This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #RadiantLaundry #CollectiveBias

In this house, we do laundry.  A LOT of laundry.  And rarely a day goes by that I don’t have to pre-treat stains.  It’s kind of inevitable with three mischievous, curious and (usually) independent boys.  The last two weeks have been spent landscaping our backyard and that has produced it’s own kind of dirty laundry.  As the weather gets warmer and my boys spend more of their time outside, the laundry will only increase on the dirtiness scale.  My kids play hard; they are hard on their clothes.  I need something that will get the dirty and grime out, but protects color and isn’t too harsh on the fabric.  New all Radiant laundry detergent has me covered and I use it in more than just the soap dispenser in my washing machine!

3 WAYS YOU CAN USE all RADIANT LAUNDRY DETERGENT

1. As your regular laundry detergent.  As I mentioned, we have been landscaping our backyard for the last two weeks.  This past Friday, we laid the sod.  all laundry detergent has a new formula available that will get the grime out without being too harsh on your clothes!  all Radiant laundry detergent’s patented Fiber Shield technology attacks stains and residue while restoring whites and protecting colors – exactly what this momma needs!  Our clothes take a beating; we work hard and play harder.  all Radiant can handle the dirt and stains without manhandling our clothes.  It helps restore whites and colors stay steadfast.  Laying the sod was a muddy task and the perfect way to test out the stain removal power of all Radiant.  Our clothes had a good layer of mud caked on them.

I ran the clothes through a single load in hot water with a pre-soak cycle.  The only stain treating I did was on my husband’s hat with the detergent itself because, well, did you see it?  Eww.  I just poured it right on there and let it sit for maybe five minutes.  It sat in the pre-soak cycle as well, but I didn’t do a single bit of scrubbing on any of the clothes.

I was quite happy with the detergent and it’s performance.!  I am anxious to see how the detergent will help protect colors and keep our whites looking their best with extended use.  I loved that the detergent wasn’t overly strongly scented as well.  This is perfect for a house full of boys.  Smelly, stinky, sweaty, play hard boys that are rough on their clothes and constant stain magnets.

2.  As a stain treatment at home.  One of the things I actually really liked about all Radiant detergent was the stain-treating power it had on my husband’s hat.  As I mentioned, I the only stain-treating I did to this load of muddy work clothes was with the detergent on the hat.  My husband had worn it nearly every day for the past two weeks out in the sun and dirt and rain and wind.  It hadn’t been washed in all that time so there was two-weeks worth of man sweat grime in that hat.  YUCK.

Even though I didn’t pre-treat as early as I could (or should) have, all Radiant did a great job at removing all that gross smelly man-gunk, even from the seams of the hat.  There was only one small spot that it didn’t come all the way out and I plan to wash it again and let it soak just a little longer this time.

3.  On-the-go Stain Treatment.  It seems like my kids can’t leave the house without getting something on their clothes most of the time.  Usually I don’t sweat it too much; they are boys and it’s just clothing.  But some times it’s a stain that I know will be a nightmare to get out later.  Blood is one that comes right to mind; that is definitely easier to remove when it is fresh.  So, I filled a small travel-size toiletry bottle with some all Radiant detergent and I can use it on stains that need attention as soon as possible, no matter where I am.  I left it full strength in my little bottle, I can dilute it at the time if I don’t need the full strength stain remover power.

It fits right in my diaper bag and is just enough for those little “oops!” moments in life.  I keep it in a zip-top bag which doubles as a place to store any wet clothing that I’ve pre-treated or washed out until I can get it home to my washing machine and a scrub brush.

Want the awesome power of all Radiant in your life?!  Well, good news!  You can find all Radiant laundry detergent at Target with the other detergents; and, from May 3 to May 9, 2015, Target will have a cartwheel offer for all Radiant detergent you won’t want to miss!

all Radiant detergent has quickly become a key factor in restoring and keeping my family’s dirty clothes at their best.  What’s your favorite way to create dirty clothes?  Leave a comment and let me know!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NaturalGoodness #CollectiveBias

We are at a point when Little J has started resisting having his teeth brushed.  Not because he doesn’t like it, he does, but because he wants to do it himself.  He has always been my independent fella.  But, at three years old, he’s not really equipped to brush his teeth sufficiently yet.  We’re also trying to transition him from the training toothpaste to some with fluoride and he was having a hard time giving up his Thomas toothpaste.  Because he is still apt to swallow more than he spits out, I want something that is natural and not chock full of chemicals and dyes.  Tom’s of Maine Children’s Silly Strawberry toothpaste is full of natural goodness and my little guy loves it too!

HOW TO KEEP NATURAL
GOODNESS IN KID’S ORAL CARE

TRANSITIONING TO BIG KID TOOTHPASTE

I knew it was going to be a challenge to swap out the Thomas training (fluoride-free) toothpaste because, well… Thomas.  He’s a big deal at our house and trading him out was not in my toddler’s plans.  Thomas toothpaste is sweet and delicious right out of the tube (Little J can vouch for that); it’s a good incentive for my wiggly worm to let me stick a long fuzzy object in his mouth and rub in around on his teeth for far longer than he wants me to.  But, he’s getting to the point where it’s beneficial to switch to a fluoride toothpaste that will help protect his teeth.  So, I knew I was going to have to make a big deal out of his new toothbrush and paste.  I decided to do it in gift-giving manner.  What kid doesn’t like presents?!

