As I mentioned in the most recent Fun Fact Friday, I love a clean house but I hate cleaning. Also, I love green products but am not big on the colour green unless it’s bright, sunny and limey. Or is it lime-y?

Anyhoo, people keep sending me green cleaning products to try out. Which? Is cool. Though I still use vinegar 99% of the time, I do enjoy analyzing ingredients, testing out efficiency and sharing these products with my ‘wanting to be greener’ friends when I go back to ye olde vinegar.

I don’t actually so much hate cleaning as I hate the time it takes away from doing other stuff, like playing with my kids, digital scrapbooking and, um, reading blogs.

My latest acquisition came in the form of TerraCycle cleaners. I received full size samples (because do you really think I’d write about a company who was so cheap they sent me minis? I think not. I’ll take their freebies but they’re not getting a type-written word out of me…) of the all purpose cleaner, the window cleaner and the drain maintainer and cleaner. Thanks for not being cheap, TerraCycle! (You know I mean stingy, right? TerraCycle products aren’t any more expensive than any other cleaners, and are cheaper than some natural cleaners I’ve used.)

The Good:

+TerraCycle cleaners are non-toxic, biodegradable, environmentally friendly, and have a zero footprint.

+They’re the first consumer products to earn the right to carry the Zerofootprintâ„¢ seal, signifying that the materials and manufacturing processes have virtually no negative environmental repercussions.

+They’re packaged entirely in waste (reused pop bottles, completely unchanged form their original pop-bottle state) and are sold at OfficeMax and The Home Depot.
+Made from concentrated essences of plants, shrubs, fruits, herbs and grasses with natural minerals and water, TerraCycle cleaners are EcoLogo certified, the strictest certification given by the Canadian Government for environmentally sound practices in production and formulation.

+They work. The all purpose cleaner did just as good a job as potent vinegar in removing pet grubbies from the floor, kid-prints from the walls, dried on kitchen crap from the cupboards and more. The window cleaner left less streaks than plain vinegar (which are now covered in doggy noseprints and kidprints, but whatever) and the drain maintainer and cleaner is my new lover. Well, not really, but you know what I mean. We have drain issues in our ensuite bathroom. If you’ve never had drain issues, be glad. Be very very glad. Both the tub and the sink have their issues, but the sink is way worse, probably because the tub is used only rarely. (Not that we are dirty. We’re not. Not usually, anyway. We have a separate shower stall in the ensuite that we use daily.) Oh yeah, back to the sink. It doesn’t drain optimally and we end up with old toothpaste crud and shaving specks in there which, if you’re wondering, is really really gross. We use a vinegar and baking soda volcano in there often, but it doesn’t work when it gets really bad and we have to resort to Drano or some other toxic crap. The TerraCycle drain maintainer and cleaner arrived just after my last application of Drano so I’ve been using it every 4 days religiously. (Probably overkill, but I’m trying to prevent a return of the grossness. If you’d seen it, you’d vote for the overkill too.) So far, the drain is running completely free. Rather like wild salmon in spawning season. Or something like that. Previous to TerraCycle, we would have noticed at least a mild ’slowing of the flowing’ by now and that’s not happening, so I’m very happy. I’m easily pleased.

The Bad:

-The smell of the all-purpose cleaner is kind of piney (or is it pine-y?) and a little nasty. It’s reminiscent of a camp kitchen when the delicious smell of baked beans and apple turnovers has dissipated for the day. Or maybe an elementary school on summer holidays. It’s not my favourite smell, that’s for sure.

The Ugly:

-Nothing!

The Verdict:

+Great company, great cleaners. Almost enough to convince me to switch from vinegar. But…at only $4 for a huge jug and edible, it’ll always be my fave.

The Giveaway:

TerraCycle is giving one MMTaM reader one of each of the following:
·Drink Pouch Bag (Made from 100% used drink pouches – how cool is that?)
·Target ReTote Bag (Made from 20 formerly loved “disposable” bags fused together. Wicked cool!)
·All Purpose Cleaner
·Bathroom Cleaner
·Window Cleaner
(Each of these five items is pictured at right.)

To enter, just leave a comment on this post. I’ll draw one winner in a week or so – I’ll close comments when I do the draw so if you’re able to leave a comment then the contest is still open! (It’ll be at least a week…a little longer if I’m busy or forget to do the draw. Hey, I’m honest.)

Good luck!