Brighten Your Life! Cheer Detergent Review and Giveaway

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Cheer. Keep reading to find out how to win a bottle of Cheer detergent!

It's well after Labor Day now, and I'm being a good little girl and following the No White After Labor Day rule. Actually, I follow that rule pretty much every day of the year, at least when it comes to my kids. I hate getting them white shirts because I just know that after a while those whites are going to get all dull and dingy. I recently participated in BlogHer's Cheer detergent review, and I was pleasantly surprised at how Cheer's new formulation made our whites look really clean and bright. The Basics We received a bottle of Cheer brightClean 2x Ultra, in Fresh Clean scent to try out. Here's what the makers of Cheer have to say: Cheer^® is on a mission to get rid of the dingies. Our new and improved brightCLEAN™ formula should do the trick. Now, it's formulated to give you brighter whites and colors in just 1 wash. Cheer also comes in several other varieties. For a complete list, and more information, visit the Official Cheer Detergent site. The Bongga The smell is nice and pleasant, not overpowering at all. And I have to say, even my kids' white shirts came out looking nice and bright. It's almost like I dumped some bleach in with the detergent! Unfortunately my camera isn't good enough to show you the difference between the Before and After, so I'm posting a photo of my boys surrounded by some sheets and towels laundered in Cheer brightCLEAN. And if that doesn't brighten your day, nothing will!
The Blah I'm glad to see that Cheer makes a Free and Gentle variety, with zero dyes or perfumes, as well as versions specially formulated for high efficiency (HE) washing machines -- but I'd love to see a more eco-friendly version with more naturally-derived ingredients. And just to set your expectations -- bear in mind that it's detergent, not bleach. It didn't succeed in removing any of the stains that my other detergents failed at. So while it does seem to make whites whiter, don't expect it to turn black (or brown, or whatever stubborn stain color you've got) into white. The Bottom Line Cheer does a great job cleaning clothes and demolishing dinginess! Win it! Cheer is all set to brighten your day in more ways than one. First of all, you can brighten your day instantly when you check out Cheer's fun instant win game. Just spin the virtual wheel to win prizes, and enter to win an LG Front Loader washer and dryer! In addition, Cheer is going to brighten one lucky Bonggamom Finds reader's day by giving away a bottle of Cheer detergent! To enter, leave me a comment below and tell me How do you brighten the lives of others? For extra entries, you can do any or all of the following (please leave a separate comment for each extra entry): 1) Grab my button -- it's on the left hand sidebar, or click here to get it -- and post it on your blog! (leave a comment here with a link to your site). 2) Blog about this giveaway and link to this giveaway on your blog post (leave a comment with a link to your blog post). 3) Tweet this giveaway (leave a comment with a link to your tweet). Here is a sample tweet you can copy and paste: Win a bottle of Cheer detergent from @bonggafinds http://tinyurl.com/ycyjjry The Rules: * The contest will begin at 10/05/2009 and will end 11/05/2009, 5:00PM PST. * No duplicate comments. Maximum of 4 entries per person. * This giveaway is open to US-residents, aged 18 and over. * Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail (so make sure you leave a working email address). * You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. * See the official rules here: Official Rules Don't forget to check out more reviews of Cheer Detergent by BlogHer reviewers. Check out the rest of the BlogHer Reviewers' Cheer Detergent reviews -- you have 8 chances to win! Good luck! I received a product sample and monetary compensation for this post. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.

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Mabel's Label's Invisible Sticky Labels -- Review and Giveaway

GOTCHA!!! HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY!!! :)

I hope you weren't truly hoping you'd win some invisible labels! But don't worry, all is not lost. In the spirit of silliness, Mabel's Labels is offering 15% off all products on April Fool's Day. Just click here to go to Mabel's Labels and get the discount code. Thanks to Mabel's Labels for letting me in on the joke!

If you want to play along, please click here to go back to the original post and leave a comment -- make like you really want to win the Invisible Labels. Each comment in that post (dated March 31 and April 1 only) -- including an extra comment for tweeting this "giveaway" -- will count as one extra entry in a future Mabel's Labels giveaway that I'll host on Bonggamom Finds. I promise, that's no joke!

Thanks to you all for being such a great sport!

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Melamine and Magic

I recently received a sample of the new Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to try out. Since I'm already a devoted Magic Eraser follower, I didn't really have to try the sample to know how well it works. The thing does its job so well, it's scary. Just dampen the sponge with water and scrub for a bit, and whatever stain you want erased is gone.

How does it work? Micro bristles? Porous melamine material? Whatever. Like a religious fanatic, I don't really need an explanation. I just know it gets into places that seem impossible to reach and cleans things that seem impossible to clean. Does it release some toxic material that melts everything in its path? According to the US Dept.. of Health, it isn't considered toxic unless ingested. So unless you're planning to use the Magic Eraser to whiten your teeth or scrub your warts off or fill your stomach up on days you forget to eat breakfast, I would say it's safe.

It really should be called I-don't-know-how-the-hell-it-works-it-must-be-Magic Eraser (maybe that's the real name and they just shortened it to Magic Eraser). To illustrate my point, I decided to tackle a bit of stairway railing that 3Po covered with permanent marker 3 years ago.



He had scribbled on 4 or 5 balusters when he was two, and I used the Magic Eraser to scrub clean all the balusters except this one. I don't know why I left it; maybe I ran out of Magic Erasers (they disintegrate with use into a lumpy sort of mess), maybe I got sick of scrubbing, maybe I got distracted. In any case, I've left it sitting for 2 years and it's time to clean it up.

No surprise, those melamine thingies sure did their job. Two years ago I was a bit worried that I'd scrub all the varnish off the wood and have ugly, bleachy spots all over the balusters, but they look fine.

In fact, the only surprise for me was the clean-smelling new Citrus Scent and the fact that it's recommended and marketed for regular kitchen and bathroom cleaning. Major D-uh! moment there.... I know that people use the Magic Eraser for a bajillion things -- my favorites are removing scribbles from walls and floors and stairs, cleaning Crocs shoes, removing grime from the wheels on our van, and whitening our kitchen sink -- but Inever really thought about using it for regular cleaning. So I cleaned the bathroom last night, after we arrived home all dusty and grimy from our camping weekend, and of course, the bathroom came out sparkling. Just like magic.


This is a compensated review under BlogHer's Review program.

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