I recently had the opportunity to try out the Zerowater system. Zerowater is a water filtration pitcher, with a twist. It comes with a tester for your water – called s TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) tester.

The TDS meter helps put a number on what your taste buds already tell you about what’s in water. The higher the reading on the water, the more things dissolved in water. It shows the total number of detectable dissolved solids.

When I first received the pitcher, I tested the water from the faucet and it read 048 this is actually not bad – I had heard SC had some of the best water in the country and now I see this is apparently true. Now funny enough just before starting this review I was staging the pictures in this post and the reading was 094, we had rain all day yesterday so I am assuming it must have stirred up the well water a good bit. My Zerowater reading is 000 every-time to-date and the water tastes great!

What I loved most about the pitcher I thought was going to be it’s biggest flaw. The spout at the bottom of the pitcher was an instant hit for me, no more waiting for the tap water to run through the filter before filling my glass. Especially since this household seems to love cold air (putting the pitcher back in the refrigerator empty). However, upon the first fill up my daughter was calling me into the kitchen – water was pouring everywhere! The button had popped out and water was pouring out! Luckily we fixed it quickly and the issue hasn’t happened again.

I love that it holds much more water then my former competitors pitcher, less fills up. Granted it takes up a bit more room, but that’s an acceptable trade off.

I’m very happy with the results of ZeroWater and I’m sure you will be, too! Want one now? Use coupon code MC30, for 30% off a 10 Cup ZeroWater pitcher. Or why not take your chance at winning one first?? My readers have a chance to win one of TWO 10 Cup ZeroWater Pitchers!

To enter for your chance to win complete the mandatory entry below and additional optional entries plus comeback and share each day for additional points! Two winners will be announced 4/25/2012 Due to shipping restrictions, we request that your giveaway winners live in the continental United States. – Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of ZeroWater and received a water pitcher to facilitate my review, two pitchers to giveaway, and extra filters to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

ZeroWater Review & Giveaway {2 Winners}

I’ve had the opportunity to try several Shaklee products in the past. I’ve enjoyed cleaning with Basic H, a super concentrated cleaner which can be made into all-purpose, glass or degreaser based on the number of drops you add to good old water. I love their laundry line as well.

About Shaklee:

Our mission at Shaklee is to provide a healthier life for everyone and a better life for anyone. We do it by making natural products that are so exceptional, you just have to tell your friends. Every product that goes into every Shaklee bottle is designed to improve health, work without compromise, and be gentle on the planet. That’s the short answer.

Since I had done the round with the cleaning line and was very pleased I was more then happy to do another when I was approached. Since I’m getting up there in age, I’m trying to pay a little more attention to my skin these days. So this was a great opportunity to try some face remedies.

Enfuselle® Time Repair A.M.® SPF 15 -  A five-in-one wrinkle treatment that meets all your skin’s daytime needs for renewal, brightening, moisturization, nourishment, and protection. Your skin becomes measurably brighter, clearer, and smoother. Paraben Free.

I really like this lotion, it’s not heavy. Doesn’t stink with any heavy perfumes and a little goes a long way.

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Eco-Options: Shaklee

I’ve been quiet over the holidays. Trying to keep up with work, holidays and life in general has been overwhelming. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was very nice, the kids had a great time that’s what really matters when it’s all said and done.

Just because things have been quiet on the blog-front doesn’t mean it’s been quiet around here. We’ve been working with some great companies on their new WordPress sites, mobile sites as well as trying out and gifting some awesome eco-friendly products. I wanted to take a minute to send out a big “thank you” to some great companies and let you know about some companies we’ll be featuring in the coming weeks.

First a HUGE Thank you to Kristin at the The GrapeSeed Company! Every year I work with a great green company to bring family, friends and clients a little eco-goodness. This year I teamed up with The Grapeseed Company, they offer premium eco-friendly vinotherapy spa & skin care for professional and personal use. Their line of bath & body treats are centered on the byproduct of wine in their new hometown, Santa Barbara, California. I was so giddy to send out mojito man shaving sets and shower sets to the special people in my personal and work life. I hope everyone loves The GrapeSeed Company as much as I have and if you haven’t tried their products before be sure to check them out!  Thank you Kristen!

Some more BIG thanks going out to some guys and gals I have gotten to team up with the past few months on projects and love working with them so much I want to share them with you!

