Would you like to win these lovely products? Read on!
This blog post is a little late—my sister Mary (yes, the one who made that table laden with Christmas goodies a few months back) gave me these awesome, natural cleaning products for Christmas and wrote a blog about it, but I haven’t had a chance to post it yet.
Here it is, Mary! I will also add that I’ve been using the products since Christmastime, and I really like them. They clean well, the scents aren’t overpowering and at the end of the day you know you’re not using chemicals in your house. What’s not to love? Don’t miss the contest at the end! Now I’ll turn it over to Mary:
When were you done with your Christmas shopping? Was it sometime before Thanksgiving, after Thanksgiving, or are you the type that waits until Christmas Eve and power shop until you drop? Do you also wait for the last minute to pick up that birthday gift for family or friend? I find there is someone that is very hard to buy for and you just don’t know what to give them.
I have a girlfriend who started her own company with two young daughters to raise as a single mother. Her story on her website says that she became concerned with the toxic and irritating chemicals in most commercially available laundry products that her daughters were exposed to, so she decided to make the products herself. Thus GrabGreen was born. She has created a successful eco-friendly approach to laundry products. She has now expanded into the kitchen. One of her signature scents was voted the winner in the best fragrance category by Real Simple magazine. Her products have also made a guest appearance on the Today show. Basically, I love her products and I wanted to get my family and friends excited about them too. The question to myself was how do I get them to try these products without dragging them into a Sprouts or another grocery store and force them to buy the items.
Before Thanksgiving I called my friend and told her what I had decided to do for my Christmas presents to friends and family this year. I was going to buy six items from her kitchen line, and put a basket together for everyone. Everyone on my Christmas list received the same thing this year. I guess I should tell you that I don’t have many creative juices running through my veins. I know my way around a Home Depot much better than a Michael’s craft store. However, Michael’s was showing 50% off baskets and other Christmas crafty items, so I took the plunge and stepped through the double doors into the unknown. I bought 10 baskets, the red, green and beige ‘grass’, some gold string, clear plastic ‘basket’ bags and name tags. I really stressed over whether the baskets were big enough, would they be a basket that someone would like to use again? How was I to arrange these 10 wonderful products, so they were displayed to their full potential? How would I tell my friends and family how to re-order these fantastic products? I relied on my years of sales and marketing experience to answer these important questions.
The baskets were just the right size. I designed a simple card that I set inside each basket with the GrabGreen logo, the order phone number and website address. I tied the clear plastic basket bag with the gold string, attached the nametag, and presto – Christmas shopping was done! Did I mention this was all done BEFORE Thanksgiving? The only other person I know of that could get all of her shopping done before Thanksgiving – well, if the truth be told she was done by the first day of school each year, was my Mother, rest her soul. I joke that heaven is a much more organized and better dressed and decorated place now that she is up there. However, I digress.
I have given these baskets everyone on my list but one, including my sister, Jennifer, the owner of this blog. So far, I have had rave reviews as well as congrats on bringing whatever creative juices I have to the surface for the brief time it took me to put these baskets together.
I felt very good about my gift choice this year. I am promoting a company of a good friend, a company that supports eco-friendly products for the kitchen and laundry, and I created a way to have my friends and family try these amazing products easily, without having to drag them anywhere at absolutely no cost to them. That is a ‘win-win’ situation in my book.
There is one downside to this gift – what will I do next year? I now have to figure out how to top this next year. At least I have about 11 months to decide.
Answer this question and you could receive a free gift from GrabGreen. All comments need to be added by Sunday, March 24th at midnight, and all will be put in a random drawing.
+ What was the first eco-friendly product that you purchased?
tinykitchenstories 
Great Christmas presents, Mary!
The first eco-friendly product I bought – and one that seemingly does everything from cleaning floors to washing hair 😉 – was castille soap. Lavender and peppermint varieties. Good stuff!
I love castille soap, especially the peppermint for cleaning floors and the shower. Squeaky clean and minty fresh! Thanks, Ann!
I bought ecover wash up liquid about 12 years ago and still urethane product
Hi Margaret! Thanks for commenting! I love Ecover too, especially the handwashing liquid for delicates.
Vinegar. I’ve been buying as long as I can remember, but it was the first eco-friendly cleaning product I used when I started switching from the chemical stuff.
I LOVE using white vinegar for cleaning, and baking soda too. Nothing gets grease off better than baking soda, and vinegar is so great for cleaning glass bottles and other containers that you put food in. Thanks, Jen!
Love me some Mrs. Meyers (all purpose) cleaner! It’s widely available for purchase and great for the kitchen, the bath and all the spaces in between. They make an array of eco-friendly scents too, from lavender to basil to honeysuckle or radish. It leaves my home clean and smelling delish. Yeehaw!
Mrs. Meyers is great! They used to have a great dog freshening spray (I kid you not!) that we loved, but we can’t find it anymore. I do love her lemongrass fragrance…
Good to know! Perfect for my furry friends (if it’s still available).
If you find it, let me know! I found it ages ago at Cost Plus.
The first eco-friendly product I purchased was my biodegradable water bottle! 🙂
How cool is that? It sounds like it’s not the only eco-friendly thing you have now! 🙂
Hmm, probably my vegan shampoo and conditioner!
I always try to use vegan hair products! Nice to hear someone of using them too. Which ones do you use? I like Nature’s Gate.
Awesome product! I’m all about going Green! I think the first green product I ever purchased was Method hand soap. I love that it’s non-toxic and comes in simple packaging.
Method’s packaging is pretty awesome, that’s for sure! And I do love some of their fragrances, mainly the citrus-y ones. Thanks for entering!
Love this giveaway! The first eco-friendly product that I purchased? 7th generation surface cleaner and all purpose cleaner. I only use eco-friendly products to clean my kitchen and bathrooms now.
As a Hip Foodie Mom, I assumed you’d be concerned about what products you use around your kids–and I’m glad I was right. I think it’s so important, and I don’t even have any kids! Thanks for the comment and entering!
This sounds fantastic. I’d love to give these a try. We usually use seventh generation stuff.
I do like Seventh Generation stuff, especially their unfragranced dish soap and their trash bags. It sounds like you’re a perfect candidate to try them!
Such a thoughtful gift and I love (that it’s a gift) which gives thrice. To your friends, to the start up company and to the environment. That’s a win, win, win, situation indeed!
Thank you! It was a nice gift–it’s always good to support a friend and the Earth all at the same time!
I invested in microfiber cloths to clean with water only for small jobs. It really cuts down on the amount of chemicals I use.
I use microfiber cloths a lot now too–I think they’re awesome, and you’re right–a great way to cut down on chemicals. You’ve reminded me not to always reach for the spray, but use water. Thank you!
I think it was Mrs. Meyer’s! (That counts, right?)
Of course! Thanks for entering!
I am all for eco friendly products. I too am a Mrs. Meyers user. I’m trying my best to get nasty chemicals out of my life!
If you like Mrs. Meyers, you’ll love these. Maybe you’ll win and find out!