DIY Fly Paper – A Chemical-free Solution

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There is nothing quite like realizing that flies have reproduced somewhere in your home. One day, your kitchen is a quiet and calm place for cooking and the following day it looks like a convention moved in (reservations for 200? Sure, why not?!). After spending two days employing my fly swatter and feeling both disgusted and overwhelmed, I scoured the internet for a better, more passive solution. After all, even using my magical Norwex EnviroCloth and Window Cloth to clean off the dead-but-not-forgetten was getting old after the third time in two days.

The internet delivered, just as I had hoped. DIY Fly Paper is an easy and chemical-free solution to those freeloading flies that won’t cost you much at all! I combined the information I found and attemped the project below with promising results:

Supplies:

  • Paper (I used strips cut from paper bags, but you can use thicker paper like cardstock as well)
  • String or twine
  • Hole Punch
  • 1/4 cup Powdered Sugar
  • 1/4 cup Corn Syrup
  • 2 Tbsp water
  • Wire hanger

Directions:

  1. Cut paper into strips. If using paper lunch bags, cut horizontally so that the two sides stay attached at the folds.
  2. Punch holes for the string and add a loop with string or twine.
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Fly paper strips with string, ready for the sticky coating!

3. Heat the sugar, corn syrup and water in a small saucepan over low heat until sugar is dissolved.

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This mixture is very sticky, especially as it cools.

4. Remove mixture from heat and use a pastry brush or spatula to spread on the strips, holding them upright so that they do not touch the table or counter (this would just get messy, but it is okay if the mixture drips). Make sure to coat both sides.

5. Hang finished strips from a wire hanger over newspaper or other similarly easy-to-clean surface. They will drip quite a bit.

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A simple coat hanger will do the trick.

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You will want something underneath to catch the drips!

6. After 4-6 hours, remove carefully and hang where you need to capture flies. Ta-da!

What are your favorite chemical-free solutions to pest control in your home? Share in the comments!

 

New Products for Fall 2018

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Fall is, hands down, my favorite time of the year! Leaves will be falling in a month or so, apple-picking season begins here in Michigan, and I can almost smell the cool-weather bonfires and pumpkin spiced everything! The other part of autumn that I LOVE is the release of the new Norwex 2018 Fall Catalog and new products.

fall catalog

This year, Norwex gave several of our top selling products a Nordic Naturals makeover, in colors that certainly will complement any modern decor. Check out the updates made to your favorite products below:

EnviroCloth: The Norwex EnviroCloth is now available in five colors: Blue, Graphite, Green, NEW Champagne and NEW Rose Quartz. This is the same EnviroCloth we all love, just updated with two new color options!EnviroCloth-Colors-2018

Travel Pack: The changes made the EnviroCloth also affect the popular Travel Pack. It now contains all five EnviroCloth colors!new-travel-cloths

Reusable Wet Wipes Bag: This handy bag for carrying cloths on-the-go now comes in two new designs: Diamond and Floral.wet wipes bags

Window Cloth: In addition to the popular purple color, you can now order a Window Cloth in Pink Opal.norwex window cloths

Dusting Mitt: This was a special a few months back. Now the Graphite Dusting Mitt is available in the catalog, along with Blue and Green.

Superior Mop System: The Green/Blue Mop is still available, but have you seen this gorgeous Gold / Rose Gold / Silver version? WOW. Now our mop truly looks like the Cadillac of all mops.

Reusable Napkins: In addition to our Slate and Peacock colors, we now have the napkins in a Leaf Pattern (it also has a smoother texture).

Optic Scarf: Where would I be as a glasses-wearer without one of these? Joining our previous patterns of Butterfly, Bird, Multi, Dots, & Camo are NEW Ikat and NEW Marble.

Reusable Grocery Bag w/ BacLock: We now have two more designs to add to the Green: Retro and Rings.

