Smiley360: ARM & HAMMER™ Super Washing Soda Detergent Booster #Review

When it comes to doing my wash, I change products and have added more to my routine that I practically have “booster” products for everything from scents, to whitening and brighteners. Doing laundry is no longer just soap and softener in the house and while some may feel it’s over complicating a simple task, I see it as enhancers to make the task of doing laundry, come out right on the first try. I have used everything from borax, baking soda, and vinegar to try to get more out of my HE washer. I love the front loaders and that they save water, but saving water is nullified when I have to rewash items I am not happy and satisfied with how they cleaned. I also don’t like the idea of doing a task twice!  It sets my schedule back and makes me a little (just a little) moody.

In comes Arm & Hammer with their Super Washing Soda Detergent Booster, that helps give your clean a power boost! I was sent by Smiley360 a gift card to redeem for the product at Walmart, which is located right next to the Borax box. I picked up the box and used the product as directed. My first job was to see how well it worked, was using it on towels. I have white face towels and some I swear get stains from the hamper because I have zero recollection of what they got stained with in the first place. I noticed even lip glosses stained the towels and they would not come clean. If I bleach the cloth too long, the material will fray and come apart, so I do get rid of the stain but the towel along with it!

Retail Price Point: $3.97 at Walmart, but you can find the product on Amazon for $10.99 for two 55 ounce boxes.

Ingredients: Contains Sodium Carbonate

Instructions (as listed on the Box): For regular wash: 1. Add 1/2 cup of Super Washing Soda along with either liquid or powder laundry detergent at the beginning of the wash cycle. 2. Add clothes and let washer fill completely. For tough stains: Fill container with warm water. Add 2 tablespoons of Super Washing Soda per gallon of water or 1/2 cup in the washer. Pre-soak for at least 30 minutes before washing. For best results pre-soak overnight and then add 1/2 cup of Super Washing Soda along with detergent in wash cycle. Traps and drains: To help keep traps and drains open, dissolve 1/2 cup per gallon of warm water. Run hot water down drain, add Super Washing Soda solution, then flush with hot water. Do not use for blocked drains.  You can also get more cleaning tips here

Verdict:
My towel test with the ARM & HAMMER™ Super Washing Soda Detergent Booster was a success and the yellow-ish hue some had faded and most stains (80%) were released in the first wash. That is better than the 50/50 ratio I had going. I do not have issues with odor, unless a kitchen towel kicked it in the hamper too long but the wash when you use the booster is left smelling nice and clean. No perfumes, fragrances, dyes, and coloring to worry about with Arm & Hammer because the product contains none of that. Some fragrances not only irritate my allergies and asthma, but at times I have had hives/rashes if something contains strong scents, so this was a welcoming change for me. I give up nothing but the dirt on the clothes I wash and the price point makes it very affordable. I also use the booster to clean drains and it helps cut on the grease from foods to oils, waxes, and just anything you use that leaves a residue in your drain. The drain will flow better and also no odd smells to worry about. The ARM & HAMMER™ Super Washing Soda Detergent Booster also left my sink a nice shiny white and got rid of the soap scum build up that tends to collect around the drain! I am hoping more retailers in my area carry the booster because my Walmart is not close, so I’m looking at you Target 🙂

 

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from Arm & Hammer and Smiley360.  I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion.  My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.

 

 

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Research Verified NO2 Booster Preworkout Supplement

So here’s the return of Hubby with a dietary supplement that, against his better judgement, he decided to try. So, take it away, Hubby:

Sometimes, you’re looking for a little edge in the gym. Sometimes, after a long day, you need a little extra pep. NO2 boosters are generally a good way to power through those last sets, and keep your form and those last few reps. But sometimes, all the hype and fancy packaging doesn’t help when a product fails to perform. Such is the case with this Research Verified NO2 Booster. There was quite literally no effect for me at all.

I take arginine supplements to help aid in a circulatory issue a have in my leg, and for a little extra bonus in the gym. After my old preworkout mix changed formulations, I’ve been looking for a new mix, and thought I’d found one missing a couple of ingredients in the old stack, so why not pick up a could of supplements to supplement the mix, right? But right from jump I got nothing from this pill. I thought at first to wait a couple of weeks and see if perhaps it was a case of expecting too much too soon. I added it to my regular preworkout stack, and after a couple of weeks, when I wasn’t feeling what I expected, I stopped them. No reason to tax my liver with some pills that don’t have any benefit. Maybe I’m used to a higher potency of arginine product, maybe I got a bad bottle, but whatever the case, I got no benefit whatsoever from this NO2 Booster.

In the end, I should have stuck to my guns about testing these type of supplements, because most of the time I’m disappointed. There’s only a couple of companies I truly trust, and from here on out it’s them or the highway. I’ve learned my lesson. No more testing and reviewing exercise supplements.

Okay, I won’t say “I told you so”, but I totally did. Proprietary mixes are the devil, and threre’s no way of knowing what you’re really getting unless you trust the company. We’ve really yet to find more than a handful of these companies that deliver on their promises, and we should really learn to stick with them religiously.

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from Research Verified.  I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion.  My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.

ROHA, Inc. Digital Kitchen Scale Review

ROHA, Inc. has another hit on their hands here, with their sleek-looking kitchen scale. I’ve not had a lot of luck since I bought my old Salter kitchen scale lo, those many years past. While for most folks who cook don’t really need a scale that’s accurate to the gram, here we measure stuff pretty minutely, be it from my kitchen experiments, or Hubby’s various sundry workout potions. Have I finally found the heir apparent to my beloved Salter? We shall see.

