Should You Buy e-cloth? A Multi-Pack Product Review

Please note that although I was given this complimentary Value Pack for opinion purposes, it did not in ANY way sway my review. Whether I like it or hate it, I'm going to be honest!

e-cloths 8-Piece Kitchen Starter Set

When the folks over at e-cloth asked me to review their products, I was thrilled. No one hates cleaning more than I do and I'm always looking for ways to get it done faster and easier. Upon learning that I had my choice of products to choose from, I was giddy at the chance to review their 8-piece Kitchen Starter Set. I mean, what gets dirtier, daily, than my tiny, kitchen that everyone messes up? 

Now, first about e-cloth. Their niche is chemical-free cleaning with the goal of their line “to clean differently in order to clean better with less effort, and make your home safer by eliminating toxic chemicals.” Cool. I'm all for that. The cloths are composed of polyester and nylon which trap dirt within the fiber, collecting bacteria from surfaces, not killing it. So they scrape surfaces at a microbial level. E-cloth claims that the cloths “remove over 99% of bacteria” from hard surfaces and, when you run the cloths under hot water, all of .01% of that junk is released from the cloth into your sink, so you're not transferring the bacteria onto clean surfaces. 

 

Here's what the Kitchen Starter Set looks like, in (pictured below) and out (pictured above) of the packaging:

It consists of:

Two  Glass & Polishing Cloths
Two Classic Check Kitchen Towels (One Red / One Blue)
One Washing Up Pad
One Cleaning Pad
One Kitchen Cloth with Scrubbing Pocket
One Range & Stovetop Cloth

So here are my reviews in the order of products above:  

  

Glass & Polishing Cloths – I used one of these on the tempered glass door to my oven and it cleaned the glass easily, without much scrubbing. But where I REALLY tested this was in my downstairs washroom.   My husband is big Neti Pot user and manages to get goo all over the mirrored wall. Again, cleaning the mirror was easy and the cloth didn't leave any streaks or lint. It got caked-on toothpaste off the mirror as well and make the chrome faucet look like new. When I was done, I just washed the cloth off in hot water and hung it on the towel rack to dry – AFTER I took the cloth out to the car to clean fingerprints off my windows.  It cleaned the carpool's fingerprints off like magic!

The e-cloth got these disgusting drops off the mirror easily.

Kitchen Towels – I use a lot of fabric towels in the kitchen to reduce the amount of paper towels we blast through. The e-cloth kitchen towels are heavy, lush, and absorbent. When my dishwasher leaked, I was astounded at how much water the towel soaked up in a matter of seconds!

Wash Up Pad – My favorite of the e-cloth products, as mentioned, my dishwasher isn't the best and I often wind up doing dishes by hand. The wash up pad is LARGE, so it's great for scrubbing large pans. Since I burn food, more than cook it, I tried the pad on some caked-on fried egg. With very little effort, I got sparkling results (see below). I LOVE this pad!

Before the e-cloth

After the e-cloth

Kitchen Cloth With Scrubbing Pocket – If you've got kids, chances are there are fingerprints on the outside of your fridge. I know which kid belongs to which set of prints because the Teen is now much taller than his little sister. The Kitchen Cloth removed fingerprints from the refrigerator lickety-split and even took off some unidentifiable stains from the bottom of the fridge. Where this cloth really shined, however, was (like one of the other cloths) in the bathroom!  It cleaned the bathtub in a minute and removed all kinds of gunk (shaving cream, toothpaste,  God knows what else) from the sink without any scrubbing.

Range & Stovetop Cloth – I don't think the knobs to my stove had been cleaned in years. This cloth got the grease off and make the range look like new. 

 Dirty knobs...

Clean knobs

 

So, yes, I liked each and every one of these products. They got things sparkling, with minimum effort, fast. But what about the price of the Kitchen Starter Set?

At first, I thought the $49.99 cost was exorbitant. Then started to think about how much different cleaners I use cost, their toxicity, and what I spend on scrubbers, kitchen towels, etc. 

The e-cloth products are high-quality, use no chemicals, and I firmly believe are money-savers.

