Green & Clean Week 3

 Congratulations to Jen B.  

for participating in our giveaway last week during Week 2!

This week, in Honor of Earth Day, we are giving away an Eco-logical Ribbon Gift Collection Card 

"It's full of eco-sensitive products designed to decrease waste, use less energy, or reduce our carbon footprint in some other way. Items may be made from recycled, natural, or organic materials, manufactured using a renewable resource, or simply contribute to the beauty and well-being of the earth."  

AND 1 Lucky  fan/ follower will get this $50 Gift Card that Never expires!

How?

Share below at least one thing you are Doing or Planning to do to make to make the world a Greener place.

~Each comment is an entry, Unlimited entries~

What is currently available on this Ribbon Gift Collection? Check it out! Eco-logical Ribbon Gift Collection
Don't forget to check out our previous tips from Green & Clean Week 2 here and Green & Clean Week 1 here

ONE WEEK (& 4 days )LEFT!

** Bouncing Woolies has given us a 10% off coupon to share with you! **

Here is the link to her store & the coupon code is BWearth - Code is good until April 30th!

(Excludes Laundry Soap) 

** Purchase a Legacy of Clean™ Intro Bundle **

(from me or my team by April 29th)

& 

get 2 Free Naturally FUNKies Dryer Balls from Bouncing Woolies.

(will Ship separately)

**Win A NEW Washer & Dryer!**

For each LEGACY OF CLEAN™ laundry care product (see the list on this post) you purchase from me OR each time you login to my website to make a purchase at Sears, my Partner Store - You get an entry.

Promotion begins Feb 1, 2011 & ends at midnight ET on April 30, 2011

& Don't forget to Check my Out my Current Giveaways here ~ and see what else you can win!

Green & Clean Week 2

So continuing from Green & Clean Week 1 . . .

Green Alternative to Dryer Sheets

 Dryer Balls are a great alternative to fabric softener or Dryer Sheets.  

I purchased 5 Naturally FUNKies (100% wool) from Bouncing Woolies in January to check and see what the hype was really about.  BW recommends ordering at least 4 if you are looking to see a difference in your utility bill.  Did I see it? With a household of 6, already washing in cold water, I didn't think I would see a savings.  

The next month bill came and we were surprisingly $15 less than the month before - and every month since then! According to BW "using 4 woolies in your dryer can lessen drying time of a large load up to an average of 15% and 30-40% off your small loads."  BW offers a great selection of fragrance & essential oils so you won't miss a thing.  If you are interested in trying out dryer balls for yourself, Bouncing Woolies has given us a 10% off coupon to share with you! The link to her store & coupon is at the bottom of the post! Enjoy!

Fabric Softeners

Mildly going green....  I personally choose to forego scenting my dryer balls because I do use the fabric softener from our store. Our Fabric softener has No phosphates or other unpleasant ingredients that could harm the environment (made from natural & biodegradable ingredients), safe for all washers including HE, works great in cold water, and dermatologist tested.  All in all another great Legacy of Clean™ product.  The fragrance from the essential oils carries over to the dryer and after the dryer balls have had their chance at the laundry - I have a light, clean & refreshing scent.  

If you are interested in a chance to win a new washer & dryer from Sears, don't forget to check my "Yikes" blog post for details in the giveaway ending April 30th at midnight.  My favorite things about our Liquid Organic Cleaners (& in particular our laundry products) is that I have rarely ever seen these products out of stock, I can personally schedule & customize them on my autoship (Ditto), and they are delivered within 3-8 business days. 

Greener. . .  IF on the other hand you would like to try your hand at a Do It Yourself, here are a couple of favorite home remedies;

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of Vinegar (the vinegar smell does wash out & the clothes do soften - Personally checked out)

Tea leaves in satchels & essential oils - Have not Personally tried.

I have to admit I am fairly lazy or sometimes too busy to make my own soap ~ but I don't mind sharing the "How to", sometimes I even forget to put the fabric softener in the wash.  The dryer balls keep the clothes cling-free and I realize I "forgot" my softener when I pull out the clothes and the "scent" is missing. 

