Finding Natural Products
When I first started looking into switching all of my conventional products into either natural or homemade I found myself at a stand still. One reason was that I didn’t know where to find these ‘healthy’ products, and the other was that I didn’t want to spend our hard earned money on something I hated.
But I’m all for when a company wants me to try stuff out for them!
iHerb contacted me a bit ago and asked if I’d like to go on a shopping spree (on the house) so that I could post a review. I went and looked around on the site, and while there are some things that don’t strike me as ‘natural’ or ‘healthy’ (like toothpaste with sodium lauryl sulfate in it) they had a huge range of products and great prices. So I decided they were a company that I personally would order from and went ahead and placed my order.
I end up finding an herbal tooth and gum powder as I’m really looking to get away from even the natural toothpastes since so many of them either have unnatural ingredients in them or are based around glycerin. Let me tell you…..it’s odd trying to get used to a powder for brushing! It works just great, but you don’t get that foamy mess in your mouth either. For me this was perfect though as everything in it was completely natural, including the stevia herb.
I also bought some gelatin capsules so that I can fill them full of cod liver oil. (I’m a wimp, I know!) Also on my shopping list was a kelp supplement, Rescue Remedy’s fatigue remedy, toothbrushes for all of us, and a homeopathic calendula ointment.
Overall, I would totally buy from them again. I ordered on Monday and had my products on Friday, customer service was good, and a good amount of the products they carry I would use without hesitation.
Now, iHerb would also like to giveaway a $50.00 shopping spree to one of my readers as well, so all you have to do to enter is leave a comment here at this post by midnight on Wednesday May 12th. (US Residents only)
I have a lot of new and exciting things coming up here this fall, so make sure you add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email. I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter! **
Review: Neela Bags
I love using my reusable bags when I go shopping. I’ve had them around for a year or more and find them so convenient – even when garage sale-ing and going to farmers markets! But the ones I have and normally see in the grocery stores are all boring store colors with the supermarket name plastered on it. Like mine. They’re blue and all say Meijer. And you know…sometimes I just don’t feel like advertising for stores. And sometimes I need a bit of flavor in my life.
Enter Neela Bags.
When I first opened the package I was really unimpressed by the size of the bag. I mean, it was about as big as a lunch tote. Seriously? But as I started to check it out, I actually opened it up. Yea. There were actually FIVE bags, folded up inside it. That makes sense. Duh.
So the sent me the Market Pack, which is really cool. One smaller bag (that could totally double as a lunch tote) hold 5 grocery sized bags all rolled up and neat like.
So yesterday I went out shopping at our local Natural/Bulk food store and decided to bring these along. For one, the fact that they fold up so small and have a separate carrying case was awesome. Because I go out shopping with a toddler and an infant and all their stuff plus my purse. Sometimes the extra bags just get in the way. This time I just pushed them into the diaper bag.
I was a bit concerned when I took them out of the bag to start loading groceries into them. Since they do fold up so small, they don’t have that plastic bottom piece in them and I was worried it might not be sturdy enough once I got all my stuff in them. And I had stuff! Multiple 5 pound bags of stuff!
But they did a great job of holding it all together! No sagging and they were very sturdy! I think there was about 15 pounds or more in each one by the time I finished loading them.
And all of this was packed in them:
And all of those bags on the table were at least 5 pounds a piece. Plus the jars and what not.
So when all was said and done, I really liked these bags. They performed much better than I expected and because they’re so cute and compactable, they’ll be my first choice form when I head out shopping!
And it’s such a great and easy way to be a bit more environmentally thoughtful. Using and wasting those plastic bags that only hold a few items, is not only bad for the environment, but such a pain as well. I can normally put 3x more in reusable bags, than I can in plastic bags from the store. As an added benefit, I can also put these over my shoulder, which means less trips out to the car brining my groceries in!
Need some yourself? Head on over to Neela Bags and check them out. They have all sorts of super chic colors and styles to choose from. And thanks to MomFuse for setting up the review for me!