There are a few more items in the works for an October release, including toddler feeding bibs and a new Microfiber Deep Cleaning Powder. We have also reformulated Ultra Power Plus (now called Norwex Laundry Detergent), Liquid Laundry Detergent, Descaler, Bathroom Cleaner (formerly Blue Diamond), Dishwashing Liquid, Oven & Grill Cleaner and Stain Remover. The products with these snazzy new labels are now being formulated and manufactured in the United States near Dallas, Texas!

Which products are you most excited to see?

 

Bleach Wipes on the School Supply List?

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In recent years, the discovered toxicity of bleach/disinfectant wipes has led many school districts to forego the usual request on back to school supply lists. Unfortunately, you may still see them on your child’s supply list, making you wonder if they are truly necessary.

If you have never looked at the back of a tub of disinfectant wipes carefully, you might not know that they specifically state to keep out of reach of children. They also state to wash your hands after using them and that you must allow a surface to stay visibly wet for 7-10 minutes in order for them to disinfect. Lastly, all of the tubs of standard disinfectant wipes that I have seen also state to wipe the disinfected surface with a damp cloth afterward if the surface will come in contact with food (or your child’s hands, which will inevitably touch food or their mouths, right?). Our skin is our largest organ–it makes sense that in most cases we shouldn’t put anything on it that we wouldn’t put in our mouths.

new-travel-cloths

As parents, we have the ability to vote for change in our schools with our actions and our dollars. Instead of purchasing disposable wipes that pose risk to our children, we can bring alternatives like the Norwex EnviroCloth or EnviroCloth Travel Pack. Norwex microfiber removes up to 99% of bacteria from a surface without the use of potentially harmful chemicals. In fact, instead of going to the sink to wash your hands after using a disinfecting wipe, wetting a Norwex cloth will take about the same time. Also, our cloths come with a two-year warranty, meaning that your child can use the same cloth for at least two years (and likely much longer)!

Want to purchase a set of EnviroCloths or a travel pack for your child’s classroom? You can place your order on my Norwex website HERE.

Want to create a campaign to get these reusable, incredible cloths in children’s hands at the school level? Contact me and I will set up an easy ordering system and information for distribution.

How Do I Get Guests to Come to My Norwex Presentation?

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It pains me to write this, but there are still a LOT of people who have never heard about Norwex. In fact, even though Norwex products are being used in one out of every six homes in Canada, the current usage in the United States is below 1%! On one hand, this is great for YOU, the hostess! You can be the first to introduce these life-changing products to your friends and family while earning items from your wish list for free. However, sometimes my hosts send out invites and receive confused responses from potential guests who are not familiar with Norwex. This post is for you!

Below, I have listed some of my favorite tips for getting your guests to want to attend your Norwex presentation.

host a party

Schedule a Presentation with Your Friends and Family Today!

 

First of all, give your guests a reason (or two or three) to attend.

Why should your guests attend a Norwex presentation? Three reasons:

  1. Norwex saves your guests TIME. Our products make it possible to clean your home in less than half the time!
  2. Norwex saves MONEY. Our microfiber cloths come with a two-year warranty and replace expensive disposable products like paper towel, cleaning solutions, wet & dry sweeping mop pads and disinfecting wipes. Your guests are already buying these items, so buying Norwex products is actually just replacing items that are already on their shopping lists!
  3. Norwex saves you from EXPOSURE TO POTENTIALLY HARMFUL CHEMICALS. I can’t tell you all the ways that conventional cleaning chemicals can be harmful to your health (and neither can the manufacturers of these products, as the majority have never been tasted for long-term effects on human health), but I assure you that nothing is safer than water for cleaning!

Send out your invites two weeks before your party, if possible.

If you send out your invites too early, you are bound to receive a lot of cancellations from guests who committed early, but ended up making other plans. At the two week mark, MOST of your friends will know what they are doing the week of the party and can respond more accurately. If you are sending out paper invites, I recommend three weeks so that the guests will have a two week heads up.

Unable to get your invites out this early due to a last minute presentation booking? No problem! Short notice parties are often some of the most successful–everyone know what they are doing this week! You are less likely to have cancellations when your guests are only looking one week out in their planner. Ultimately, you know your friends and family and what they typically prefer (just don’t try to get them to commit a month out!).

