Norwex Travel Essentials ~ Long Weekend Getaway

My family just returned from a long weekend in Annapolis where we rented a house through AirBnB.  Imagine my surprise when our host returned to his house and emailed to let me know we left the house "immaculate."  I am someone who, before Norwex, NEVER cleaned to that level!

Essentials for the Weekend:

 

• Enviro Cloth
• Polishing Cloth
• Reusable Straw

We stayed at a medium size split level home with 3 bedrooms and 1 and 1/2 baths.  I brought 2 large homemade casseroles (Scalloped Ham & Potatoes and Tuna Noodle), fresh veggies for salads and cooking, snacks and Avery's Soda.

Using the house was a 10 year old, 15 year old, two 18 year olds, my husband and me (and a 17 year old on Day Liberty from USNA). So the house was not "lightly used" nor were we "only there for sleeping."

Every night I ran the dishwasher, handwashed the overflow and wiped down the kitchen with the Enviro Cloth.

Upon leaving I spent less than 10 minutes walking around the house with the Enviro and Polishing Cloths to wipe counter/table tops, mirrors and any fingerprints that I saw.

I've been using and LOVING my reusable straw.  I keep one in my water bottle and the other in my pocketbook (fits right into one of the pen pockets).  The best thing about the straw in the heat and humidity of Annapolis is it keeps your cold beverage super cold as it travels up the straw. 

New Generation Norwex Microfiber

What the heck IS this Norwex and WHY is Carol always going on and on about it?....click the YouTube video below for the introduction into my craze!

August Host & Customer Specials

Great Specials for August!  Another chance to earn a free MOP SYSTEM when you host a party that produces $500 or more in sales.

Need a Gift for someone going to college? Bathroom Retreat
Teacher Gift (or treat yourself)? Facial Luxury
and the Sparkling Duo will make everyone's life easier and cleaner, but lets not give that as a gift ;)

 

What is a Mystery Host Party?

I hosted my 2^nd Launch party to introduce my “Beach Friends” to creating healthy homes with Norwex and used the Mystery Host theme. To run a Mystery Host party YOU host a party but let the guests win the Host rewards!  There are many options, but here’s the simple way I ran the party.

Before the party I printed a bulleted list of the July $325 level Host Gifts. I also used a recent tip I learned: I pre-wrote the $5.95 shipping on the order forms (and NO ONE even mentioned shipping as they had in my past parties).

I ran through my regular party “Lesson Plan” using a few demos and highlighted the Safe Haven Package.  This was my 4^th party and I find I am always fine-tuning what I demonstrate and display.  I want to show so many of the astounding products Norwex offers without overwhelming the guests and simply losing their interest.  Focusing on the Safe Haven package proves to be the winning balance for me!  I also tested a raffle for a few giveaways (Spirinette, Veggie Scrub Cloth, Spirisponge). Tickets were won for coming, completing the “How Green are You?” survey, asking questions, etc. Towards the end of my 40 minute show I pulled tickets.  Since the party was small, once a guest won an item, they were not allowed to win again.

The party ran smoothly and as guests completed their order forms and checked out I had them write their name by 1 item on my bulleted list.  Two people ordered that night and then two others ordered within the next couple of days.  Since their orders were later, I just gave them the best of the items left on the list.

Today I distributed the orders and used the leftovers of the host gift to fill each bag. 

What about the free shipping and shopping spree?  I used the shopping spree to order the Mediterranean Sea Salt Scrub to try out and then be able to describe and demonstrate at parties.  I didn’t offer the free shipping to anyone (I suppose I used it for my Salt scrub).  If the party were larger I could’ve used both the Free Shipping and portioned out the shopping spree. 

Let me know if you have any questions!  Or if you’d like to Host a party – if YOU host you get the entire Host Gift package.  Here’s what is being offered in August below!

How to turn Leftover Bread into Domestic Bliss

My friend Loulou gloriously exclaimed she no longer needs to buy powdered sugar because she discovered how to run granulated sugar through a food processor to make her own.  Her infectious smile begged for me to agree that I would also not buy powdered sugar. My instant visual: cluttered kitchen counter (because presumably I'm already making a recipe that requires powdered sugar) and the food processor parts scattered about with clouds of freshly powdered sugar meandering into cracks and crevices that get missed during post-baking clean-up.  "Thanks Loulou, that's great!"...(but I'm going to continue stocking a full supply of powdered sugar).