To start, this is a good looking gadget, what with it’s single piece of tempered glass and bright blue backlit LCD screen. But looks are really secondary to performance, because in this house, function trumps form any day. So we tested the ROHA, Inc. digital kitchen scale against the most accurate, to-the-gram scale we own. And it held up, gram for gram, ounce for ounce, being dead accurate every time.

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What I didn’t quite understand is the different settings for “water” and “milk”. It just seems like adding a different setting just because you could. It makes no sense and serves no practical purpose. Just kind of silly, really, but the scale is accurate and easy to clean, with the controls being manipulated by the touch-sensitive tempered glass “buttons”. What’s so nice about that is that there’s no way for powder, schmutz of flour to end up in the mechanism, or under and around any actual physical buttons. And again, batteries are included, and I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate any company that does that. It has all the stock features one would expect from a quality scale, like an auto-off, tare function, it’s switchable from grams to ounces with a simple touch, and ROHA, Inc.’s “No Questions Asked” 90-day money back guarantee.

So there it is. I think my venerable Salter scale is going out to pasture, probably on some farm upstate where it can romp and play with other old scales and live out it’s days as free-range scale. At least, that’s what I choose to believe. So welcome to the kitchen, ROHA, Inc. Hope you enjoy your stay!

**BONUS ALERT!** Limited Time Offer: Enter Code G8GEF6O5 at Amazon checkout and ROHA, Inc. will include their Measuring Spoons Set, valued at $9.95, With Your Order for FREE! Enter code G8GEF6O5 at checkout. Here’s how(restrictions apply)

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from ROHA, Inc..  I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion.  My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.

ROHA, Inc. Digital Bathroom Scale

Not too long ago I reviewed a pretty disappointing bathroom scale. ROHA, Inc. sent me one around that same time and while it does almost all the same functions, it’s a vastly better product. And with it, I learned the difference between a product that overpromises and underdelivers, and one that does what it says it will, and not a bit more. Let’s go over this nifty little number, shall we?

So here it is: A scale that just measures what matters and doesn’t concern itself with a bunch of extra bells and whistles. Weight, body fat, body water, muscle & bone mass, and it looks pretty sharp doing it, with it’s tempered glass surface and stainless steel panels. It also sports a large, bright backlit LCD panel that’s easy to read. I stumbled a bit programming it, because it can be used by up to 8 different people, and the touch panel controls are not as user intuitive as some I’ve used. There’s no need to manually switch users, because like most better scales it recognizes the user by weight. Which is pretty awesome unless you lose (or heaven forbid, gain) a bunch of weight. But that’s not going to happen in this house. Both Hubby and I found it to be accurate on several different floors, and to the pound with our high-end Ozeri scale. Oh, and how awesome is it when a company includes batteries? I love that so much! And it only takes 2 AAA batteries. Nice.

ROHA, Inc. is also willing to stand behind their product for 90 days. I would really like to see a year, as seems to be the standard for these products, but they promise 100% Satisfaction, or your money back in that time, so you should find any defects well inside that time. No questions asked. So I see no harm in giving them a try.

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from ROHA, Inc..  I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion.  My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.

 

SantaMedical by Gurin PM-120 TENS Unit Review

We’ve all got aches and pain. From minor irritations to major “I need to lay down” boo-boos, everybody hurts. How long we hurt or how much it limits us swings wildly from person to person, and can vary based on tolerances and available treatment. For most of us, a quick aspirin or Aleve and we’re right as rain in a few hours. For some of us, we need to occasionally drag out the big guns, and if you’re like me, it’s a weapon of last resort. Now there’s something that falls in between and is affordable, portable, and gives amazing relief, sometimes in as little as 10 minutes. Please let me introduce you to Gurin’s SantaMedical PM-120 TENS unit.

I know, you’ve probably heard of these TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) units before. A few of you might have had one used on you in a therapist’s office, or at the gym. Now you can have one at home, for very little cost, and get nearly the same level of relief you got from the big, expensive professional versions. Hubby has used an H-Wave machine for over a decade now. It works on very similar principals, but different electrical wavelengths. He’d always offer me his H-Wave when I was sore or feeling busted up, and I usually decline not wanting to put miles on his very expensive, very complex stimulator. Now I suspect he’ll be wanting to borrow my SantaMedical PM-120 TENS unit.

This device comes with 6 different stimulation modes, adjustable intensity, a set of 4 snap-on electrode pads, leads, and a charger and cord. My one major gripe is the sealed battery compartment. I would have liked to be able to replace the batteries when the unit does eventually die, rather that buy a whole new unit. I’m also not a fan of the snap-on leads for the electrodes over the usual “push in” type, if only because the snap on ones are not as readily available. But the pluses on this unit more than make up for my minor quibbles. For starters, it’s about 1/10th the cost of Hubby’s H-Wave. Big win there. Next, it’s about 1/10 the weight too. Hubby’s old unit has it’s own suitcase-sized box, and it’s no fun to lug around if you happen to need it while out and about. The SantaMedical TENS unit is small, lightweight, compact, easy to carry and fairly easy to use. The myriad of controls on the front could stand to be a touch larger, and I’m not sure if the depictions of the modes on the large monochrome LCD screen quite match up to the stimulation it provides, but hey…it works and that’s all that matters.  At $34.95, it’s right in the middle of the road as far as prices go for the low-cost, portable TENS unit marketplace on Amazon, and since it’s made by Gurin, it’s quality and you know they stand behind their products.

In the end, I liked this product very much, and I appreciate the relief it provides, I also like that it doesn’t tax my liver like most pain pills, and that I’m not anchored to chair like I am with other, larger nerve and muscle stimulators. Give it a try. Your aching body will be glad you did.

 

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I received the above product(s) free of charge from Gurin Products.  I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion.  My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.