Utilize multiple forms of invitation.

Send a Facebook event invite, text message, email, snail mail, call or instant message. Try a combination. You don’t need to send all of these to each guest (please don’t!), but don’t invite only one way and expect every guest to respond. Some of your guests will respond best to a personal call or text, while others are on Facebook daily and respond quickly to an event invite. Go ahead and invite in more than one format. The second invite might be the reminder that some of your guests will need to R.S.V.P.!

Weekday parties are awesome.

I work my Norwex business during the week and during the weekend, but most people have weekend plans (like sports events, date nights, trips and family obligations) planned in advance. If it seems like most of your friends are busy on the weekends, schedule your party for a Tuesday or Thursday! Your guests are more likely to attend, to arrive on time, be controlled with their discussions and leave at a reasonable hour. Thursdays are top party nights for me during the week.

Provide food.

Please do not scour Pinterest for days to create a spread worthy of a magazine cover. Too much food and your guests will either focus on the food (rather the presentation), or much of the food (and your efforts) will go to waste. Keep it simple with cheese and crackers, fruit or vegetables and a light dessert. Feel free to take a photo of this dessert and post it to your Facebook event page the day of the party with a shameless reminder that you are looking forward to seeing your guests that night.

Lastly: Pre-orders, Catalog Parties and Facebook Events.

You can offset an under-attended party by collecting outside orders. Actually, ALL hosts should try to collect a few pre-orders by bringing a catalog to their workplace, church or child’s preschool. Have a guest who is interested in coming but has a conflict? Offer to give them the catalog to review and ask if they might be interested in hosting their own presentation.

If all else fails–or if the majority of your guests are out-of-state–consider hosting a Norwex Facebook Party. I do these all of the time and they usually have a decent response. I keep them to 1-1.5 hours on a weeknight. You can also supplement a Facebook event with catalog and pre-party orders to ensure that you hit the monthly hostess reward level that you are trying to earn!

Ready to host a presentation?

Click HERE to let me know that you are ready to host an online or home presentation. Then let’s pick a date and start inviting your guests!

For a list of other informative posts on this site, click HERE.

Caring for Your Cloths + Q & A

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As a consultant, I often meet folks who are confused about how to care for their Norwex microfiber cloths. Sometimes they ordered them without attending a party and didn’t get the proper care and use instructions. Sometimes, their consultant didn’t explain it clearly (I was guilty of this as a new consultant). Other times, they simply “have slept” since the party and have forgotten.

If you are unsure of how to care for your cloths in the best possible way, this post is for you!

Caring for Your Microfiber

Caring for Norwex microfiber is simple and EASY. Simply remember 1, 2, 3!

  1. Use ONE drop of dish soap (or our Dishwashing Liquid) once per day or after use. Rub the fibers together under hot running water until the water runs clear. Then hang the cloth to dry.
  2. Every TWO weeks, launder and dry your microfiber in the washer/dryer.
  3. When washing, avoid these THREE things: bleach, fabric softener or dryer sheets, and linty loads. You can wash your microfiber in a load by itself, or toss into a load of jeans or sheets. NEVER towels.

Care for Your Cloths

 

Caring for Your Cloths Q&A:

Q: My cloths are stained and don’t have the vibrant colors that they had when I bought them. What can I do to fix that?

A: It is important to remember that a stained cloth is just as effective at cleaning as a brand new cloth. However, if your stains are unsightly and you want to improve the cloth’s appearance, I recommend boiling a pot of water, removing the pot from the burner, adding a little bit of our Ultra Power Plus Laundry Detergent and then soaking your cloths anywhere from 2-12 hours (overnight is best!). You can “deep clean” your cloths this way every 3-4 months, as needed.

Q: How can I prevent my cloths from getting stained?

A: I strongly recommend using a drop of dish soap (or Dishwashing Liquid) on your cloths at least once per day. This will remove most stains before they set and will prevent the build up of grime and dirt than can cause your cloth to stink after a couple of uses.

