As a child, I had a passionate commitment to the environment. I was often found nagging my already fairly environmentally conscious mother to do more to help lessen our family’s impact on the earth. Throughout my teenage years and my early twenties, my dedication to earth-friendly behavior continued. I was Mother Nature’s advocate, and I would never have guessed that anything could change that.

Then…I became a parent. Suddenly, the environment took a backseat to more immediate priorities like cost and effectiveness. I still tried to be as environmentally friendly as I could, but with my new, busier lifestyle I was unwilling to trade cheap and efficient products for the more expensive and often less effective alternatives.

Superior Soapnuts, a fabulous Ontario-based soapnut supplier, is convinced that their all-natural, biodegradable soapnuts work so well that nobody who uses them will ever want to use commercial laundry soap again. I was very excited when I was given the opportunity to put Superior Soapnuts’ claims to the test.

Soapnuts are the dried fruit of the Ritha tree and contain an extremely high level of saponin. Any fans of Jean M. Auel’s Earth’s Children series may remember the reference to saponin, which is, in her books, found in the roots of certain plants. Saponin is the naturally produced cleansing agent that makes Superior Soapnuts such a fantastic alternative to a chemical detergent.

Superior Soapnuts are about the same size and shape as a hazelnut with a rich brown color and a smell that is faintly reminiscent of vinegar. The instructions on the eco-friendly cotton bag recommended placing three to five broken soapnuts in the provided cotton washbag and using the bag to wash four to eight loads of laundry. I decided to take the middle ground and use four soapnuts for six loads of clothes. I crushed the soapnuts with the flat edge of my cleaver, tied them in the bag and tossed the bag into the washing machine.

Laundry is no small task in our household. With a five-month-old, a messy preschooler and a home mechanic husband, my laundry detergent has to be able to tackle anything. I was thrilled and amazed by how fresh and clean our clothing was after using only soapnuts in the washing machine. Soiled diapers, tomato sauce stains and Kraft Dinner spills all washed out completely without any kind of pre-treating. My husband’s inevitable grease stains I pretreated with dish soap just as I do when using a commercial detergent. The stains then rinsed away fully in the laundry.

The stain-fighting power of Superior Soapnuts was impressive, but one of the most fabulous things about using them was the smell of our clothes after washing. Until I began using soapnuts, it never occurred to me how absurd it really is to add an artificial scent to detergent. If the detergent is so effective, why would the makers need to add a strong chemical scent to it? When I use soapnuts, our clothing smells like fresh cloth and nothing else. The smell is so irresistible that I just can’t refrain from sticking my nose into the clothing as I carry it up from the dryer.

Once we stopped using commercial laundry detergent, we lost our tolerance for it surprisingly quickly. A few weeks ago, my husband scrubbed all of his heavily soiled work jeans with our commercial detergent and then washed them. When he brought them upstairs to hang dry, the strong smell gave me a horrible headache and the chemical residue gave him an itchy rash. Knowing that my children no longer have residual deposits from such strong products in their clothing gives me so much peace of mind!

Best of all, Superior Soapnuts are much, much cheaper than any commercial laundry detergent! A 100g bag of soapnuts like the one I received for review contains approximately 30-33 soapnuts and costs $5.00. Doing one load of laundry every day or two, I used about half the bag in a four-week period. A 500g bag of soapnuts with two washbags is only $20 CAD and contains enough soapnuts to easily last a family of five between six and eight months!

Having seen for myself how effective soapnuts are, I cannot imagine myself ever using commercial laundry detergent again. With Superior Soapnuts, being environmentally friendly is cheap, easy, healthy and incredibly effective!

Buy It: To purchase Superior Soapnuts, shop online now

Win It: One lucky reader is going to win a 500g bag of soapnuts from Superior Soapnuts

To Enter (mandatory): Visit Superior Soapnuts and tell me something you learned there

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Giveaway ends 11:59 pm CST on March 31, 2010. Open to US and Canada

Disclaimer: The product/s mentioned above have been given free of charge from the manufacturer or PR firm for the purposes of this review. Opinions expressed belong to Mommy Kat and Kids and are NOT influenced in any way. Please view full Terms of Use and Policies

Like ninety-nine percent of the women in the world, I don’t much care for swimsuit shopping. Considering the fact that I’ve given birth to two children (one less than half a year ago), I am actually fairly pleased with my body. But the unforgiving and often nonfunctional styles of traditional swimwear means that finding a swimsuit takes at least a few hours of searching and often fails to satisfy my needs even then.