Kendra Cote – Owner of Amathia Soaps, Kenna makes another awesome line of bath & body products which look and smell amazing and also found their way into many stockings this holiday! We first teamed up to launch her new website design which will be live very soon. Yet, as we worked together and chatted way too much on skype, I discovered she has a mad love for WordPress, too. We have been working on a few projects since and I can’t express how much I appreciate her! I know her true love is Amathia, but I hope we can continue to work on projects together when she isn’t knee deep in her suds. Thank you so much for all your help lately, Kenna!

Another Thank You going out to Applied Info-Systems. Applied Info-Systems pulled off a great mobile site design for a client in a crunch. Although EOG offers plug in set up for mobile versions of WP sites, this situation wasn’t going to allow for a quick and simple set up. Robert was able to create what the client needed, on the heels of the holidays and he did a great job! If you need to get your website mobile visit Applied Info-Systems for your mobile package solutions!

Tammy at Moonwell Designs has also been an awesome partnership for recent projects. I have teamed up with Moonwell Designs to offer logo design, ebook creation and much more. Her design skills are amazing and I’m so happy to have her to turn to for project needs. Thank you Tammy for all your help the past few months! Contact EOG for your design service needs – Tammy’s skills are sure to deliver!

Again a huge thanks to everyone for all of your help this year!

We have also been trying out some goodies from Shaklee, Naked Binder, Influenster & Fearless Chocolate we’ll let you know what we think of them soon!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays & Happy 2012 from Eco-Office Gals and the Smith Family!

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A Post Holiday Thank You!

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday… Let’s go with the HUGE EOG SALE! We’re combining all our affiliate savings to bring you and offer you’d be crazy not to grab! Build a great site on the best platform with wonderful hosting and a superior theme and save, save save!!

Hosting: 50% OFF ANY hosting package! {affiliate link}

Premium Theme: 25% Off any StudioPress theme with Coupon code THANKS {affiliate link}

FREE Installation! WordPress Installation – FREE with Hosting AND Theme installation FREE with StudioPress theme purchase!

Not a DIY’er?? Get all the FREE and discounted offers above and $200 off our Silver, Gold or The Works WordPress Design packages.

The Design services offer will be available thru Tuesday morning, but the other offers above are only available for a limited time, so don’t miss out on combining all these savings and saving BIG! Contact us today!

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Save Huge on Eco-Office Gals Services!

On Friday, November 25^th, 2011 HostGator will run this  awesome sale on their wind-powered hosting! 50% OFF everything!

HostGator is offering:

50% OFF on ALL hosting services. This includes shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, Dedicated servers and Windows hosting! This does not include domain names. Visitors do NOT need to insert a coupon code to receive the special. The correct coupon code will automatically be inserted on all orders placed on Black Friday.

The discount applies to the clients first invoice. VPS and dedicated server hosting services are only available on a monthly basis, therefore the promotion will apply to only the first month.

This promotion will bring our already competitive hosting packages as low as:

Shared hosting: As low as $4.95 Now only: $2.48/month (pre-paid)

Reseller Hosting: As low as $24.95 Now Only: $12.48/month (pre-paid)

VPS Hosting: As low as $19.95 Now Only: $9.98/month (First Month)

Dedicated Servers: As low as $174 Now Only $87/month (First Month)

This is an incredible deal and it will only run for 1 DAY! Eco-Office Gals has been a huge fan of HostGator for years, the support is top notch, up-time is wonderful, and they’re 130% wind-powered. We have been a reseller/client for years now and we always highly recommend them.

Save Even More!

When you purchase hosting through Eco-Office Gals or our HostGator affiliate (confirmation required) we will install WordPress for FREE!

Want More? Take advantage of these great savings on StudioPress Themes and the great hosting offers above, Eco-Office Gals will install WordPress and your new theme FREE! Contact us after you have made your purchases and we’ll get you set up and ready to go.

Grab the savings before they expire!

WordPress and StudioPress free installation only, design services and support not included.

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

2011 Black Friday: Half Off Green Hosting!

I was given the opportunity to try out the Caroma Flow Showerhead over the last few months and I have really enjoyed this addition to the master bath.  It has a unique look and great pressure for being low flow.

From the site:

New Caroma Flow shower offers the ultimate shower experience. Delivering a comfortable flow rate of just 6.5 litres per minute, Flow is engineered to produce the same or better performance as a conventional shower (9 litres per minute) whilst saving both water usage and hot water energy running costs.

• Easy to use sliding spray adjustable system
• Easy to install
• WELS 3 star rated, 6.5L/minute
• Available as fixed or adjustable arm

There are plenty of simple steps you can take to make your home and office a little greener and a low-flow shower head is one of them. The only downside to the Caroma for me is the price – retailed at $129.00 it’s much more pricey then the $20 low-flow shower head I had on there – BUT the other one wasn’t as pleasing to the eye. So, it comes down to look and budget.