Q: My cloth feels stiff and crunchy. Machine washing the cloth is not helping! What do I do?

A. Regular maintenance of your cloths will keep this from happening very often. However, if you find that your cloths are stiff, there is probably a build up of minerals on them. To break down this build up, simply soak them in white vinegar OR add white vinegar to your deep cleaning soak.

Q. After removing my cloths from the dryer, they are no longer absorbent. What do I do?

A. Be patient. Drying your cloths in the dryer will cause the fibers to get really tight. To increase the absorbency, simply hold the cloth under warm water and rub the cloth against itself. Then it will be ready to use!

Q: I thought that the whole point of Norwex microfiber was that we don’t have to use soap. Why would I need to clean my cloths with soap?

A: It is important to note that Norwex microfiber cloths are so dense and have such a tight weave that they have the ability to remove up to 99% of bacteria from surfaces using only water (when following the proper care and use instructions). However, water alone is NOT enough to get all of the grime OUT of the cloths once it has been picked up. To effectively pull the dirt and residue out of the cloths, you MUST take care of them between uses and wash them twice per month in the washing machine.

 

 

Norwex for the Holidays

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One of the common objections I hear this time of year is that “No one will want to come to a cleaning party because these aren’t really gift items.” I completely understand that train of thought, but it is flawed. Here are three reasons to consider Norwex at the holidays:

  1. If you celebrate the holiday season in your home with family and friends, you will want your house to be a CLEAN and inviting environment. All of my childhood holiday memories include a furious cleaning day / morning before the guests would arrive to our home. Floors had to be mopped and bathrooms cleaned. The front room had to be dusted (this was my job as a child for a time) and the kitchen had to be prepped to handle a lot of cooking. What if it would take your guests about half the time to prep their homes with Norwex? Spoiler alert: it would. No more stinky chemicals to cover up with copious amounts of holiday-scented candles either.
  2. When I am asked what I most want to receive for Christmas, the first thought that runs through my head is, “How about a bill payment or another hour in the day?” If you are like me, the most important things to me right now are intangible. Many of us never seem to accumulate enough time or enough money to do what we would like to do. When you gift someone Norwex, you are giving them both. They will save money on cleaning supplies and laundering (big bucks!) and will also be able to clean more quickly and effectively. Seriously. Give it a shot and make someone’s life better for the new year!
  3. Norwex carries something for everyone. My party sales in November and early December are the highest average of the entire year. Need something for the men in your life? Consider our Car Wash Mitt and Car Cloth made with the most advanced microfiber technology in the world. Don’t know what to purchase for your sister-in-law? Consider our vegan and toxin-free Olive Oil Salt Scrub and Organic Shea Butter with Avocado Oil. Teachers love our Travel EnviroCloths and Natural Hand Cleaner. There is a fantastic flyer below that outlines some amazing product combinations at all different price points.
holiday_giftables_flyer_us_final

The possibilities are endless!

There is still time to host a party in November or early December, but my calendar is filling up fast! Want to earn some extremely generous host rewards but don’t have time to host? Consider a catalog or online party. You can earn your wishlist for free while you share the gift of Norwex with others in your life. To see the November Host Rewards, click below.

November Host Specials

Ready to host a party? Contact me. You can also check out our brand new products for Fall 2016 by clicking on each product name below. Let’s make this holiday season the most meaningful gift exchange yet! My best sellers are marked with as asterisk.

Personal Care:

Body Scrub Mitt*

Cooling Mint Toothpaste

Kids Strawberry Toothpaste*

Natural Deodorant Stick

For the Family:

3-in-1 Car Mitt*

Kids Pet to Dry Brown Bear

Kids Pet to Dry Grey Kitten*

Optic Scarf – Camouflage

Pet Towel

Pet Mitt*

For the Home:

Biodegradable Cutting Board

Chenille Hand Towel*

ErgoBend

Essential Oil Soothing Blend

Essential Oil Purifying Blend

Essential Oil Energizing Blend

Wrinkle Release Spray*

Norwex Superior Mop Systems

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I have said it before and I will say (write) it again: the Norwex Large Superior Mop is a game-changer when it comes to getting and keeping floors clean. Despite the fact that I have only one living space in my home without carpet, I find myself reaching for my mop several times per week at parties and to show friends at my children’s playdates.