To learn more about e-cloth, visit them at www.ecloth.com. 

 

Oh, and on my Mother's Day List, there will definitely be items from their ebody Spa Collection, specifically their Face Cleansing Mitt. 

I have complete confidence that I'll be happy with anything I order from e-cloth.

Sometimes I Hide

I am on the floor of the bathroom. The door is locked and I am playing Word Weasel on my phone. I am hiding from the 8-year old. Despite having thousands of dollar worth of toys in her room, she is unable to play by herself. We had fun today, playing 20 games of Trouble (she won them all), drawing, reading, and playing at least eight games of Hullabaloo (the GREATEST kids' game ever invented!  Find out why below.). I'm tired. She's been needy today.  Despite my begging

her to play by herself, I'd finally had it. She worked my last nerve, so I took refuge in the only room with a lock – the bathroom.

Moments like this used to throw me when I had only one child. I used to retreat to the bathroom is a storm of frustration and tears, swearing that I was THE WORST MOTHER WHO EVER LIVED. Now, after 13 years of parenting, I understand that I am normal and I am sure there is at least one other mother going through the same thing at this very moment.

Parenting is fun and wonderful and bittersweet, with the growing realization that the kids will only be little once and will, someday, not need you. Today is not the day. Diva has not been able to spend one minute without me; she has also worn down the patience of her father, who is in his office paying bills and is not to be disturbed. She knows better than to pester her teenage brother who is on Skype with his friends. So, once again, she's after me.

“Moooooommmmmmy!” The wail comes from downstairs. My daughter is neither sick nor hurt. She is frustrated because I am not at her beck and call. The sound comes closer and closer (cue in the suspenseful horror movie music). I sigh; my peace is about to come to an end. “Mommy! Come out here!” she demands. I tell her no, Mom is in a time-out. “I need my space,” I tell her. Predictably, this is not received well. She's now yelling and banging on the door. The tantrum escalates. I hold my ground. I am NOT coming out.

Suddenly it gets quiet. I'm not worried. As I said, there are two other people in this house so if there really was a problem, she could easily go to them. A slip of paper touches my foot. “You are mean,” it says. Well, at least she's in touch with her feelings. “Write on it,” she demands. I will not engage. I hear her outside the door, scribbling on paper she has pilfered from Daddy's office. More paper comes under the door. I am expecting more declarations of anger, perhaps even an “I hate you” note. Instead, the paper reads, “I really, really, really, really” with an arrow indicating that I should flip the paper to the other side; the flip side reads “really, really love you.”

I know she does. I'm filled with happiness because she knows, without a doubt, that I love her, too. We've played this scenario out many times and I've reiterated that Mommy loves her; Mommy just needs time to herself. My daughter does not take it personally. She continues to scribble love notes to me, while I breathe and play my game by myself. In a moment, I'll come out. My self-imposed time out will be over and we'll go on to paint with water colors and get ready for school tomorrow.

Another Mommy Storm passes. I unlock the bathroom door, smile at my beautiful daughter who hugs me, and take her hand. The refugee is out and I know that I am indeed, just another, normal mom.

–

I mentioned the game Hullabaloo. I bought the game years ago, when my son was in preschool and am convinced, as I said above, that it's THE GREATEST GAME EVER INVENTED FOR LITTLE KIDS! It's so simple that they can play it on their own, with friends of all ages. The game consists of different colored and shaped pads you place on the floor and a main “console” with one button that plays clear-cut instructions. Basically, you go from pad to pad; sometimes you dance on the pad, other times you contort into Twister-like positions or pretend you're playing a musical instrument, etc. The unit goes off if the kids haven't played it in a while. I used to carry it in my car because if the kids ever got bored at a relative's house or were on a playdate that they didn't get along with, I could whip it out. The game can be played indoors or out and I've even used it at parties. Today I found it in the closet and Diva, her teenage-brother, and I played it for at least an hour.

Listen up: if you have kids 9 or younger (preschool age), you MUST GET THIS GAME! It will save your sanity – trust me!