Visit Caroma’s product line for your low-flow needs including toilets, basins, baths and more they have a wide range of options for your Eco-friendly bathroom needs.

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Green Pick of the Week: Caroma Showerhead

The greenest printing is no printing at all, but sometimes you have to have a business card or brochure to give to potential clients. So, if you must print, print green! Printing for Less has covered a wide scope of green printing practices from FSC certified paper, vegetable based inks, wind-powered facilities and more. I have always highly recommended them to my clients.

This month PFL is offering new customers $100 off their first order of $300 with coupon code Affiliate100 (exp 10-1-2011). Visit PrintingForLess to take advantage of these huge savings! If you have a smaller order and don’t meet the $300 balance, no problem. Use my referral code for $50 off your first order of any amount. Use code RP1D6SEJM at checkout, there is no expiration.

These savings are huge and my clients have always been very impressed with the final product. So, print green & save green on your next printing project!

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Green Printing $100 OFF for September

The internet is a buzz with Earth Day Happenings including the Green My World Earth Day Giveaway! I hope you are leaving tons of great green tips, sharing the products you hope to win, and sharing the giveaway on all your social networks!

As we come to the final hours, lets give you a few more ways to enter! Below you will find some green tips and retweets to share on Twitter or Facebook.  Follow the giveaway sponsors on Twitter and share their green tips (comment on the giveaway post that you did and your twitter name):

Green Tip: @natgoodsoaps Indoor composting has changed my life. Try it, it is so worth it. http://bit.ly/gVRf7a

Green Tip: @GlassDharma Drink with a “Touch of Glass” http://bit.ly/gVRf7a

Green Tip: @erinely Don’t settle for organic impostors look for 3rd party organic certification to verify organic claims. http://bit.ly/gVRf7a

Gree Tip: @soapsbynature handcrafted soaps don’t contain detergents or phosphates – better for the skin and the environment. http://bit.ly/gVRf7a

RT @ecologicbrands Earth Day Giveaway 2011 Win one year of #7thGeneration Detergent – and more! http://bit.ly/gVRf7a

Win Big! 6 hours of Green Consulting – $900 Value from @infinitellc & much more Green My World! http://bit.ly/gVRf7a #earthday #giveaway

Follow all the other sponsors too: @GreenMarketGirl @nakedbinder @saferbrand @hellotogreen @grapeseedco

Good luck! I look forward to picking the person that shines the greenest to win all those great prizes!

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Earth Day 2011 Green Tips & Additional Entries

Let’s get this party started!

Earth Day (Month) is here and Eco-Office Gals wants to get as many people as possible on board to grow a little greener.   If you’ve been wanting to, trying to, thinking about growing a little greener there’s no better time to do it then now! We don’t want to make you go it alone either. We have once again reached out to our great green cyberspace friends to bring you green products to Green Your World!

The past 2 years of Eco-Office Gals Green My World Giveaway were a HUGE hit and we will give it a go again!!

So, let’s get things started.  We’ll give you a chance to check out a few of the initial sponsors and a peek at the prizes coming in, look around their sites and get your creative green juices flowing.  So, lets get started!

Welcome all our Earth Day Giveaway Sponsors for 2011 and their generous donations to Green Your World (I will be adding to the list as sponsors come in!):

• Infinite Future, LLC – Six hours of Sustainable Consulting Time (Value – $900)
• Naturally Good Soaps – $75.00 Gift Certificate
• Green Market Girl – $45.00 Gift Certificate
• Naked Binder – Set of 4 Naked Binder Project Binders, Assorted colors, 1.5″ d-ring Roundbacks ($30 Value)
• GlassDharma – eGift Certificate $25.00
• Safer Brand – 1 bottle of 3-in-1 1 bottle of EndALL 1 bottle of Weed & Grass Killer 1 bottle of Oxygen Plus 1 bottle of Tomato and Vegetable Insect Killer ($50 Value)
• Ecologic Brands – One Year of Seventh Generation 4X Detergent ($200+ Value)
• HTG Paper Company – 10 Reams of HTG 100% Wood Free Multi Purpose Paper Letter Size ($64.99 Value)
• ElyOrganics.com – $25.00 eGift Certificate
• Soaps by Nature – Handcrafted Lip Balm Sampler ($17 Value)
• The GrapeSeed Company – Wine Bar & Butter Gift Set ($22 Value)

This list is growing by the day sooo…  here’s the deal, one person will win it ALL! Put your green recycled thinking caps on since  you will need to do a little work! You need to green up your act!  Absolutely, no “Thanks for the great giveaway” comments, they WILL be deleted.  DO NOT copy and paste someone’s comment as your own, be original.  You can enter as many times as you’d like as long as you follow one of the options below. For shipping purposes – US residents only, please.  Contest will end April 22nd Earth Day, at 12 noon (EST). One winner will be picked to win the whole thing! This will not be a random drawing, rather the person that really seems to put some effort towards making a difference in their life will be given the chance to make their changes with these great products!