These aren’t even all the reasons!
Side by side comparison. Leading mop on left. Norwex mop on right.

Top 10 Ways the Superior Mop System is Different from Other Mops:

  1. The Superior Mop System can remove up to 99% of bacteria from your floors using only WATER. Simply sweep with the dry mop pad to pick up pet hair, dust and crumbs. Then follow with a damp wet mop pad to remove any stuck-on grime that is left behind.
  2. The lack of chemical floor cleaner keeps floors from becoming sticky with build-up or attracting dust. Floors stay cleaner longer when there isn’t a chemical product on them to attract more grime.
  3. Our mops work on ALL floor types. Yes, this includes linoleum, hardwood, ceramic tile, porcelain tile and more. Just not carpet. When you had your hardwood floors installed, you were probably told not to use water on them. This is because having STANDING water on them could damage them. However, the Norwex mop does not allow for any standing water to remain on the floor (I find the floors dry in 15-30 seconds) and you don’t have to worry about damaging the floor with chemicals.
  4. Our wet mop pad contains microsilver. Norwex BacLock technology makes it possible for your mop pad to self-sanitize after use. Simply rinse in hot water after using, rubbing the fibers together to encourage them to release any trapped dirt. You can use a drop of dishwashing liquid if your pad is particularly dirty. Then once the water runs clear, simply hang the pad to dry and the silver will go to work to prevent odor from mold, mildew and bacteria. You can use the pad several times before washing in the machine–usually 2-3 weeks.
  5. Our mop (including the Telescopic Mop Handle) has a 2-year warranty. This is twice the warranty that comes with the leading mop on the market –and at least 10x the mopping power!
  6. Norwex Superior Mops SAVE MONEY. There are no refills or filters to buy ever.
  7. Our Telescopic Mop Handle is adjustable to height. This means that everyone from short to tall (including children) can use this mop. You won’t aggravate your back due to improper height.
  8. The mop locks at the base to allow you to tackle walls and ceilings. The mildew that my husband removed from our bathroom ceiling with the wet mop pad has not returned in almost 12 months. Removing everything from the surface actually keeps a lot of pesky bacteria from repopulating and returning only weeks later.
  9. Optional mop brackets allow you to attach a Window Cloth to clean skylights and high windows in your home.
  10. You can earn a mop system FREE by hosting a party in August* or by joining my team. Parties can take place at your home, in a coffee shop, at your workplace (if allowed), or even on Facebook. If you decide to join my growing Norwex team, you receive a Large Superior Mop system in your free** starter kit. Click on the links below for more information.

Host a Party in August

Join My Team!

*requires $550 in sales, 1 booking and 3 buying guests. The average Norwex party is $580 in sales. For a complete list of August Host Rewards, go to August Host & Customer Specials.
**The starter kit is free with a $9.99 shipping and handling charge. For more details on the starter kit, go to Join My Team.

Why Norwex? Save TIME.

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I remember when I worked my first “Real Job” out of college, a coworker made an off-hand comment about how much time I must have had on my hands due to not having any children. I felt almost insulted by his insinuation that I must spend all of my free time doing whatever I pleased, when he was well-aware that I was putting in over fifty hours a week at the office. Little did I understand that the mourning I saw in his face was for a loss of personal time in his own life after the arrival of his three children. It really had nothing to do with me, but he was reminiscing the time that he had been able to spend on his wife and their shared hobbies in his pre-fatherhood years.

