JAMTOT Review Round-Up: ‘Around the House’ Edition (Giveaway – CLOSED)

For 2010, I’ve decided to make a few changes in how I manage this site. I spent almost all of 2009 falling further and further behind on reviews and then feeling horribly guilty about not having posted about products in a timely fashion, if even at all. I know that there’s no requirement that I post about every single item that I receive (as even stated in my own review guidelines), but I’ve discovered that I don’t like how I feel when I don’t follow through. I’ve tried to simply catch up – by not accepting new products and then finishing as many previous reviews as quickly as I can, but that way doesn’t work. I (and you!) end up missing out on some good opportunities, and somehow I never seem to get caught up anyway.

So this is my plan for the new year. Not every review is going to end up in a traditional, ‘unique’ post. This will mainly be true of older reviews that have sat for a while, but may include some newer ones too (if they fit well into a category). Similarly to my weekly ‘Deals & Steals’ post where information is published in a round-up type of format, some reviews will be published together – where they fit into a logical category. I’m not going to set a specific day or regular schedule for publishing a JAMTOT Review Round-Up, but until I get caught up on 2009 reviews, I’m hoping to post one every week or so.  I will be using this format to publish some other types of Review Round-Ups in general too, where I’d like to focus on a specific type of product. We’ll see how it goes. 

Here’s how this is going to work – in this type of post I’ll include a brief description of each product (usually pulled straight from a press release or website) and then offer a brief paragraph with my and/or my family’s thoughts and opinions on it. If I have photos or video involving the product then I will include those here as well. I will also provide a quick rundown on where you can go for more information about the product and/or where you can purchase it. Basically, this will be in the same general format as one of my more regular reviews, but not as lengthy, and omitting the ‘bottom line’ section. This first Review Round-Up includes three products that I have received and had a chance to test out with my family:

• Playtex Gloves
• Earth Essentials Products
• Softsoap Ensembles

In some cases I will have a giveaway associated with any or all of the products included in a Review Round-Up – read on to find out more about how to win some pairs of Playtex Gloves!

Product: Playtex Gloves

Description: Whether it’s time to scrub the bathrooms for summer guests, soap down the car from winter salt stains or clean out a dusty  garage, Playtex GreatLengths Disposable Gloves provides that extra-long protection for hands and arms. With its FDA approved nitrile material for extra strong durability, Playtex GreatLengths Gloves are more puncture-resistant than latex, and resistant to chemicals – with extra-long cuffs for greater protection. To help combat the daily dirty bathroom and sticky kitchen counter, Playtex Living Gloves new Drip-Catch Cuff protects hands, arms and clothes from water, soap and suds. And, Living Gloves come in a bright violet color, and contain latex, nitrile and neoprene for improved durability. They also offer a secure grip pattern for dexterity, and an ultra Fresh Anti-microbial protection that resists growth of mold and mildew. Playtex® CleanCuisine™ Disposable Food Prep Gloves are specially designed for your home cooking needs because they are resistant to animal fats, caustics and acids, are easier to don and remove, and provide excellent fingertip sensitivity and tactility.

My Take: I received samples of both the GreatLengths Disposable and the Playtex Living gloves to try out and review, courtesy of Playtex and Cohn & Wolfe. I’ve been using the gloves for a while now and find that they do come in very handy both when I’m doing general cleaning tasks where I don’t want my hands to get dirty or possibly to come into contact with chemicals found in some household cleaners. Where I’ve found them to be the most useful is for cleaning the bathtub/shower and when having to clean out the bathtub drain. In those cases I tend to use the disposable gloves, since I can simply grab one, and then throw it away when I’m done. The Playtex Living gloves are more useful at times when I don’t need to be grasping small objects since they’re thicker. They are very good for cleaning the bathtub though, since I often have water running and don’t want my wrists or arms to get wet. The cuff of the Living gloves turns up and does catch some water as it trickles down – although if you’re getting your hand too wet then it doesn’t really help as much anymore. And if the turned-up portion does get wet, then sliding the glove off afterward can be more difficult as well. In general, each of these types of gloves serves a different kind of need, and from what I can tell, does a good job.

More Information: Playtex Gloves can be found in most mass merchandise or retail stores where household cleaning products are found. They come in a variety of sizes from small to large (sized to fit a woman’s hand). You can find out more about them at http://www.playtexproductsinc.com/gloves/index.asp.

Amazon (affiliate links): Playtex Living Gloves and Playtex Great Lengths Disposable Gloves

Product: Earth Essentials from CVS

Description: More and more brands are helping consumers ‘go green’ by offering recycled paper products for the home, such as Marcal’s Small Steps and branded lines from Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Earth Essentials from CVS/pharmacy is a new line of recycled and biodegradable products from CVS/pharmacy that can help anybody ‘green’ up their BBQ at a comparable cost and with no additional effort.