Catered family event occurs and I (with the most kids) end up bringing home a shopping bag of nice restaurant bread yesterday.  The good kind, with no preservatives that really must be used up within a day or two. Although the saying sounds a little offensive "send it home with Carol, she has all those kids," the epithet spills accurately. Between teenagers, a freezer and 2 large dogs, little food waste remains.

After the day of family togetherness I set about turning all the sliced bread into delicious French Toast (Recipe Below) which I flash froze on a cookie sheet with waxed paper between each layer and then popped into several 1 gallon freezer bags.  We look forward to grabbing a couple slices when desired, heating them in the toaster oven and enjoying for the next few months.

French Toast

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla
• 1/8 tsp. cinnamon
• sliced bread (about 8-10 slices)
• butter

1. Heat griddle and run a pat of butter around it to melt and coat the griddle.
2. Whisk eggs, milk, Vanilla and cinnamon together; pour mixture into shallow bowl
3. Dip bread 1-2 pieces at a time in mixture until coated
4. Fry on the griddle about 2 minutes per side.
Serve with Vermont Maple Syrup

Yeah, I did that 5 1/2 times last night to get through all of my bread.  Hubby helped by mixing up a few batches.  I like to keep the proportions accurate so I chose not to make a huge batch of mixture, I also had no idea how much I would need so working this way allowed me to judge when more mixture was needed AND most importantly allowed me to more easily quit at any time if I didn't feel like standing over a hot griddle any longer!  But I made it through.

Where is the domestic bliss?  Why the story about powdered sugar?...I'm getting there.

While I was going through the bread I set all of the ends (heels, butts, whatever you call them) on a cookie sheet.  I put it in the oven set to 250 degrees.  When the oven reached temperature, I shut it off and set the timer for 20 minutes.  Then I left them in the oven all night so the timer did nothing productive.  I had decided to make bread crumbs.  In the past I had heard of saving bread ends and making your own breadcrumbs and I had done this several times.  It seemed like a lot of work (and kitchen mess) for something I could buy on sale for $1.99.

Today I followed the procedure below and turned my dried ends into breadcrumbs. Thrifty! Productive at home! Yes, Domestic Bliss! Since I was using a sharp knife and the food processor blade always scares me I had to focus on the task at hand.  Doing this frees the mind of all the distractions and mental lists running through one's mind.  When I finished I felt proud and now understand Loulou's powdered sugar smile!

Bread Crumbs 
Collect old bread ends.
1. Dry them out but setting them in an oven, turning the oven to 250 degrees and then turning the oven off when temperature is reached. Depending on the size/density of the bread, leave them in the oven from 20-60 minutes. Longer will do no harm.  If the bread is still a little spongy in the center, that is OK.

2. Cut hard chunks with a very sharp knive into 1/2" x 1/2" squares (no need to be fussy, just small enough for the food processor)

3. Process in Food Processor on high until crumbled

 Work in batches and don't worry if a few chunks remain.  

Use in meatballs, meatloaf, coating chicken or fish, etc.

Norwex vs. Everything Under my Kitchen Sink

Anyone knows that applying the principles of Reduce ~ Reuse ~ Recycle yields financial savings.

So clearly the $48.99 spent on the Household Package (above ) would be a huge savings over the multiple chemical cleaners one has in their home.

BONUS POINTS:

• Norwex cloths are warrantied for 2 years
• More space in your cabinets
• More time since you will clean less. Did you know all cleansers leave a film behind that actually ATTRACTS more dirt?

Negative Nellie:  "But you have to wash the cloths, that uses electricity, water and detergent."

Me:  (thinking "Really, Nellie! You want to go there!). Suppose you use Norwex UPP which breaks down to about $0.07/load and you wash your cloths every 2 weeks.  52 washes * 7 cents = $3.64. Water and electricity will vary from home to home but living in my relatively expensive state of Connecticut I'd be using about $15 of water and electricity over the 2 years. So adding that up we get $18.64 for TWO YEARS of household cleaning.

(transparency revelation:  that's not really the stuff under my kitchen sink although I have just as much in my house; I've been boxing it up lately since I've discovered Norwex....this picture is from another Norwex Sales Consultant who is generous and lets us put our names on her photo work; everyone is just so nice at Norwex!)

Andy Will it Work Norwex

Best INDEPENDENT news clip about Norwex that I have seen.

I really feel like I've been brainwashed by marketers of disposable products: everything from paper towels to diapers (that topic is for another post).  When I was young in the early 70s we used cloth rags, my mother would buy a SINGLE roll of paper towels occasionally....ok, I'll refrain from a rant as I just wanted to get this video posted. (and I have no intention of EVER saying anything disparaging about toilet paper, I will keep buying it in large quantities).