Flash forward five years later and I was far removed from my desk job with the long hours. Instead of working while eating my lunch at my desk, some days I didn’t even remember to eat. My position had shifted to a Jill-of-All-Trades (and master of none) roll, responsible for entertaining the children (a 2-year-old and a newborn), keeping them alive, and figuring out something to feed everyone at the end of the day. I had a part time job as a marketing manager for an IT company, but I felt like I could barely keep on top of what I needed to complete each week. Cleaning the home probably was in my job description, but many days I struggled just to get out of my pajamas, let alone out of the house with two small kids. Most of the time I just felt overwhelmed. How could being a mother be so wonderful and yet so terrible from day-to-day?

This was pretty much my life at the time that I attended my first Norwex party. I was easily sold on the idea of using water to clean, as it would save us money. It also seemed like a great idea to stop buying chemical cleaning products and using them around our small children. Time, however, was a harder concept for me to measure. At that point in my life, I just had so little to give–even to cleaning my house past the bare minimum.

When I returned from that Norwex party with my first EnviroCloth, my life was forever altered. I didn’t realize it while I was frantically running from room to room to erase the fingerprints from our walls (Try it.Your light switches will never be the same), but Norwex had managed to accomplish a major feat in my home: Norwex had added about 30 minutes to my day, every day. Cleaning had just become so much simpler!

At a recent facebook party, I posted the following graphic of a multitasking woman. So many times in early motherhood, I felt just like this. This graphic was me–only with the added hairbrush and nicer clothing because she obviously hasn’t given up on her life yet. One of the guests asked me how Norwex could actually save us time, since we still have to clean the same items in our homes (the kitchen counter still gets covered in crumbs, right?). I paused and thought out my answer before responding with the following example:

Save Time with Norwex

Norwex saves us time by reducing the number of products that we need to buy, store, and utilize to clean our homes. Before Norwex, I probably owned at least 5 different chemical cleaners for tackling my bathroom. I owned one spray for the shower (at least), one for the floor, one for the counter and sink, one for the mirror, and yet another to clean the toilet and the bathtub. The majority of those cleaning jobs were completed with paper towel. This means that just to clean the bathroom alone required sheet after sheet of paper towel (which wears down, rips, etc during use and gets tossed into the garbage). Between each cleaning task was another spray and another sheet. After a few minutes, the exhaust fan would go to work to try to suck out the  mixed chemical smell from all of the products.

The EnviroCloth alone can remove up to 99% of bacteria from a surface when following the proper care and use instructions. This one cloth–which does not cross-contaminate–can be used to wipe down counters and sinks, toilets, showers and more. The cloth works with water alone and doesn’t require frequent breaks from gas inhalation. The best part, in my opinion, is that I can now clean my entire bathroom in at least half the time that I did prior to using Norwex and my bathroom is actually cleaner. Re-read that line again. My bathroom is actually cleaner! Norwex microfiber does such an incredible job of leaving surfaces clean that there is NO residue left behind to attract dust and dirt.

Norwex can save anyone time, regardless of their parenthood status. However, I do have a special understanding for moms out there who feel like the woman in the above graphic. If this is you, do yourself a favor and start to replace your chemical cleaners with Norwex microfiber. Our Household Package (EnviroCloth, Window Cloth and Dusting Mitt) can be used to clean 80-90% of your home with only water. Once you try these products, you will wonder why you didn’t add 30 minutes to your day sooner!

June Host Specials

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Thinking of getting a few friends together and hosting a Norwex presentation in June? Take a look at all of the amazing items you can earn from your Wish List for FREE!

June Hostess Rewards

Norwex’s 4-Star Hosting Program earns you rewards in four ways:

1 Star:

Earn FREE shipping/handling with 3+ buying guests!

Earn FREE Products with 5+ buying guests!

2 Star:

Receive 8-12% of Your Party Sales in FREE Product!

3 Star:

Earn a Free Window Cloth for the first party booked from your party!

Earn a Reusable Grocery Tote with BacLock for the second party booked from your party!

4 Star:

Earn 1 of 4 Monthly Host Specials when you have a minimum of 3 buying guest, 1 booking and $350 in sales!

Ready to book a presentation in June? Contact me HERE.