Encourage better teeth brushing with Playbrush

Posted on December 1, 2016 by Fiona Martin

One thing I struggle with getting my kids to do is brush their teeth. Even when they do it’s a battle of getting them to keep brushing for two minutes and move the brush to every side of their mouth. So when I heard about Playbrush I was keen to try it out and see if it improved my children’s daily teeth brushing routine.

wp_20161108_16_24_15_pro Playbrush is basically a small device that attaches to the bottom of a standard size toothbrush and via bluetooth connects to a phone or tablet allowing children to play a game alongside brushing their teeth. It is rechargeable and can easily be charged via a usb cable as and when required. When ready it simply pushes onto the bottom of the childs toothbrush.

To use the Playbrush you need to link to an app, which when open the device automatically connects to via bluetooth which makes it really simple for children to do themselves. My two can just take the phone and get going themselves. The game is easy to set up with multiple profiles so once done, the child can just touch their name to continue on with building up their score.

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There are four different games available and we’ve tried them all, although my children tend to stick to their favourites but change sometimes for something different. Utoothia Sky is a regular game they play although my little boy loves Utoothia Paint where the more your brush, the more of your picture is coloured in. The catch is that each colour represents a different angle of brushing so to complete the picture you need to brush each side and both upper and lower teeth to fully colour the image.

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Each game lasts for two minutes to allow for optimum brushing time. The game also requires you to move the brush in different directions in order to succeed which has definitely opened my children eyes to the lack of movement they usually brush with. In particular my little boy tended to keep his brush facing one way so never really got to the back teeth on the other side. The game has really encouraged him to turn his hand and give the teeth on the other side a really good scrub!

You can also purchase a smartphone holder which has suction pads to stick to tiles or a mirror. This is really useful to protect the smartphone and also to save anyone holding on to it. We found our mirror a little high for the children and they preferred sticking it onto the side of the bath if one of us wasn’t holding it, but it worked for them.

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So what do we think about Playbrush?

The children love it and haven’t got bored of it. After several weeks of trying it out they still ask to borrow a phone daily to use with the Playbrush to brush their teeth. From my point of view, I can definitely see an improvement in my children’s brushing both in terms of length of time and technique. They definitely move the brush around their mouths more and it’s lovely to see a rich lather of toothpaste from them rather than a quick brush and spit it out. For our family the Playbrush has been a success and we are seeing a much better teeth cleaning routine. I’m hoping that they will form habits from using the games, so that when they don’t have the Playbrush attached they will automatically clean every angle and keep going for two minutes. Why not try one out with your kids today, it could be just that little bit of encouragement they need and make the whole process a lot less stressful for all of you!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.

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Keeping the House Clean with Dettol – Review and Giveaway

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Fiona Martin

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One daily battle I have at home with the children is keeping their hands clean. They are forever outside, collecting mud under their fingernails, or inside using arts and craft materials. I’m constantly asking them to wash their hands whether it’s after using the toilet or before they have something to eat. Dettol have come up with a great solution, Automatic Hand Wash.

How cool is this? I just love the sleek silver dispenser and no more messing around pressing fiddly hand soap pumps, just pop your hands underneath and a blob of soap drops onto your hands!

This is perfect for my children to use and leaves no excuse for washing their hands. I know my little boy would often say he couldn’t push the pump down on a normal soap dispenser but with this it’s so simple. The hand wash is anti bacterial too, just what you need for muddy hands. Both my children have been using this daily and I can definitely say they have been washing their hands more willingly. When the soap runs out, you can simply buy a refill pack and it just pops inside, in place of the empty bottle.

I’ve also been liking the Power & Pure Multi Purpose Kitchen spray from the Dettol range. With active oxygen and killing 99.9% of bacteria, this foamy spray is great for all round use in the kitchen. This easily dissolves grease, dirt and soap scum, and I’ve had great results on my hob, draining board and around the sink leaving them shiny and clean.