Materials:
– Tom’s of Maine Children’s Silly Strawberry Toothpaste
– Awesome new Spider-Man toothbrush (or Hello Kitty, Dora, Ironman, Thomas, or whoever the hero is for your little one)
– Rinse cup (this used to be a Ninja Turtle rinse cup that came as part of a toothbrushing kit Little J got for his birthday, but Spider-Man scores more points than Ninja Turtles around here, so I upcycled it).  Any small cup would work.
– Black Vinyl
– Xact-O Knife and Spider-Man Logo template (or a craft cutter)
– FREE Printable Teeth Brushing Tracker Chart

Directions:
– Print the Teeth Brushing Tracker from the link or click the image above.  You’ll need to download, save it to your computer and then print.  You can laminate it too if you want to re-use it.  Little J wanted to earn stickers, so I just printed them double-sided and use a new one each week.  I had a whole month tracker that we used for about three days.  It was too overwhelming for my 3 year old.  There was always so many empty boxes that he lost motivation and it turned into a fight by bedtime to get him to brush his teeth.  I switched to a weekly tracker and it’s much easier.  The chart fills up faster, especially since he can get two stickers each day, and is motivational instead of detrimental.

– I traced the Spider-Man logo onto an index card and then taped that over the top of my vinyl.  Then I used an Xact-O knife and carefully cut out the logo in vinyl.  I had planned on using my craft cutter but it wasn’t playing nice, so I went old school.  It can be done.  I stuck the vinyl logo on the red rinse cup and pressed it down firmly with my fingernails.
– The toothbrush came in a superhero 4-pack, so I opened it and put the Spider-Man brush with the Tom’s of Maine toothpaste, the rinse cup, the teeth brush tracker and some Spider-Man stickers.
– I wrapped them all up in a paper bag (yep, I’m fancy like that) and decorated it up a bit with a sharpie spider web and a freehanded spider logo and it was set to go.

I gave him the bag when we brushed his teeth one morning after Big J went to school so there wasn’t any complaining or “why don’t I get a present?!” and he was excited and I could give him my full focus.  The Thomas toothpaste disappeared the night before and it wasn’t even missed until bedtime toothbrushing, when I just reminded Little J about his big boy strawberry toothpaste and new Spider-Man loot.  He was so focused on getting a Spider-Man sticker that Thomas was soon forgotten.  We’ve been using Tom’s of Maine toothpaste for about four days now.  Little J likes the taste of his new toothpaste.  I’m still working with him on spitting it out, but at least I don’t have to worry about all the other dyes and chemicals he could be swallowing.  Big J has even requested his own tube of strawberry toothpaste.  It’s a hit with my kids.

Tom’s of Maine gets even better though.  They had grown-up toothpaste too!  I used the children’s toothpaste once, to try it out.  It wasn’t bad, but I just expect there to be minty fresh breath when I get done brushing my teeth.  With Tom’s of Maine Whole Care fluoride toothpaste in spearmint, I get that minty fresh breath I want.  You can also find it in peppermint and there’s an antiplaque & whitening formula too, which is fluoride free.  I let Big J try this one, he liked it at first because it taste like a candy cane, but he thought it was a little strong after a while.  I really like it.  It looks a little odd at first, especially when you’re used to chemically dyed pastes, but there’s nothing but natural goodness in these pastes.  Tom’s of Maine doesn’t just care about your teeth and the way your breath smells.  They’ve got other smells covered too with their long-lasting deodorant!  I was a bit skeptical, because I’ve tried other natural deodorants and been left less than impressed with the sticky feeling.  This one didn’t feel that way.  The apricot smell is neutral enough that Mr Napping said he’d consider wearing it.  He wasn’t super thrilled with the idea, but he didn’t vehemently refuse.  Smelling like apricots would be better than smelly B.O.  I like the smell and I like that it doesn’t have any aluminum in it.

I found the Tom’s of Maine products at Wal-Mart, in the health and beauty department.  I love that these natural products are easy to find.  Right now, you can get $1.00 off any Tom’s of Maine product purchase at Walmart.  What Tom’s of Maine product will you try?

I want to thank BISSELL for sponsoring today’s post.  I was provided compensation for my time.  All views expressed herein are 100% honest and my own.  Promise.

