree can differ a lot. The amount of carbon dioxide that a tree can absorb depends on the type of tree, light exposure, length of the vegetation period, latitude, water balance, and the soil conditions.

The assumed values vary between 10 and 30kg (20 and 70lb.) for a tree each year. It is certain however, that in its first two to three years a tree absorbs relatively little carbon dioxide. In the growth phase following this, the absorption rate increases rapidly. During this time, the tree safes a considerable amount of carbon dioxide. The absorption rate decrease again from the age of 18.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) assumes a yearly absorption of one tree of approximately 10kg (20lb.) carbon dioxide emissions. “Make it green”, the environmental programme of kaufDA, is using a yearly absorption value of 5kg (11lb.) for its “My blog is carbon neutral” initiative. This is a very conservative calculation, ensuring that the neutralisation of each blog is achieved.

One tree neutralizes the carbon dioxide emissions of your blog

As demonstrated in the above calculation, the atmosphere can be relieved by an average of 5kg (11lb.) carbon dioxide every year by planting one tree. An average blog causes 3.6kg (8lb.) of carbon dioxide emissions. Consequently, a tree neutralizes the carbon dioxide emissions of a blog. Since a tree lives for an average of 50 years, carbon dioxide emissions of your blog can be completely neutralised for this time period.

Summary:
You write a blog post about their program, email them the link and they plant a tree for your blog and to thereby neutralize your blog’s carbon footprint for the next 50 years!
Awesome right?? So what are you waiting for start blogging now....reduce your blog's carbon!!

Homemade Laundry Detergent Take 1

As some of you may (or may not) know I am on a mission to become more green, more frugal and live as naturally as we can

A.) afford

B.)handle and

C.) as far as I can push Jet Pilot (he fights me tooth and nail on changing our lifestyle habits for the better).

About a year ago I was reading on The Thrifty Mama Forums about making your own laundry detergent, and me being the huge skeptic that I am started researching it more and asking around to the greensters in TTM's coupon chat and sure enough-its legit. It works, smells good and is like 1/10 of the price of the store bought detergent. Well me being the extreme cheapskate that I am decided to "buy" the ingredients with overage and make it at home for myself.

I have to insert here that Jet Pilot was an extreme skeptic and not on board at all with making this detergent, he is an april-y fresh, lavender bouquet-y, smell good soap kinda guy; and I was too...but the desire to be cheap overrode my smell good needs.

So one weekend when everyone else in the house was busy I made a 2 gallon batch on the sly.

And I was totally frightened, it looked like yellowish Crisco gel goop.

In my fluster, I swagged all over the world wide web and found out I just needed to mix it all up with a giant spoon.

So I did.

And then it began to look more normal.

And it smelled wonderfully clean, I don't know how else to describe it, it just smells like soap-clean soap.

Here is the recipe I follow: FYI-- I make 4 Gallons at a time, its just easier.

1 Cup Borax

1 Cup Washing Soda

2/3 bar of Fels Naptha or whole bar of Ivory soap grated

I literally do everything my link-er does above. I bought a bucket from Wal Mart, measured and marked it at the 2 and 4 gallon levels, etc.. The only Dill flavor I added on is that I put the soap in first, boil the biggest stockpot of water I have and dump it in immediately after. From then on I just add the hottest tap water my house produces until I hit the 4 gallon mark.

It does need 8-24 hours to set up to the Crisco goop level and mine usually needs a good stir afterwards but from then on its just 1/2 cup in every load. Less for smaller loads (duh =P). A four gallon batch usually lasts us 4.5-6 months.

And I do laundry-everyday.

Multiple loads of laundry-everyday.

Now I know this frugal method is not for everyone, but it has saved this house soo much $$$ that it is just not justifiable for us to purchase store bought laundry detergent anymore. I will buy detergent on the off chance it's free and I can get away with only paying tax on it, but the odds of that are usually pretty slim around these parts. Is it more natural-sure I think so, more green-totally (there are soo many less chemicals in my detergent than anything you would buy on the shelf at your local supercenter), is it cheaper-you bet, will I continue to make my own detergent-UUHH YES until we can't get the ingredients anymore (because we are overseas or something).

I have turned several people onto this method and they all love it, so its pretty much mom approved.

In closing, I love making my own detergent I feel more independent, self sustaining, and just well, plain clean. With the allergies that Bonnie, Jet Pilot and I have its very comforting knowing that we are putting on clothes washed in a more "natural" detergent. If you have any questions please feel free to leave them in the comments section of this post along with your email and I will get back to you ASAP.

P.S. How classy am I that I used Jet Pilot's BBQ spatula for stirring up my detergent? Haha!! I know I need a better stirrer object but hey you work with whatchu got....

My Medco Deals!!!

From time to time online stores play host to some amazing coupon codes/deals, usually they don't go through or are bogus or whatever..but sometimes they go through. And my 2 deals are proof that sometimes a girl gets lucky!!! Medco was offering a coupon code that took $10 off a $10 purchase, and shipping was only .99 cents. There were several codes out but I just took advantage of 2, I tend to get greedy with cheap and frees so I try to reign myself in when I can. Well since we have so much of everything thanks to the coupon stockpile I actually had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to get. I knew I wanted to get as close to $10 as possible to make my $$ stretch but with the first order I just got excited and tried to get SOMETHING, anything check out and pray my order didn't get cancelled. My first order was for a lb of Cold Milled Organic Ground Flaxseeds. Jet Pilot was less than thrilled about that, he tends to fight healthy eating sometimes but to eat organic and healthy is expensive and any opportunity to get organics on the cheap and I am all over it.