More ways to be Green . . .  Consider putting up a dryer line in your backyard. I am actually looking forward to this in the near future : ) But to be honest, I won't be getting rid of the dryer either...  ; )

 Now for the Good Stuff....

Bouncing Woolies has given us a 10% off coupon to share with you! 

Here is the link to her store & the coupon code is BWearth - Code is good until April 30th!

(Excludes Laundry Soap)

Purchase a Legacy of Clean™ Intro Bundle 

(from me or my team by April 29th)

& 

get 2 Free Naturally FUNKies Dryer Balls.

(will Ship separately)

I also have one more goody for you, 

courtesy of The Cupertino Soap Company, 

who is offering a Coconut Lime Bar to a lucky fan/ follower. 

For a chance to win;

* Like Win Key Solutions on Facebook 
(Comment below that you "liked" the page) *

* Follow Win Key Solutions Blog 

(Comment below What product you would like to try?)

(Current # of GFC followers 144)*

* Like The Cupertino Soap Company on Facebook 
(Comment below that you "liked" the page) *

* Follow The Cupertino Soap Company's  Blog 
(Comment below What product you would like to try )*

Each action counts as an entry 

Make a product purchase - 2 entries per item

(comment w/ your email, Cupertino Soap Company or Win Key Solutions, & # of items & we will verify by ordering email)

(Winners will be announced  April 18th, next Monday)

*I will be using your comments to help pick out my Mother & Father Day giveaways in May & June*

Check back Next Monday for our Earth Day Giveaway . . .

April Showers

So we have a couple of exciting changes that we will do in a couple of steps

Step 1:  We are starting over from scratch on our Win Key Solutions Fan page.  Instead of "Winkeysolutions.com" we will switching to "Win Key Solutions"  The old page will be permanently deleted on April 12th.

~ We still have at Gift card available from "What Up for Grabs", Come join the new fan page, then post below to let me know who to consider for the Fan Giveaway. Drawing on April 29, 2011 at Noon CST - runner up will be announced 24 hours later.... ~

Like New Fan page

Step 2:   We will have a closed group page to offer exclusive specials and notifications to Customers & personally Sponsored Business Owners (IBO).  ONLY those who have made at least one purchase in the current year or who is currently a registered business owner may participate.  We will also use it to announce our Customer Only drawings. Please Do not share any links or photos in the groups as they are protected by Copyright.  These groups are for your eyes ONLY ~ Thank you.

Step 3: We will be creating a Separate Blog for Strive 2 Thrive.  Our goal is to make the giveaways less confusing and the information made clearly available.  For example a Win Key Solutions customer may not be interested in Food Storage & Emergency prep.  Like wise a Food Storage enthusiast may not to talk about biodegradable liquid organic soap or organically farmed vitamins.  In return this will help us know who is more interested in what & of course make this more fun for you.  You are welcome to follow both blogs as it suits you!

Come follow the new blog for Strive 2 Thrive. 

Step 4:  I will be looking for a new blog template or redesign and would like to trade products for services ~ if you are interested please contact me via email link on the left.

Green & Clean Week 1

Here is a collection of blog posts & websites with some awesome info to start off our Earth Awareness Month.

(If you have used any of these suggestions or have some of your own - please share!)

Household Remedies & Tips;

~Who would have thought that  Dryer Lint was possibly more than a nuisance?
*As for me & my house I think our next batch of lint is going towards a future Cub Scout activity... and maybe some for the compost pile we just started...*

~Want some tips on saving energy when running your dryer? Wash the filter out with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush at least once to 2 times a year.
Don't forget to wipe the Thermostat or moisture sensor for to avoid running the dryer longer than it needs to. Try switching to the gentle cycle (uses less energy) & throw in some dryer balls for extra savings!  If you have the space - consider drying the clothes on the line & pocket the change!