Also in the range is a Surface Cleanser spray which has no odour and is great for surfaces you want to place food directly on such as in the fridge. Power & Pure Advance Bathroom wipes have a lovely mountain fresh fragrance. They are large wipes and with 80 in a pack will last a while. These are ideal for giving the bathroom sink a wipe round and over the taps. I also used these around the bath and across the tiles. They are so handy for a quick clean and being disposable means they are hygenic and not collecting germs like cloths can sometimes.

If you’d like to win the Dettol range pictured below, then simply scroll down and fill in the Gleam widget to enter!

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All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the products in order to write the review.

YOU Home Cleaning Products – Review

Posted on August 13, 2015 by Fiona Martin

YOU home cleaning products are naturally powered using 100% plant based products. With products available for the kitchen, bathroom, windows and all purpose cleaner, there really is something to cover the whole house.

I received the kitchen and bathroom cleaners to put to the test and I’m immediately drawn to the bottle. They come in large clear spray bottles, with the liquid inside being clear too. Each product has as different coloured label making them instantly recognisable. I really like the packaging and have to say it’s very eco friendly too. A unique concept with these products is that they are refillable which you don’t usually see with bottles of household cleaning fluids.

These rather cute refills are simply screwed onto the top of the bottles when empty along with water to create a whole new bottle of cleaning fluid. It’s estimated that the high quality trigger will last for at least 10,000 sprays, meaning you should be able to refill each bottle at least 10-15 times. The small size of the refills are ideal for storing at home and means less big bottles to bring home from the supermarket!

I’m really impressed with the trigger on these bottles, you can see they are sturdy and well made. What I like is the lift up flap which when open allows for a standard spray to come out, and when the flap is closed it produces a foam, great when more product is needed for heavy duty cleaning.

I’ve enjoyed using the YOU cleaning sprays. They are simple to use and I have found both to be effective. The kitchen spray really does work and is more powerful than I expected from a clear looking spray. I loved the foam action which worked well on my hob and the spray was great for round the sink and worktops.

The window spray was also brilliant and comes with claims that it is smear free. I can assure that it most definitely is and one wipe of a cloth and it the window was left immediately shiny, not a hint of a smear. This is great and something that we get used regularly having young children and lots of sticky fingers touching the windows all the time!

Overall I’ve loved using the YOU naturally powered products and they have been a great addition to to my cleaning cupboard. I’d definitely recommend giving them a try and don’t forget about those handy refills!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received some cleaning products in order to write the review.

Spring Cleaning with Home Bargains

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Fiona Martin

The start of Spring, when the sun starts shining and you open the windows for some fresh air, always signifies the need for a Spring Clean in my house. A bit of cleaning along with decluttering and reorganising makes the house feel fresher and clearer, ready for the summer months. I received some goodies from Home Bargains to help me with my annual Spring clean.

So without any delay, I got to work on my big Spring clean and have spent the last few weeks getting my house in order, sorting bags of unwanted bits to the charity shops and organising what I have left so it is clean and accessible.

I loved the big spotty red bag, perfect for storing lots of items away in the cupboard or loft. They are also really handy for putting the children’s duvets in when they stay overnight somewhere, but I used this one to tidy up one of my large under stairs cupboards. It feels strong, has easy to carry handles and zips up for ease of use.

The hanging dress cover is ideal for hanging posh frocks at one end of my wardrobe, then I always know they will be protected and dust free for when I need one.

Glade Shake ‘n’ Vac has been a friend of mine for many years, great for sprinkling on the carpet to get rid of pet smells and give the carpet a good freshen. We’ve also had many cases of spilt milk and juice from the children in recent years and this Magnolia & Vanilla fragrance works a treat on it!

Always useful are some dish washing bits, we don’t have a dish washer (well I have a rather old, slow model aka husband) so the sparkly scourers and dish brush come in useful and rubber gloves are a saviour for my hands. It’s always nice when you renew your dish clothes, you realise your old one’s needed binning long ago!

