I LOVE our new home. It is a lot bigger than our old one, and we own it, as opposed to living on a military installation! Being that it's bigger, that means more for me to clean! I don't mind one bit though. It's nice to actually have a craft room, and the 'bonus room' above the garage (which is now known as the guest bedroom/play room)!
The one thing different in this home than in any other home that we have lived in is that it has hardwood floors! I was really unsure of how to care for hardwood floors. I mean, with two (very active and messy) boys, a yellow lab, and a cat.... in our old home (which was mostly carpet and laminate) I was vacuuming every day just to keep the dog hair under control!
I was researching
green floor cleaner and my good bloggy friend over at Safe Mama suggested
Better Life Natural Household Products! So off I went to do my research!
This is what I found out!
Better life offers a wide array of natural, non-toxic, green cleansing products for your home! How their products are non-toxic/green?? Glad you asked! Their products contain plant-derived ingredients. They contain
no dyes, fragrances, sodium lauryl sulfate/sodium laureth sulfate (SLS), Sulfates, Bleach, Ammonia, or Petroleum! All their products are cruelty-free as well!
I just love this illustrated picture that can be found on their
website:
How many times have you walked into a grocery store that has just mopped the floors and the smell of Pine-Sol (or some other toxic chemical cleanser) has just about knocked you off your feet? I can't even shop in places like that, the smell bothers me so bad. I wonder what those fumes are that I am inhaling that are making their way to my lungs, veins, blood and so on! Yikes!
When I became pregnant with my first son (who is now 4) I started making small choices to live a more eco-friendly/green/organic (whatever you want to call it) lifestyle! From the things I ate, what I put on my body, to what I use to clean my home!
I can so relate to this story (which can be found on the
Better Life website) written by Tim (a scientist and father)!
"It is true that having children changes everything, and for me that included my career. For the past 13 years, I have worked as a formulation chemist. My professional life has been dedicated to formulating exciting new products that are safe, effective, and innovative. For much of my career, I devoted my energy to developing skin care products. When Tiffany and I had children, our lives became exciting, challenging, wonderful and a bit exhausting, and well, so did my career.
Like any father, I want a safe and healthy environment for our kids. As soon as my children started to crawl and explore, I realized that oftentimes the biggest dangers exist inside our own homes. Under the kitchen sink and in bathroom cabinets - our homes are filled with harsh, toxic and deadly chemicals. As a scientist, I know that these chemicals pose a serious risk to us, our children and pets, every time we use them. As a parent, I wanted to get these toxins out of my house. I started using so called “green” cleaning products because the labels told me they were environmentally safe, non-toxic and effective. Yet it bothered me that warning and caution statements still remained on the label and these products contained many of the same harsh chemical ingredients found in the traditional products. Tim and I set out with a mission: to create a high performing cleaner that is completely safe. Our result is BETTER LIFE. It's safe for our families and our planet. No warning labels necessary."
How many of you can relate? I know that as parents we want to do everything necessary to provide our children with a safe, fun, loving environment in which they can grow and learn!
I would do ANYTHING to keep my boys safe and healthy! By switching to non-toxic cleansing products, I am taking a step in that direction!
I love this easy to read diagram found on the
Better Life website that compares the ingredients of other 'green' products on the market:
Many of us are concerned with the below ingredients commonly found in cleaning products.
At Better Life, we hold ourselves to the highest standards and keep these ingredients out of our products.
| Possible Concerns | Method bathroom cleaner1 | Mrs. Meyers all purpose cleaner2
(lemon verbena) | Green Works all purpose cleaner3 | Seventh Generation disinfecting multisurface4
(green mandarin & leaf) | BETTER LIFE all purpose what-EVER!