SlimPerfect, a company that offers flattering swimsuits and activewear, claimed that they could solve my problems. Their separates collection is designed to compliment every body type, provide more coverage and disguise unsightly bulges without shifting them to other areas. Needless to say, I was delighted when I was given a chance to review their swimsuits.

My previous swimsuit was a white halter-top and bikini bottom. I am fairly happy with my upper body, so when I added a white skirt as a cover-up, I did like how I looked. However, the swimsuit created two insolvable problems for me. First, I inevitably had to face a moment of total self-consciousness and discomfort as I took off my skirt and sprinted for the water, hoping all the time that nobody was looking at my jiggling thighs. And second, I continually had to check my movements both while swimming and while playing with my son for fear of accidentally flopping out of the halter-top. As the mother of an active preschooler, I had neither the interest nor the time to sit and look pretty on the beach. What I needed was comfortable mobility. I had a real problem.

Enter SlimPerfect and their revolutionary swimwear. I reviewed the Bikini Top in black and white and the SlimSkirt in black. These two pieces effortlessly solved every problem I have ever had with traditional swimwear and then some. The Bikini Top features elasticized armbands and a wide band below the chest as well as properly supportive shoulder straps. A mesh panel in front adds a little additional coverage. This is the first swimsuit top I have ever worn that both gives me proper support and ensures that my chest will stay covered no matter how active I am. The removable gel-filled bra cups offer a little extra oomph for women that want it, and the pockets that hold them are also appropriate for post mastectomy forms.

The SlimSkirt is another dream come true for me. The traditional swimsuit bikini bottom is incorporated into a sleek black skirt with a slimming flat panel in front that helps to minimize the stomach. Wearing it means that the lack of confidence I feel when I take off my skirt is a thing of the past. Now when I run for the water, my skirt comes with me and my thighs are covered!

I also reviewed the SlimDress in white and light green. It features the exact same benefits as the Bikini Top and SlimSkirt with more complete coverage that includes a taming panel around the stomach and bike shorts instead of briefs under the skirt. The SlimDress is a SlimPerfect favorite, and it’s not hard to see why. This dress is way too cute to save for the pool, and I am eagerly looking forward to warmer days so that I can wear it out around town. With its sleek, summery style and comfortable coverage, it’s the perfect dress for any occasion. I love knowing that if I have to suddenly chase down a small child, I won’t accidentally show off too much skin to anyone behind me.

SlimPerfect also offers tankinis, sleeved tankinis, and sleeved SlimDresses so that every woman is sure to find a look that’s perfect for them. With summer just around the corner, now is the perfect time to shrug off swimsuit fears and experience the many great benefits a SlimPerfect swimsuit can offer. For every conceivable bathing suit woe, SlimPerfect has a solution that is fun, fresh and fashionable so that every woman can look and feel her best!

Buy It: SlimPerfect currently has a great sale on their entire line. Shop online to save between 40% and 88% off the regular price!

The thought of cloth diapering is something that has always both intrigued and intimidated me. While I want to minimize my impact on the environment, I don’t want to add too much to my current workload. I knew that cloth diapering had come a long way in recent years, but the memories of my mother’s cloth diapering experiences haunted my memories. The endless amount of time she spent washing and folding squares of cloth into diapers, the frantic hunts for pins and the unattractive, white plastic diaper covers that were involved in the process greatly reduced the appeal of cloth diapering for me.

That’s why I was thrilled to be able to review the new Tots Bots Easy Fit diaper offered by Bummis, a company that has been a leader in cloth diapering products for almost thirty years. The Easy Fit system contains only two sizes of diapers to fit babies up to 35 lbs. The Tini Fit is especially designed for babies between 5 and 12 lbs while the classic Easy Fit accommodates babies between 8 and 35 lbs. For most mothers, myself included, the Easy Fit is the only diaper that their baby will need. This innovative all-in-one diaper promises to be the most convenient cloth diaper on the market, and I was eager to put its claims to the test.

As soon as I took the diaper out of its package, I could see that this was definitely not my mother’s old cloth diaper. The trim fitted design features soft elastics at the legs and back to protect against leaks. The exterior of the diaper was not plastic as I had expected, but instead had a cloth-like feel. The interior liner is attached to the diaper, which means that when I toss the diaper into the laundry, the doubled up liner unfolds for a thorough wash and a quick dry without me having to hunt for it in a pile of clothing.

