Cool Find: Buddha Bunz Dryer Balls

I do a lot of laundry with five people in my house (including one in cloth diapers!) Anything that cuts down on my laundry time is awesome to me.

One thing that drives me nuts about laundry is that the wash is done in half an hour, but the dryer is still going. Drying things slows me down on laundry day. I'm not allowed to line dry clothing here due to housing rules, otherwise I'd be doing that quite a bit.

I've been using Buddha Bunz wool dryer balls for a few months now. It's kind of like adding super yummy smelling tennis balls to your dryer. The wool balls bounce around and help the heat circulate, cutting down on dryer time.

Buddha Balls sells wool balls in myriad different colors and even has balls with pictures on them!

Aren't those cute?

You can have them scented in your choice of fragrance. They have a large range of scents from Monkey Farts (pineapple, orange, banana, apple, rum and coconut) to Lemon Drop, Cupcake and Christmas Splendor ("fresh cut pine boughs of balsam, pine and fir with cinnamon sticks, ground clove and a base note of dried holiday fruits and oak moss.") 


You can also choose to buy the fragrance oils and scent the balls yourself. At a mere $1.25 for a bottle of fragrance, you can drench the balls yourself as much as you care to.

I initially bought three purple dryer balls scented in Pumpkin Spice. The fragrance is amazing and months later, I can still smell the scent on my dryer balls.  The seller did a great job of drenching the balls in the scent and, while I was worried that the fragrance oil might harm my clothes, I've had no issues with that.

Buddha Balls has a "color of the month" feature that allows you to purchase a preselected color for a discounted cost of $7 per ball (unscented- add a dollar for scented). You can also select your own color for $11 for the scented version and $10 for the unscented. You can also opt for undyed balls for $5 for unscented or $6 for scented. This month, the color is a vibrant emerald green.

This time, I purchased two more balls in the color of the month and bought fragrance oils in Pumpkin Spice (smells amazing) and Christmas Splendor. (It's August, I know, but I've been known to melt my Laughing Out Loud tarts in Christmas Tree scent in June.)

If you're looking to eliminate fabric softener but still want to scent your laundry while cutting down on drying time at the same time, check out Buddha Bunz.

Cool Find: Natural Cleaning Products (with Promotion)

I have a confession to make; I'm addicted to Clorox cleaning wipes. They're just so convenient, all pre-moistened and you just yank them right out of the canister. I also really like paper towels, although I'm really trying to quit those.

Anyway, I've recently found an Etsy shop that sells items that may make cleaning wipe and paper towel withdrawal a little easier.

Picnicbasketcrafts sells these neat plastic containers with lemony fresh goodness.  You place the cleaning solution (included) into the container with your washcloths or reusable cleaning towels. Voila! You have cleaning wipes easily at your disposal! The cleaning solution cleans really well, too. It easily tackled my post-dinner clean-up.

The solution consists of lemon juice, soap, alcohol, tea tree oil and lemon essential oil.

Two packs of cleaning solution for all-purpose cleaning (mopping, countertops, etc) and glass surface are sold for $6. They're meant to be diluted in water and put into a spray bottle (reuse!) or the wipe container. I've had success with putting a dab on a cloth, getting the cloth wet, then using it. That's when I'm being lazy, of course.

I also bought some luscious organic reusable "paper" towels. They're so soft and the texture easily takes on counter top crud. They come in packs of six for $9.50 for unbleached organic (shown below) and $7 for the "Fun Mix" (shown in the wipe container.)

I think the nicest thing about this Etsy shop is that a portion of every sale goes to Heart of the Mountains Hospice in Granby, CO. To find out more about Heart of the Mountain, check out their website here.

Anyway, Picnicbasketcrafts is offering a promotion to readers of this blog. If you place an order, you have your selection of free lip balm or a trial size of her new zinc oxide baby balm. Just specify in the "Notes to Seller" what your choice is and that I sent you.

**I wanted to clarify something here, as well. I'm not paid and I don't get a kickback from the stores I "pimp" out. These are items I personally purchase with my money. If they work well or happen to be something I really believe in as a product, I like to share them with you guys. I always ask permission to blog about them first, and they often offer specials for you guys. How cool is that?!**

As a side note, I went shopping today with my reusable produce bags and the baggers were really impressed with them. The checkout clerk and baggers kept asking me where I got the bags from and thought they were totally neat. So, they're grocery store approved!

Cool Find: Reusable Produce Bags

***WHOOPS! I am so sorry. AMKdesigns is **NOT**closed. I put the wrong link and have now corrected it. My apologies!**

I know, I know. TWO posts in one day? The first one was unplanned, so this is the *real* post.

I know this has nothing to do with hair or photography and it's not really a random musing, but I thought it was so cool, I had to share.

Most people I know are doing at least something green. And not everyone I know is "crunchy." Even my conservative, Republican father is eating only organic food.

We try to recycle as much as we can (my husband breaks down the boxes toys come in down to peeling the plastic off the cardboard.) We try to remember to bring our reusable grocery bags. It's not just to be green, those bags hold a lot more than the plastic ones and we get $.05 off. Yeah, I know, big whoop, $.05. It's the little things here, people! We also cloth diaper our youngest because we felt guilty throwing away diapers that just sit in the landfill for hundreds of years. My husband swears it's cheaper, too, but at $20 a diaper, I strongly doubt it.

Anyway, I'm not sanctimonious about it. I understand why people use disposable diapers. I'm not judging those who chose not to recycle or use reusable bags.

A friend of mine uses a phrase that I really like: "conveniently green". Basically, if you use just one cloth diaper once, that's one less diaper in the landfill. Doing little things that don't make life that much harder for you can make a difference. We try to live conveniently green.

Moving along...I loathe those flimsy plastic produce bags with a fiery passion. They're difficult to open and they don't hold large things like bunches of bananas. Try putting leeks in one- I'll bet you can't close that bad boy.

I found a seller on Etsy that makes these mesh reusable produce bags. They're awesome! They come with their own carrying bag. The carrying bag comes in a bunch of different patterns and the mesh bags close with a drawstring ribbon that matches the carrying bag. The bag also has a connector to attach it to your reusable grocery bags or the inside of your purse or your belt loop. Convenient!

 ***Just in!! If you make a purchase from AKMDesigns on Etsy between now and June 30th, mention "Jessica sent me" in the notes and Andrea will send some extra items in your order!!*** 

Open:

Closed:

They close tightly and you don't have to fumble with trying to tie that flimsy plastic. The package comes with six reusable bags and all of them, believe it or not, fold up very small to fit in the carrying bag.

I bought an extra three XL bags for larger items. Those things are so big, I could fit TWO bunches of bananas in them. If you're like me and buy a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, you'll find these things awesome!

If you want to buy your own awesome set, you can find them at http://www.etsy.com/shop/amkdesigns . Mine came super fast and are very well made.

 ***Just in!! If you make a purchase from AKMDesigns on Etsy between now and June 30th, mention "Jessica sent me" in the notes and Andrea will send some extra items in your order!!***