(clary sage &citrus) |
Dyes | Have been linked to cancer, can be toxic to animals, slow to biodegrade. | | | X | | NONE |
Alcohol | Respiratory and skin irritant, flammable, can act as an aggressive solvent which may damage surfaces in the home. | X | | X | | NONE |
Synthetic Fragrance | Central nervous system depressant, respiratory and skin irritant, slow to biodegrade, toxic. | X | X | X | | NONE |
Sulfates (such as SLS & SLES) and/or sulfanates | Irritating to skin and eyes, may contain 1,4-Dioxane. | | X | | X | NONE |
Ethoxylates (Petroleum Based Cleaning Agents) | Ethylene oxide/petroleum based, may contain1,4-Dioxane, many pose threat to marine life, linked to cancer and sterility. | X | X | | | NONE |
Petrochemical Solvents | Petroleum based, many are respiratory and skin irritants, toxic, may damage surfaces in the home. | X | | | | NONE |
1As published on http://methodhome.com - 10/3/2011
2As published on http://www.mrsmeyers.com - 10/3/2011
3As published on http://www.greenworkscleaners.com - 10/3/2011
4As published on http://www.seventhgeneration.com - 10/3/2011
I'll admit, I've used Seventh Generation products (and still have some in my home) and I've also used Mrs. Meyer's before too! My point?? Just because the label reads "green" or "eco-friendly" does not necessarily mean the product is totally non-toxic!
Ok, so I contacted Better Life and inquired about their products! I explained my situation with owning a new home with hardwood floors and not being too sure how to care for them!
Kate from Better Life graciously sent me a Better Life
Green Floor Cleaner Kit!
This is what I received:
This kit comes with a mop head and frame, lightweight universal extension pole, 2 microfiber mop pads, and a 32 oz bottle of
Simply Floored natural floor cleaner!
I really love that the extension pole is extend able! My 4 year old can use it on it's smallest setting, and if I were like 7 ft tall, I could use it on it's tallest! :)
The extension pole is universal and simply screws right into the mop head:
The kit comes with two microfiber cloths! One side is made of the microfiber (blue) the other side is the soft side that sticks to the ultra strong Velcro on the mop head itself:
The top of the mop head has little grabber circles... what are they for? Well, you can simply take a microfiber cloth, lay the mop on top of it, and tuck the corners of the
microfiber cloth inside those holes and you have a perfect little dry mop for (in my case) getting rid of all that dog hair!
(Insert memory of high school janitor pushing around that huge white shaggy dust-mop) only by using the microfiber cloths, the dog hair and dust actually cling to it, rather than just get pushed around!
The kit also came with their Simply Floored natural floor cleaner!
Ingredients:
Now to put this stuff to the test!
Before picture of my hardwood floors:
I went over the floor first with a microfiber cloth attached to the mop in order to get rid of all that dog hair, crumbs and dust!
Now, to use the Simply Floored, you don't need a whole lot! In fact, a little bit goes a long way! You get the mop head wet and wring it out. Then I took the jar of Simply Floored and made an S shape on the floor:
Then I used the damp mop to go over it and here are the results:
You can see from the first picture taken of the floors (the before pic) there are several little dark spots on the floor. Those were probably drops of a sippy cup or something of that nature, but after I went over the floor with the Simply Floored, all those dark spots were gone, and my floors were very well conditioned and oh so shiny (as seen in the picture above)!
I also tried this stuff on my laminate in my laundry room! Yes, this is where my nasty litter box is:
Yucky cat litter dried to the floor :(
The end result:
I'm in LOVE with this stuff!
There are a whole slew of awesome products offered by Better Life (all of which I am dying to try)! They even offer a
nursery cleaner and a
kit for dog lovers!! Oh and did I mention that not only are their products safe around your littles, they are also safe to use around your pets too! I'm dying to try some of the
hand soaps and lotions!
Better Life has free shipping on orders over $25.00 and let me tell you, if all the other products they sell are as awesome as the floor care kit I received, you will not be disappointed! In fact, Kate (who sent this kit to me) did her own review of this kit as well. You can
read her review here!
Right now, you can purchase this Better Life Floor Care Kit for only $29.00 (with free shipping)!! Or, you can enter to win one here! That's right, Better Life has graciously offered one of you the chance to win a Floor Care Kit of your very own!!
To enter, simply use the Rafflecopter form below. You may have to click on "read more" for the form to completely load!
Good luck, have fun and Happy Cleaning!!
~Mama of the Littles~
Disclosure: I received the product(s) mentioned above in exchange for my review. This review is my honest opinion based on my own personal experience, and may differ from yours. I did not receive any monetary compensation in exchange for this review!
