With a 28-month old running around here in The Rock Father™ house, we’re always careful to keep danger as far away as possible, and a big part of that has been seeking out the best in all-natural products to use as a course of habit within our daily lives. Having already been a user of their ECOS Free & Clear Laundry Detergent (we buy it at Walmart), I was very excited when I was offered the opportunity to try some other items from EARTH FRIENDLY PRODUCTS.
A few weeks back, the folks at Earth Friendly had one of their Safeguard Your Home retail packs delivered to my home. Until then, I was unaware that the company was not only based right here in Illinois, but not far from Rock Father HQ in Chicago’s Northern Suburbs. With offices here, Earth Friendly manufactures their 100% All-Natural products at facilities in Illinois, California, New Jersey, Florida, and Washington. In addition to providing jobs here in the U.S., the products are also EPA rated, and are not tested on animals. With some good business practices apparent on the surface, the big question was “How do they work?” Having bought plenty of “good for the environment” products in the past, I’ve often been disappointed as to their actual function. Here’s some thoughts thus far on the six items contained within the Safeguard Your Home pack.
ECOS Free & Clear Laundry Detergent: As noted above, we’d already been users of this. Compared to other brands, the price of ECOS is pretty non-offensive. We get a 128oz bottle at Walmart for about $8. As the name implies, there’s no dyes or fragrances – so someone like myself that is fairly sensitive to fragrances can breathe easy. We’d actually started using this post-Dreft for our little one, and the clothes come out clean.
ULTRA Dishmate Liquid Dishwashing Cleaner (Natural Pear): Derived mostly from Coconut and Pear Oil, we’ve been using this in-place of Clorox Green Works, which we’d been using for quite some time. It smells good and does an ok job on the dishes we wash by hand (like all of the toddler dishes), but it always feels like there’s a little “film” of some kind there that I wasn’t used to seeing. Works good, but maybe not as good as I’d like.
Parsley Plus All Surface Cleaner: This stuff is awesome. Another Coconut product with Parsley “essence,” it smells great (especially for gardeners like me), and does a great job on the quick cleanups. We’ve been using it on the kitchen counters, fridge, microwave, etc. and it works perfect.
Window Cleaner with Vinegar: Water, Vinegar, corn-based ethanol, and yes, Coconut are here, and I can happily report that it out-performs the other natural glass cleaners that I’ve tried. This has been a HUGE pet peeve of mine, as frankly, the other natural/organic one’s I’ve bought have sucked. If you streak, you lose. I still can’t say I like this quite as much as Windex, but it’s pretty close.
Eco Breeze Fabric Refresher: This was areal surprise, as my wife had been seeking a natural replacement for Febreeze for quite some time. We’d just never actually run across one until this arrived here. With a corn-based odor eliminator alongside Grapefruit Seed Extract and Lemongrass Oils, Eco Breeze works pretty well. Going back to gardening, if you’ve used natural products while gardening, the scent of Lemongrass Oil is a familiar one – and as we move into winter here in the Midwest, it’s a welcome reminder that warmer weather will one day return. My one point of criticism was to be that additional scents should be available – but they actually are. Eco Breeze is also available in Citrus and Lavender.
2x ULTRA High Efficiency WAVE Auto Dishwasher Gel with built in Rinse Aid: We’d been using those Cascade “packets” in the dishwasher for awhile, and while they were ok – they were far from natural. We tried a Simplicity replacement, which left crusty white powder on the surface of the dishes – absolutely unacceptable. Going back to a plastic jug of liquid wasn’t what we had in mind, but surprise – WAVE works. They recommend doing a vinegar rinse of your machine prior to your first use, and I second that. Starting with a clean machine works wonders, and WAVE does a good job for day-to-day dishwashing. As noted on the bottle – heavy baked-on materials should be removed by hand, because this won’t cut through that.
Overall, the experience with Earth Friendly Product has been a good one thus far – one that leaves me eager to try others in the future. As for cost, which is often a huge factor for families looking to make a healthier switch – especially in this crap economy, Earth Friendly Products are fairly affordable. While they do cost a little more than the traditionally mass-produced options, at $31.95 for the Safeguard Your Home pack, that averages out to nearly $5 per item.
I can wholeheartedly recommend this as a great gift for this holiday season, baby showers, or everyday use. Learn more at ECOS.com
FTC Disclosure: The Safeguard Your Home pack was provided to The Rock Father™ from Earth Friendly Products free-of-charge for the purpose of evaluation and review. All opinions stated by The Rock Father™ come from honest opinions formed while using the product reviewed.