The liner is another marvel of modern technology. It features two layers, one of bamboo-made rayon and one of polyester microfiber. Both layers are ultra-absorbent and help to ensure that a leaky diaper never becomes a concern. The attached liner also offers great versatility when I am looking for extra protection. Obviously, with a baby boy, I need more protection at the front of the diaper than I do at the back. With a quick fold of the liner, I can double up the protection at the front of the diaper to ensure that my baby has the most effective shield against leaks.

Having fought with Velcro in the dryer before, I love the laundry tabs on this diaper. When I toss it in the wash, I simply fold the tabs down so that the Velcro is covered and doesn’t stick to other pieces of clothing.

I also received a roll of Bummis Bio Soft biodegradable and flushable liners, which helped to make my first experience with cloth diapering even more convenient. When I changed my baby’s diaper, the liners made it easy to flush away the majority of the mess so that I had no need to rinse the diaper before washing it.
The ultimate test came when I put my son to sleep wearing the Easy Fit. In the morning I found that he was relatively dry, but he did have some slight wetness around his legs. The following night I added an extra liner to the diaper. Sure enough, the bed was dry the next morning.

A tip for any other cloth diapering novices…When I received the diaper, I looked at the snaps on the front of it in bewilderment. “They must have some kind of decorative cover that snaps onto the diaper,” I told my husband as I examined it. A few days later as I was folding clothes, I picked up the diaper and studied the snaps a little more thoroughly. In a flash of understanding, I realized that this is how the diaper offers a sung and protective fit with only one size! The snaps tighten the diaper so that a smaller baby still has unparalleled leak protection.

For any mother that is considering cloth diapering but is unsure about how convenient it will be for her lifestyle, the Easy Fit is the perfect diaper choice. This ethically produced and easy to use diaper is a foolproof way to join the cloth-diapering revolution. With five vibrant and stylish colors to choose from as well as classic white diapers for the traditionalists, cloth diapering has never been so easy or looked so good!

Buy It: To buy the Easy Fit or other great cloth-diapering products, visit Bummis online

Win It: One lucky reader is going to win an Easy Fit diaper in white and a roll of Bio Soft liners from Bummis

To Enter (mandatory): Visit Bummis and tell me about your favorite product/s

Bonus Entries:
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Giveaway ends 11:59 pm CST on March 31, 2010. Open to US and Canada

Disclaimer: The product/s mentioned above have been given free of charge from the manufacturer or PR firm for the purposes of this review. Opinions expressed belong to Mommy Kat and Kids and are NOT influenced in any way. Please view full Terms of Use and Policies

I don’t generally have too much faith in infomercials. Sure, the products often look revolutionary, but so often the claims seem unbelievable or the inventions seem unnecessary.

In fact, I had previously laughed heartily at the infomercials advertising the Glass Watering Globes. The poor women watering their plants “the old-fashioned way” were so furious about their task, I wondered why the women had even bought the plants in the first place.

But when Christmas rolled around and my husband and I began preparing for a three-week trip to see family, a problem arose. How were we going to keep our plants alive for the three weeks that we would be gone?

“Let’s get some Glass Watering Globes!” my husband suggested enthusiastically. For lack of a better solution, I pushed my scepticism aside and we made the purchase.

While I found the thin stem of the globes a bit difficult to fill with water, my husband seemed to have no problem with them and soon had them all filled and inserted. When we returned from our vacation, some of the globes were empty and all of the plants were thriving.

The watering globes definitely make life a little easier around our house. While I love my plants, I am not very consistent with my watering habits. As well, I have no idea how much water to give each of my plants. Thanks to the globes, I have eliminated the guesswork when caring for my greenery. As an added bonus, my husband finds the globes so novel that he has voluntarily taken on the task of refilling the globes when they are empty. All I do now is sit back and enjoy the beauty of my healthy and thriving plants.

Although the globes work better in larger, heavier pots, we have been able to make them work in even our smaller houseplants. And I have a little extra peace of mind knowing that my plants have exactly the right amount of water without any effort on my part. Any item that leaves me with one less chore to do is a winner in my book!

Win It: Two lucky readers are each going to win a set of two Glass Watering Globes

To Enter: Tell me about a product you would like to see featured on Mommy Kat and Kids

Bonus Entries:

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· Follow Mommy Kat and Kids on Twitter and Tweet this: I just entered the Glass Watering Globes Giveaway @mommykatandkids http://www.mommykatandkids.com (can tweet this once daily for extra entry)

Giveaway closes at 11:59 p.m. CST February 28, 2010

Open to U.S. and Canada