~Frugal uses for Coffee filters from Econobusters

Friendly Insecticides;

~Household Ant killer
 In general cleaning regularly with a strong cleaner like vinegar or even one of our Liquid Organic Cleaners or L.O.C. products (which contains citrus) will do the job. I have also heard that you can also mix a spray with Orange Oil or Peppermint Oil as both are considered neuro toxins to them. In some cases insects exoskeltons are sensitive to citric acids and some essential oils ... Which may be why the Vinegar & L.O.C. have both been effective.  In my experience this works best when after your regular style of cleaning you spray the edges (like the baseboard or door frames) and you leave it to dry.

~What about Ant Piles?
Boil water & pour onto Ant pile - but becareful when near flowerbeds & gardens as I hear this may effect them as well.

Pour Grits on the ant pile ( apparently they will expand, similar to birds ingesting rice) this methods takes about a week.

Plant a Victory Organic Garden;

What is a Victory Garden? Follow this link to understand the history & why we should be planting Victory Gardens now.


Looking for a soil-less gardening solution? Check out these affordable hydroponic gardening kits

~Earth Friendly pest Control ~ Consider planting garlic, chives, & marigolds!

Green Eats;

Check out this blogger from Austin, TX who shares what she gets in her weekly local box & what she does with it (Don't forget to check out the tips on how to eat locally);

A Greenling Blog

WLJ Testing, 1, 2, 3 . . .

We are thinking about getting more active with either our Spark or LiveStrong accounts.  Which do you use?  After using several diets, we found we had the most  success on the Nutrilite weight loss system.  Notice I didn't say Diet - I said System.  

A system that taught me what a healthy diet was and how to lose weight in a healthy way.  It also taught me that we are all different, that's why alot of those diets didn't work for me or rather they worked for a short period of time and then I stalled.  Or some cases, the diet recommends a 15-30 day purge of some sort and then a break before resuming.  I think most of them call it a detox.  I found that when I was losing weight the healthy way - I didn't have to trick my body, I found that your body has a natural detoxification that is on going.  Sometimes what we eat seems to kill that.  I found that Intestiflora really helped my system's natural process.   

Let me stop right there.  Yes I sell this.  Yes it is an Amway product (Nutrilite).  Yes I would love for you to buy this from me and when you do it helps my family and I.  However I am just as happy if you were to look around for a local Amway IBO and buy it from them. Truly.

If you don't have one, well than Hello :)

For my self over a period of 2-3 years I went from Size 16 to 10. I have been back n forth in squeezing into a 9 but the fat hanging over tells me I am still a 10.  I'm ready to be a solid 9 - Which is a goal of about 20 more lbs as of today (10 lbs lost & kept off since Jan).

 

Our goal is to share what we are doing to lose weight in a healthy manner & possibly giveaway some weight~loss tools or supplies from our business in the next year or so.  We will be using my profile(s) for the time being - Honey does have one but he is a very private person and I am more the social butterfly.

We are wondering which would be better? We want to keep the experience free and allow anyone here to check us out, cheer us on OR Cheer you on! We like the Food journal better at Livestrong, but we (I mean "I") like the personalization via the blog at Spark (although honestly I haven't used the blog at the LiveStrong so I really don't know). Let me know what you think or what you would be interested in seeing.  I have a profile set up on both accounts to feel it out for myself ~ which do you have?

I have also made a Weight Loss Journal Photo album in Chronological order on my Facebook page here 

Comments & Suggestions are Welcome! 

Conclusion

I think a blog at Spark people is more fun to make and keep up with than at LiveStrong (yes I started to, but just wasn't motivated to write a blog or even copy and paste, Id rather blog about it here on my own page) - not to mention your usually apart of a local support group that offers encouragement.  Ive also made friends on Facebook with a couple Sparkers.  However I personally enjoy searching for Nutrilite (as well as local grocery items at places like HEB)  on LiveStrong and not having to manually add it every time.  So when I start up again I will prob stick it out with LiveStrong.  I went ahead and copied all of my post (minus comments, which I think should be reserved for Sparkers Only) below. Enjoy.

 *** My Blogs from Sparkpeople ***

Tuesday, February 16, 2010 

OOOpps!