• First & Mandatory! Pick a green step that will help the environment. Something new, that you are not already doing. Leave a comment about it, or if you post about it on your own blog, provide a link in your comment so we can check it out!
• Leave a comment about any progress and achievements in your green goals, too.  Let us know how it’s going!
• Leave a unique tip to be green, chemical free, etc
• Visit the sponsors and let us know how one of their products could help your green up your act.  Leave a link to the product so we can all check it out.
• Send out a tweet about the giveaway & consider using the #earthtweet hashtag – be sure to include a link to it.
• Use other Social Networking avenues to get the word out about the giveaway and let us know which ones you did.
• Add the giveaway button to your sidebar and let us know you did. Here’s the code:

<a href=”http://eco-officegals.com/2011/04/04/3rd-annual-gmw-earth-day-giveaway-2011/” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://eco-officegals.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/earthday.png” border=”0″ alt=”Green My World”></a>

• Think a product is so awesome on one of our sponsors sites, you can’t wait to win before you buy? Leave 5 separate entries telling us what you bought from who — we will confirm.

Be sure to sign up for Eco-Office Gals RSS by feed or email.  I’ll be continuing to bring you information, tips and events from our sponsors and may just throw in a few extra ways to enter as we go along!

WE HAVE A WINNER!

This is never an easy decision, some of you have been leaving some great tips, sharing wonderful green efforts, and sharing the giveaway with all your might! Sometimes it may be easier to just pick a random winner, but this gives others great ideas and encourages us all to be friendly to the earth.

As in years past one of you has risen above the others, has taken the effort to share your green steps and promote the giveaway just a little bit more.  GreenEcoChick really seems to be making some great green efforts currently and is looking forward to new green changes in her future. She also took the time to share the giveaway consistently. All the way around she shone through the greenest! I hope you enjoy making your world even more greener with these great prizes! Congrats!!

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

3rd Annual GMW Earth Day Giveaway 2011 (closed)

Why not support the gadget craze while doing something good for the environment? You can find endless gadgets online that are environmentally friendly that also do their part to help save on energy! Envirogadget is a great online source for all of your nerdy, green gadget needs. Here are some fun office gadgets to take to work.

Portable 40W Solar Power Station
This is a solar powered work station where you can plug in your computer, phone, lamp and other electrical devices that can be powered by the sun. Note: Positioning the station near a window with an excessive amount of available sunlight is vital to the proper function of this solar power station.

Recycled Circuit Board Photo Frame
Decorate your office with recyclable circuit photo frames made from recycled motherboards that are environmentally friendly to Mother Earth. If you’re technologically savvy, these frames will highlight the “geek” in you while adding to your environmentally friendly side.

The Green Recycled and Recyclable 16-Ounce Mug By Aladdin
Take your coffee to work and recharge your energy all day long with an environmentally friendly and green, recycled coffee mug. This mug is 100% recycled from food grade plastic and helps you help the environment without buying paper and Styrofoam cups everyday.

HiSaver – Energy Saving Powerbar for PCs
If a Solar Power Station isn’t in your budget or your preference for office gadgets, consider buying an energy-saving Powerbar to use at work for you PC. This power strip is connected to a motion sensor and after 10 minutes of no activity, will automatically cut itself and up to 4 attached devices off from using energy.

Eco-cartridge – Recycled Cardbord Ink Cartridge Concept
What makes these ink cartridges eco-friendly is that they are made out of cardboard and therefore, do not need to be shipped in excessive packaging. These cartridges are designed for Epson 79 printers and are made with biodegradable cardboard and packaging products.

Globe – Energy Saving Desk Lamp
Almost everyone has a desk lamp at work or even home. Imagine having one that was is friendly to the environment – now you can. This lamp uses a 13 watt light bulb and can save up to 25% of electricity than a typical desk lamp.

With modern technology, being environmentally friendly can be fun and tech savvy too! Do your part to help Mother Earth – if you’re going to buy office supplies and gadgets, make sure they’re energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education and performs research surrounding online degrees. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

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Environmentally Friendly Gadgets in the Workplace