I love the big, fluffy microfibre mitt, a fun and efficient way to dust (and even got the kids interested in dusting). Like a glove on your hand, you simply dust away, easily swiping up and down the spindles on the stairs, the hand rail and much more.

These multi purpose storage boxes just screamed Lego at me! They are ideal for any little bits and pieces you need to store, such as crafts etc, but our house has been longing for something to organise our ever increasing Lego collection. This is perfect for the smaller pieces of which I have many more to sort but the above shows you an idea of how you can separate pieces up. I love the fact that these boxes have interchangeable dividers so you can increase/decrease the size of the little sections inside.

And when your house is starting to feel clean and more organised, why not sit down, relax and light a candle. Home Bargains have a great range in store and the Neroli Lime luxury candle in a glass jar has to be my favourite. It looks simple, stylish and smells divine!

Make sure you check out Home Bargains for some Spring Cleaning goods, you’ll be surprised what they have to offer and at great prices!

All reviews are my own opinions and I received the products in order to write the review.

e-cloth General Purpose and Kitchen Cloths – Review

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Fiona Martin

With a busy household and two messy children to clean up after, I’m always on the look out for ways to make it easier and quicker. I’d heard of e-cloths but never tried them before, always a little sceptical at the concept of just using water rather than adding cleaning products. I was sent the general purpose e-cloth and the kitchen cleaning e-cloth packs to try out.

The Kitchen pack consists of two cloths, a highly absorbent cleaning cloth for surfaces and appliances, and a glass & polishing cloth. The cleaning cloth is really thick and soft with an additional scouring pocket on one side which is really useful for putting your fingers in to scrub stubborn marks. I have to say I was really impressed with the amount of dirt and crumbs the cleaning cloth picked up in one wipe. In particular with my two little messy eaters, I can often find a table full of toast or Weetabix crumbs which take several wipes to gather up the bits, but the e-cloth just picked up every last bit in one wipe, meaning I could clean up a lot quicker. This being the same for spills too, the cloth is so absorbent I could mop up a spill a lot quicker, and believe me we get spills daily in this house!

I like the addition of the buffing cloth, to give things an extra shine, which I found useful on my oven, hob, extractor fan, and taps – a quick, easy way to finish things off and leave the kitchen looking really clean!

The general purpose cloth is much like the kitchen cloth in it’s soft, thick quality and high absorbency. What I like is that the cloths are colour coded and labeled so you can ensure you keep the same cloths to the same areas and not mix a kitchen surface cloth with somewhere a little dirtier. I have used the general use cloth to clean windowsills, they absorb a lot of the morning condensation that we get on ours in this cold weather as well as dirty marks on door frames and just generally around the house.

The e-cloths have definitely made a change from the normal cloths I use, an improvement that definitely makes housework quicker and easier. An added bonus is that these cloths can be washed upto 300 times meaning that they last a lot longer than a sponge cloth too!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the cloths in order to write the review.

breathease Allergy and Asthma Friendly Cleaning – Review

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Fiona Martin

breathease is a revolutionary new range of cleaning products for the hope, specifically made for those that suffer from asthma and allergies. As my husband has asthma and suffers from various allergies, I thought he’d be the perfect candidate to put breathease to the test.

We received breathease bathroom to try which is perfect as our busy bathroom needs a quick clean everyday. The formula itself claims to remove dirt and watermarks, effectively remove soap and scum, remove surface and airborne allergens, have anti bacterial action and contains a non irritant formula.

We both tried out the breathease bathroom cleaner and I found it to be easy to spray, gave a good mist of product that definitely was easy to wipe clean. I found it was great for a daily clean around the sink and left a sparkling finish with no residue. It was easy to use all around the bathroom and efficient in cleaning with a very clean smelling fragrance but not overpowering.

My husband often finds a lot of cleaners overpowering and he gets a tingle in his nose especially as dirt and dust is moved around through cleaning too. He found breathease to be a lot milder than other cleaners having a more gentle effect on his airways but it still gave the great cleaning results that we would expect.