So I have been taking my Glucose Health fairly regularly to help metabolize my fat, carbs, proteins - and manage my blood sugar levels - at least until my biopsy results come back with something else. I'm not diabetic, but my hypoglycemic condition is apparently an indicator of something else. Something that I won't claim until proven, but is in my family medical history.

Feeling pretty good. Then dear husband of mine points out that I should cut back on my coffee -blah! So this is the second day without coffee, and so far so good. He then went further to say that I should be taking my Slimmetry. I told him I was going to reserve for workouts of more than 20 min. I was reminded the goodness of Slimmetry - protecting the muscle and aiding fat burning in low calorie diets & that the kit it came in recommended the 4 3 2 1 body training by Sean Foy - whose workouts are designed to be 10 min a day. Crap I lost that argument. Chalk "1" for dear hub, "0" for wife.

I don't feel too bad about losing this time either. When he decides to get his own kit next month, I have a feeling the tables will be turned... hehehe 

 

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 

I did it

I did it. Okay, to help me reinforce this no coffee thing, I threw out all the coffee creamers and accessories. I'm still holding onto the coffee pot - I think Im waiting to cut that tie on another day. At least until the craving for coffee is a forgotten memory. I packed up the remaining Costa Riccan Khave to give away... sigh. I noted all the Kona was gone and wanted to order more....

Lo and behold there was a bare cabinet shelf. I wonder what I could put there that would help my poor kitchen out... then I had it! On one side I put the kid's cereal in pre measured bags. On the other side - My pre measured snacks! This includes so far trail mix, snack bars, and Quaker mini delights. (Yogurt is in the fridge of course)

For sure this should cut down the time I spend walking back n forth searching for that perfect snack - and sometimes failing. Sometimes I feel I would rather skip - then my stomach realizes this and I really really want to scarf food in sight. So hopefully this shelf will help destroy the snacking barrier....

Monday, February 22, 2010 

Yipee Yay!

I don't know why exactly my husband has decided to join a week earlier then planned. I honestly can tell you that I have gained almost 2 pounds since starting. However, I have also slimmed down in the face and the fat around the upper chest has slid to my waist. I physically look like I lost a couple of pounds - not gain 2! Well my dearest companion remembers the success he had on it last year and so surprised me by his announcement this morning. Yipee! (although he would rather stick with livestrong.com because he likes the trackers there better)

As for me and the coffee pot - it is unplugged waiting to be washed and freecycled or discarded. In the meantime I am enjoying the caffeine free Zenso teas - they are surprisingly delicious! I am surprised that I have suffered no withdrawal symptoms from coffee - Count my blessings! 

 

Thursday, March 11, 2010 

The evils of moving...

My first thought as the actual moving came to mind was of all the calories I was going to burn. Whoo Hoo! In the end it was all lies! LOL

The move began with careful packing and planning. As the deadline came closer it became more haphazard. What I mean by this is that we ended up running out of boxes and began laundry basket & trash bag filling. Although all the furniture, except mattress, were moved in one day with the help of friends, the remaining stuff took another week or so. We were ready to leave it all and start over (except I couldn't bare to leave our apartment manager with a bunch of junk to clean out). My husband has now declared that each child may have no more than a duffel bag and each adult 2 duffel bags of belongings. I bargained for 2 more bags/ footlockers of office stuff - since he has that much in Army gear... I'm just saying...

Now where does the evil part come in? Oh just that every night of packing or unpacking (a total of some 2 weeks or so now?) has left us tired. So I have coped out one too many times and we have had fast food or ordered in. Yep. I had thought of paper plates but I did not plan ahead to pre-making meals... Right before the move I lost 2 lbs... now I have found those 2 again plus 5 more. Egad! Sigh. Talk about your self saboteur...

On the other hand, I was able to get rid of a lot of junk. It will probably take me another year to unpack. In the meantime my collection of things I haven't used in a year is growing for some worthy cause. One person's junk is another's treasure! 

 

Thursday, March 18, 2010 

New clothes...

A title like that might suggest that I went down in a size. Nope I am normally a size 8. Yes I worked myself down after the last pregnancy back down to a size 8. I was that size when my husband came home last summer and we were married. So what size am I now?

