Yoreganics Laundry Products {Review & Giveaway} Revisit Simple

{This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to those who entered!}

There are quite a few modern conveniences that I'm not sure I could live without. Indoor plumbing, for example. And electricity. Cars, microwaves, cell phones - where would I be without them? I can barely even remember the days before the internet... and I'm pretty sure I don't want to.

But with all of the advancements our society has made in the past years, are there places where we've gone too far? There are now chemicals in parts of our food and our clothing and our lives that can potentially be harmful to our health as well as the environment. Maybe things were better in some aspects back when they were a little simpler.

However, let's be honest. It's one thing to plant a garden or buy organic food, but it's quite another to think that I'm going to wash my family's laundry in a river with a rock, right? Instead, the company that knows how to keep ourselves, our homes and our clothes fresh and clean while ditching the toxins is none other than one that is based on life being simple and cleaning being natural: Yoreganics.

It's not often that a website of cleaning products can list that their items are USDA certified organic or biodegradable or non-toxic, but that's exactly what Yoreganics does. Whether you're looking to make small or large changes in your lifestyle, there is something for everyone - and even sample sizes so that you can try them out for yourself before committing to a larger purchase. That just goes to show how confident they are that you will love their products as soon as you have used them!

Around here, just like any household with kids, we do a lot of laundry. As I'm always on the lookout for products to make things easier in that department, I was pretty interested in the three that Yoreganics includes in their Laundry Trio. First up, were their natural and organic Soap Nuts.

Not actually a nut, Soap Nuts are dried fruit that fall from the soapberry trees found in Northern India and Nepal. As they get wet and agitated in water, the saponin (a natural cleanser) is released and your clothes are left clean, soft and free of odors without any detergents or fabric softeners. Whether you are washing cloth diapers or delicate fabrics, have allergies, sensitive skin or just want a natural way to safely clean your clothes, Soap Nuts are gentle enough to do it all.

Extremely easy to use, I simply placed the Soap Nuts into their included reusable bag, tied it closed and tossed it in the washing machine along with our dirty clothes. The only hard part was remembering to pull the little bag out when moving the clothes to the dryer!

The results? The Soap Nuts themselves had a slight vinegar smell to them but every article of clothing was completely fresh and clean, no dirt or even a hint of odor. Plus, since the Soap Nuts naturally don't produce a large amount of suds (that's usually an added chemical in our detergent), they were great in my high efficiency washing machine. After a few more washes (they average 4 - 6 loads), they will be 100% biodegradable as well. Good for my family, good for the earth.

Also, for the dirt and stains that really plague our clothes, Yoreganics included the other two items in their Laundry Trio: Stain Remover and Brightens & Whitens.

Using the Stain Remover couldn't have been easier - spray the citrus-scented liquid as soon as possible right on the ink, dirt, grass, chocolate, diaper leaks, spaghetti sauce or many more and let it sit. After a gentle scrub, wash as usual. I loved having this available for the many, many times that Little Sister B dropped her food in her lap or Big Sister E skidded across the grass. No more stains!

To either go along with the Stain Remover or great to use on its own, I thought the Brightens & Whitens was a great alternative to traditional bleach. I tried this product both in a load of laundry (and found it did a great job brightening up some items that had been a little dingy) and as a soak prior to washing. In fact, I put it to the test on an item that really needed to be brightened up: Big Sister E's precious bear, aptly named Bear. Here he is before:

I'm not sure the pictures do justice as to just how mangy Bear truly looked. Or smelled.

After dissolving some of the Brightens & Whitens powder in hot water, I used a cloth to give Bear a good rubdown, in hopes of getting off some of the set-in... love that he has endured. He doesn't usually get this type of pampered treatment, since I don't want him to end up with a layer of bleach or chemicals tangled in his fur. Instead, after a brief time with Brightens & Whitens, he looked like this:

Brighter, whiter, more vibrant and with a much better scent. Yay!

In all, I was really impressed with Yoreganics and how well their laundry products worked. Even better, I was also able to try their USDA certified organic Simplement Lip Balm (I'm a lip balm-aholic) and not only did it smell and taste great, it left my lips tingling and hydrated for much longer than others that I own.

When I saw that all of the ingredients were natural, recognizable and actually listed on the balm itself (after looking at others and finding no ingredients, I'm wondering what I've been rubbing on my lips all these years), the Simplement Lip Balm is a clear winner.

There's no better time than now to see what Yoreganics can do for you! It doesn't matter if you are a veteran of using organic and non-toxic products or if you're just starting out. You'll be making the healthy choice for you, your family and the environment - what more could you ask for? Thanks to the generosity of Yoreganics, one person will get to try all four of the products that I did and experience the naturalness of the days of yore, because...

One lucky person will win a Yoreganics Laundry Trio & Lip Balm Sampler!

To enter to win: Visit Yoreganics and tell me another of their products (not mentioned above) that you would like to try.

Extra Entries (available after the mandatory entry above is completed; please leave a separate comment for each entry in order for them to be counted).

1 Extra Entry (per method) if you follow Yoreganics on Twitter and/or Like them on Facebook. 1 more Extra Entry if you leave this message on their wall: I just entered to win a Yoreganics Laundry Trio & Lip Balm at Thanks, Mail Carrier! http://bit.ly/91rMWA
1 Extra Entry (per giveaway entered) - Enter any (or all) of the giveaways running on Thanks, Mail Carrier for the duration of this giveaway.
1 Extra Entry if you follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway by copying and pasting the tweet below and leaving me the link. Tweet daily for an extra entry every day!

WIN a natural @Yoreganics Laundry Trio (soap nuts, stain remover, whitener) & lip balm! @thxmailcarrier http://bit.ly/91rMWA #win #giveaway

2 Extra Entries (per follow method) if you follow me publicly with Google Friend Connect, subscribe to my RSS feed, subscribe to Thanks, Mail Carrier by email or become a fan on Facebook.
3 Extra Entries if you put my cute button up on your blog. Please leave an address where it can be found.
3 Extra Entries if you blog about this giveaway linking back to Thanks, Mail Carrier and Yoreganics. Please leave an address where it can be found.

Giveaway will end on July 22nd at 11:59pm CST. Do me the favor of leaving an email address or making absolutely sure it is visible in your profile, I have to have a way to contact the winner. The winner will be chosen by random.org and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to contact me or respond to notification or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only.

A big thank you to Yoreganics for providing a Trio & Balm Deal for me to review as well as for one lucky giveaway winner. The opinions shared are my own and honest and if you really need to see more, click here to see how I roll.