So I got Cold Milled Organic Ground Flaxseed.

And he will eat it.

And we will all be happier and healthier because of it.

I put it in a smoothie and you can't even taste it, I plan on putting it in quite a few of our dinner dishes, desserts, cookies, muffins, smoothies..you get the picture.

Then the second code came out and I had to strategically think of things that we needed but didn't want to pay full price for (well actually I don't want to pay full price for anything ever!) and then the idea hit me like a ton of bricks! WASHING SODA!! Since I started making my own detergent back in September I have been using the same box of washing soda and my box was getting very, very low. This coupled with the fact that I live in the middle of nowhere and have no store where I could buy this I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to get it on the cheap. I added in a box of Q-Tips as a cheap filler and just paid my .99 shipping.

All in all I think that my Medco deals were a success and I would definitely buy from them again if they put out another awesome $$/$$ coupon code. Thanks Medco!!!

DAY 10

I LOVE IT-NO POO!! I have gotten numerous compliments on the shiny-ness of my hair, it fills great, never gets oily and I think it has a little bit more volume than normal. The only downside as far as I can tell is that it takes longer for me to do the baking soda and vinegar rinse than it took for me to "wash" my hair the normal conventional way. But I am going to stick with it for awhile, I recently acquired some coupons for vinegar (so I plan on stocking up on that over the next few grocery trips ) and all the rest of the ingredients I have plenty of. So we will see, I keep forgetting to take pictures, Jet Pilot is out of town again on cross country but when he gets back I PROMISE to take pictures of my head!!!

Day 3

Sooo I have had to change to traditional way I "wash" my hair...I always start at the crown of my head and work out, kinda like a flower...well with "No Poo" when I do the scalp rinse and then the vinegar rinse...I burn my head. Baking Soda + White Vinegar = Chemical Reaction on my HEAD!!! But its soo-kay, my hair is doing great!! Not oily, not dry relatively easy to comb through and I think its less frizzy than washing with store bought shampoo/conditioner. When Daddum came home yesterday from cross country he said that he thought my hair looked really shiny and this was before I told him I was on the "No Poo" kick. Sooo I think its working...maybe I will have that model tastic hair in a week and a half, who knows??

Day Numero Dos

Uhhh...no change, Over. However, my hair is not greasy and is as soft as if I were still using conditioner. So the news is all good. Cheers to Day #3!!!

No Poo Day 1

(Insert loud drumroll please).....So as today is the end of Day 1 of my No Poo experiment the results are in....I didn't notice a difference in my hair at all. It wasn't bad or good. I did the scalp rinse first (and I think I need to add more baking soda, didn't feel crunchy enough for me), then the Vinegar rinse (I am using all natural white vinegar because I read it cleans just as well and holds a scent better) and when I was in the shower I just did a thorough rinse. Post shower I felt my hair and it felt just as soft as regular shampoo and the scent was nice too. Kinda festive, and earthy- as the day wore on and my hair dried it was not anymore frizzy or wild than normal. I was kinda expecting that I would wash it with the "No Poo" and when it dried I would look like a movie star or something-laughable I know but a girl can hope right?? Pictures to come later...Jet Pilot is out of town on a cross country flight and I have no one to take pictures of the back of my head until tomorrow evening.

NO POO and ME

I decided to do it...well I guess technically NOT do it any more-shampoo my hair I mean. I have been reading all kinds of green and crunchy blogs lately, like this one and this one done my research and it has got me to realize that I am unhappy with some of these more conventional "normal" ways of doing things. I feel like the Lord and the Holy Spirit are pushing this more earth conciuous, vegan wannabe grace filled woman to the surface and are slowly but surely kickin that icky Flesh Woman out!! And I couldn't be more pleased!!! Like a moth to a flame I feel myself pondering more and more the health affects of green smoothies in my life, homeschool in my future and P90X (I know...exercise..why can't I just love it like some people?). So I am taking this first baby step to see how the other earth friendly, self sustaining side lives...and if I like it then buh bye SHAMPOO!!! But I deviate from the real purpose of this post-NO POO.

So the method I am using is one found on one of my new favorite blogs which can be found here- I am using method #3. Basically what the breakdown is- there are quite a few ingredients found in A LOT of shampoos that are posing potentially serious health effects, not to mention damaging to the environment. And really what are the options-don't wash your hair...uhhmmm no not in my case, buy all natural or organic shampoos-sure, great now only if I lived in a city large enough to warrant an all natural grocery store...(or a Target for that matter), or in my case option #3-give up traditional shampoos and find the REAL all natural route to getting my locks clean and shiny. Option three demands that I "make" my own no poo, no biggie- vinegar, cinnamon sticks, vanilla extract (looked for whole beans but c'mon I do live in a tiny town), baking soda and water. I kinda just dab and pinched my way thru the no poo recipe. (I think I may have to adjust my baking soda pinches but oh well it was cheap to make ; p). Here are my RAW ingredients:

and here

and here are my finished projects (I know I know I labelled them like a dork but I can't help it...I need things to be orderly...or at least look that way!!)

I am taking a shower now and I will take pics in the morning of my dry no-poo'd hair. WISH ME LUCK!!!!