Since I have failed to be consistent with so much of life's interruptions....
I went to KMart this week and purchased a new wardrobe from the discount section ($3.99 area) and realized why I had been so comfortable wearing sweats and my husbands clothes for so long.

I am now a size 12...

I have to look at the bright side of this. Im glad Im not the size 16 I use to be AND now I have clothes that fit me and I can go out looking good instead of running around in pants I cant zip up all the way or like I didnt give a dang. I showed a friend one of my casual outfits... she couldn't believe I was wearing a size 12... Sisters the TAG on the back can prove it. The only thing is that the crotch area is kinda saggy. Like they didnt know small people can gain weight or something.

Hope this week brought everyone luck!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010  

Wave of a wand... *POOF*

So I have finally unpacked my office, and some how decluttering a room seems to make me feel a little better. Right now my house has boxes in every corner.

Depressing and overwhelming!

So where is my silver lining in this dark cloud? I have cleared paths throughout the house! Yes, that makes me smile! Ever so often I do that elephant walk thing - picking up random items and finding a home for it. The Kitchen is a different matter... It seems to be every 2 steps forward I take one step back. Sheesh that sounds like Im dating myself.. If anyone can tell who sang it though I would give brownie points... umm brownies...

Yesterday's accomplishments was the office. I had been putting it off for sometime. Hoping my magic wand would arrive in the mail by this time. Giving up on the wand or a mysterious fire that burned everything to ground so I can start over from scratch (ohh can I have a new body while we are it?), I jumped in to the darkest part of my castle and battled the darkest foes. I didn't rest until the dragon was slain and then it was time to pick up the kiddos from school. I wondered as my husband walked through the door if he would notice the slain dragoon or not. To my delight he did!

As an after thought I wonder how many calories I burned while fighting the dragon.... A look under the exercise tracker and no luck... sigh... Maybe I would have been better off waiting for my mail order wand?

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 

Afterall

So after all the winter hiccups - Well I DO like to enjoy myself... I started over in January (at 167 lbs) with the Meal Shake replacements, the Women's vitamin supplements (Multi, cal & mag, Hair skin & nails, and omegas) & Intestiflora (these I take at right before bed) and an XS a day. Mostly because I skip breakfast I decided to add the Shakes. I had to make sure I could bear the taste and I was surprised at how good they are! My Honey said they were "OK" but prefers the Vanilla (of course, why doesn't that surprise me?)

At the end of the first week I lost 2 lbs and at then end of the month I had lost only 5lbs. Honestly I was only drinking a shake every other day so I don't know why but I wanted or expected more - in the end I was just happy I KEPT it OFF!

Ok so I am not a fan of the fishy Omegas or pills for that matter. In Feb I changed things up. (1)I switched my multi for the kids chewable Concentrated Fruits & Veggies (the adult ones are the kind you swallow which I am trying to limit because of my *gag* reflex) (2) I purchased the Hair Skin & Nails separately & and bought the vegetarian Omegas.

While I was happier - I was still maintaining the 5 lbs lost - talk about a plateau of insignificant proportions! Still it was driving me mad. Id like to sya that there was fluctuation of 1 or 2 lbs. Or maybe the stress that comes with military life kept it at bay. Clothes I had kept that I visioned myself wearing once I hit my goal ~ I went ahead and donated.... I also donated all my skinny jeans, my favorites included because I kinda just accepted this would be it.

So here we are in March, I have been better about having the meal shake somewhere in my day (for breakfast or a snack) and my depressive like mood is 1 point higher on most days. Last week I felt my big girl pants slip, I have to keep pulling this up. I *Groaned* Really? I just bought these a couple months ago! Did I already stretch them out?!!! A moment later I decide to check and make sure that is the case. I pulled out the scale and then I did a Happy Dance! 155lbs! Another 7lbs!

Whoo hoo!

Then silence, *Crap~ola* I remembered I gave away my goal clothes and skinny jeans. Why on Earth did I do that?

While I am appreciating that "Its by little things that Great & Wonderful things come to pass!" ~ I now have to figure out how to ask my Honey to spend more money on clothes for me....