How did it get to be so far into April already?!  It doesn’t seem like it’s been an entire week and a half yet!  That’s really code for “How am I so far behind on all the things I was going to do before Spring?!”  Spring is a busy time and, as the weather warms up, the last place I want to be is inside cleaning.  But I definitely need to wash away winter from my home.  We haven’t had a terribly wet winter, but it’s been incredibly windy.  I had no idea the wind could blow so much dirt into my home, even when the doors and windows are shut!  We’ve had a few nice days too, so we threw those windows open so fast the glass rattled in their panes, and invited more dirt and dust to come on in and settle down in our carpets.  Luckily, with the help of my trusty BISSELL Deep Cleaner I got around Christmastime, I’ll banish the dirt and wash away winter for good.  This machine is amazing and helps me deep clean my entire home.  Here’s how:

3 WAYS I WASH AWAY WINTER
with my BISSELL carpet cleaner

Wash Away Winter strategy #1:  Get down and dirty on the floors.  Obviously, the purpose of a carpet cleaner is to clean the carpets.  I am in love with the Bissell ProHeat 2X and this machine is a master carpet cleaner.  It’s easy to use.  The set up and clean up are quick and easy.  And it’s not any harder than vacuuming.  You can see my full review on my post back in December.  One of my favorite things about the Bissell line is that they have so many cleaning formulas to choose from.  Anything you need cleaned, they have a formula for it; pet stains and odors or deep cleaning solutions that will get rid of the worst odors and stains.  My new favorite solution is the Deep Cleaning solution with Febreze.  It has the awesome cleaning power I have come to love from the Bissell solutions and the great smell of Febreze.  My home smells awesome and my carpets are fluffy and fresh.

I freshened up my family room carpet yesterday and I was once again impressed with the Bissell machine.  My very favorite part?  Within two hours we were able to walk across the carpet again.  In four hours, I was moving the furniture back into place.  I didn’t even start my cleaning until after 3pm.  I remember my mom cleaning carpets when I was younger and it took ALL DAY LONG to dry.  I love that this doesn’t.

Wash Away Winter strategy #2:  Take it up top!  My instinct tells me to start where it’s dirty and the most obviously dirty places are usually down low, where my kids are.  Ah, see the correlation…?  Gravity, and children, will naturally make your floors the dirtiest place in just about every room.  Your time will be better spent, and your home will end up cleaner, if you start up high though.  For me, that means curtains.

I had never really given much thought to how dirty curtains can get until I shook mine out the other day.  It was as bad as shaking a rug… that you put your dirty shoes all over and WALK ON!  Hanging on my wall.  On display.  YUUCCK!  This is definitely a good time to take the curtains off the windows and wash them.  Depending on your curtains, you may be able to throw them in the washer.  My curtains are hand wash, line dry.  They aren’t fancy and we got them for the black out feature because we have a projector and two giant windows in that room.  But I was helping my mom with her drapes the other day and they are dry clean only.  Ha.  The last thing I had dry cleaned was my wedding dress.  If you have heavy or dry clean only curtains and need more of a steam clean, BISSELL Professional Deep Cleaning with Febreze will freshen your curtains and leave them smelling springy fresh.  I still cleaned my curtains with the carpet cleaner because I wanted to see if the Scotchgard would help them stay cleaner since we will be leaving the windows open more often.  I didn’t think our curtains looked dirty, but they look brighter now.  That, and the storm-cloud gray water I dumped from my Bissell, says they were definitely in need of a cleaning.

I just used the hose and handheld tool on my Bissell ProHeat to clean them and my curtains.  Super easy.  I laid them out on the floor, placed a stack of heavy books on each corner and then cleaned the curtains with the hose attachment.  It didn’t take long and the results were great.  Word of advice though, lay down some plastic and old towels under the curtains or your floors will be wet afterward.

Wash Away Winter Strategy #3: Freshen up your upholstery.  Once again, the hose attachment is amazing.  I didn’t use it much after I first got my Bissell machine, because I don’t have stairs in my home, but it has become my favorite feature.  Seriously.  I have used it to clean up throw up in the middle of the night, urine from potty-training and, just earlier this week, yogurt spilled on my family room floor.  The hose is a lifesaver.

And it cleans upholstery.  We have a microfiber sofa and love seat we picked up after we moved out of my parents home.  It’s not nice and was used when we got it.  The poor furniture has seen better days, but they are ridiculously comfortable, so I refuse to part with them.  My cleaner is amazing on my microfiber couches.  It gets out all the stains my boys have been able to inflict upon our worn sofas and I love that I can pull it out and spot clean if I have a need.  It’s so easy to set up the machine that spot cleaning isn’t more work than it’s worth.  If you look closely at the photo below, you can see where I stopped cleaning halfway through the job.

Being able to clean these couches with my carpet cleaner has given them a little more life and makes them really easy to keep clean.  And, AND, another perk of the hose: you can use it to clean your mattresses!  (Like for that middle of the night throw up scenario… true story.)  And with the Febreze formula, it gets out the odors that permeate a home with stinky boys and it keeps them out.  As I briefly mentioned above, the Bissell formulas come with the protection of Scotchgard too.  I love that every time I clean my home, I’m also protecting my home.  Wanna see what Scotchgard can do with your own eyes?  Check out the difference using a Bissell formula with Scotchgard can have on your carpets in the video below or watch it on YouTube.

 

BISSELL is giving away two product bundles, including a BISSELL Deep Clean Lift-Off and BISSELL Professional Deep Cleaning with Febreze® Formula! Winners will be chosen at random.  To enter the giveaway all you have to do is comment below with your favorite spring cleaning tips.  You can leave your email address as well, so BISSELL can contact you in case you win.  BISSELL is responsible for winner selection and prize distribution.