• Earth Essentials Biodegradable Sugar Cane Bowls and Plates: Made from sustainable sugar cane byproduct, these plates and bowls biodegrade within 1-3 months but are strong enough to hold hot food and liquids ($2.50 each for package of 20)
• Earth Essentials Paper Napkins, Paper Towels and Bathroom Tissue: Endorsed by Greenpeace, these recycled paper products from CVS/pharmacy help families ‘go green’ with no sacrifice in quality or budget ($.99 to $8.99)

My Take: We received a selection of CVS’ Earth Essentials bowls, plates, trash bags, bathroom tissue and Aromatic Room Mist, courtesy of CVS and Matter Communications, to try out and review. We generally do use paper plates, mainly because they are so much easier and involve less dishwashing, with 3 little girls to feed lunch to every day. I liked using the Earth Essentials plates because they are sturdier than the store brand (cheap) paper ones that I usually buy, and I like the fact that these are biodegradable, so I don’t feel nearly as guilty about using disposable plates as often. I also like the raised lip on the edge of the plates that helps contain whatever the girls are eating onto the plate and not on my table or floor. We’re still using the bowls – they work well either for breakfast cereal or to hold a snack later on in the day. The bathroom tissue was a lot thinner than I’m used to using, so we went through the roll very quickly. I know it’s better for the environment, but I just can’t help liking to have a thicker, sturdier toilet paper. I do really like the room mist though – it definitely helps mask bathroom odors and I like that we’re not inhaling who knows what chemicals. Overall I’ve been very happy with the quality of the products and will definitely be buying the plates, bowls and room mist again. I LOVE that they’re just available down the street at CVS – so convenient!

More Information: You can find the Earth Essentials line at a CVS store near you, or online at http://www.cvs.com.

Product: Softsoap Ensembles

Description: The New Softsoap® ENSEMBLES™ is more than just hand soap.  These bottles come in four beautiful designs to add a simple and affordable style upgrade to any room with a sink.  When the bottle empties, simply save the pump and switch out the base for a while new look! There are NO SPLASHY LOGOS – this soap can really be part of your home décor.

My Take: Courtesy of Softsoap and Cohn & Wolfe, I received a Softsoap Ensembles starter set (pump plus base) along with an extra soap base to try out and review. I have to admit that décor isn’t exactly the first thing that I have in mind when purchasing hand soap for my family. My general idea of décor at this point is anything that doesn’t clash too horribly, but even that’s a pretty loose guideline. Generally I buy whatever works, doesn’t cost too much and don’t really worry about whether it matches everything else in my kitchen or bathroom. Having said that though, there is something really nice about having a hand soap dispenser that is disposable, can be replaced as soon as the soap runs out, yet doesn’t include words, text or logos anywhere on it and actually looks kind of well, classy.

I originally put the Softsoap Ensembles in our bathroom, mainly because the first base kind of matched our funky blue fixtures in there with the purplish/blue flowers. And actually I really liked how it looked in there. The dispenser is easy enough for the kids to use – even my preschooler can pump soap into her hand without spilling any. And it lasted for quite a while too. Once we ran out of soap, I simply removed the pump from the base and attached the replacement base. The second base matches our kitchen color scheme actually quite well, so I moved the soap in there and love that it gives my kitchen just a little bit more of a not so thrown-together feel. In the past, before kids, I’d purchased re-usable ceramic soap dispensers, but always had trouble because either the pump didn’t work well, or didn’t last, plus one slip and you’ve got a cracked or broken soap dispenser that doesn’t do anybody any good. With kids around, these are perfect because they’re plastic, and so far have been sturdy enough to hold up against my family’s use with no trouble. And they give the feel of having actually taken a little time and energy to match to the existing decor, but at no real greater cost than simply buying traditional liquid hand soap in a see-through container with fish or bubbles or some other logo and a lot of text on it.

My only complaint is that it was a little bit difficult to get the pump separated from the original base when the time came to switch it out. But that’s probably a good thing anyway since I know that it won’t leak. Once I twisted with enough strength I got the top off just fine and it was very easy to twist it onto the second base.

More Information: Softsoap Ensembles are available in mass, food and grocery stores nationwide or anywhere that hand soap is generally sold. Prices vary depending on retailer and location, but the suggested retail price is $5.99 for the Starter Pump and $2.99 for each Replacement Disposable Base.

Amazon (affiliate link): Softsoap Ensembles

GIVEAWAY TIME!

I have two sets of Playtex Glove products to give away to two lucky readers. Each winner will receive one package of Playtex Living Gloves and one package of Playtex® CleanCuisine™ Disposable Food Prep Gloves (all in size Medium). If you’d like to try these out for your own cleaning or food preparation needs, here are the rules:

1. Enter by leaving a comment here to let me know which style of Playtex Gloves described above you think would be the most useful to you and why. This is required – please don’t just say anything like ‘choose me’, or your entry will be discarded.
2. The contest will run until Sunday, January 31st at 11:59 pm EST. The winners will be selected through random drawing, contacted by e-mail, listed on this post and also submitted to PRIZEY. US entries only, please.
3. Please leave a valid e-mail address or other way to contact you! If either of the winners hasn’t responded within 3 days, an alternate winner will be chosen by random drawing.
4. If you’d like extra entries, you can:

• Subscribe to my RSS feed (click on the orange icon in the upper right sidebar) or subscribe via e-mail – leave me a separate comment to let me know.
• Mention this contest on your blog with a link back to this post, and leave a separate comment with the link to your post so I can find it.
• Either Twitter about, ‘Digg’ or ‘Kirtsy’ this post – leave me a separate comment with your username at whichever site(s) you chose (one extra entry per method).
• Become a ‘fan’ of this site on Facebook – there’s a link in the sidebar or you can click here.

So that’s a total of 7 comments/entries if you do all of the extra entry options.

Good luck! 

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED – the random number generator has chosen comments #16 and #30 as the winners:

Congratulations to:

• Madonna who said, “I would probably like the disposable gloves better.“
• Beth C (no blog) who said, “I like the Playtex Living Gloves to do cleaning jobs.“

I will be e-mailing you both shortly to work out the details!

That’s it for this JAMTOT Review Round-Up. Stay tuned for more reviews to come! 

This post is courtesy of the brands and companies mentioned above, who provided the product(s) for review and/or giveaway. No payment or compensation, other than product samples as described above, was received for this post. All opinions given here are solely my own or those of my family.