Yes, this is a review and giveaway of a very cool product line from a company called Dapple, but I’m going to make you suffer through a story before I get to the actual review.
My first apartment in South Boston contained a small avocado colored dishwasher that was built in the mid-60’s and looked like it was stolen from the servant’s quarters at Graceland. I was 
convinced I’d use it all the time – I convince myself of a lot of things like that – see future posts on: planning to run a marathon, planning to write a book, planning to become a vegetarian, etc.
I owned a few cups and plates when I moved in, mismatched, inherited junk that probably contained lead in its pottery glaze – yeah, real high end stuff -my lips are still purple from using it. To those who know me, it comes as no surprise that my diet during that time consisted mainly of Chinese food, pizza and vodka. That toxin infested dinnerware was mostly used as a platform for General Gao’s Chicken, Beef Teriyaki and more Bloody Maries than I care to recall right now.
Lets get back to that dishwasher. I filled it up with those god-awful plates and 
glasses during my first week in the apartment. Then something (not entirely unexpected happened) – I forgot all about them. I never turned the damn thing on, I don’t think I even knew how. It was probably a week or so before I noticed that my apartment was starting to smell a bit funky. After taking out the trash, the odor was still hanging around; unpleasant, unwelcome – yet refusing to die (kinda like Eddie Murphy’s career). I soon realized the problem was the week-old Chinese food that had now formed a solid, impenetrable crust on the plates. To solve this problem, I did what any self respecting 21 year old would do. I had some beers, took all the plates out of the dishwasher – and made a game out of throwing those dishes off the roof of my building into a dumpster. After that, I started using paper plates. I left the apartment a year later – never did use that dishwasher.
What was the point of that story? Aside from letting you know I don’t care for Eddie Murphy and that I was once cool enough to have an apartment in Southie; that little anecdote sums up my traditional level of responsibility within the realm of housecleaning. I’ll admit it, I was a bit of a total slob. I gave about as much consideration to the appearance of my apartment as Amy Winehouse gives her face. But, that of course was then and this is now.
My attitude toward cleaning changed quite a bit when I became a homeowner. When you realize that a disheveled house actually has an impact on its value, you make damn sure that you don’t have the house in the neighborhood that everyone points at and whispers about – “man, I wish they would get that damn car off the front lawn, its bringing down our property values”. Your attitudes change again once you have a baby. 
Ensuring that your house “looks” clean is no longer enough, aesthetics cease to be the only thing that matters and instead, making sure that you don’t poison your little one is suddenly job #1. It doesn’t matter if the stuff you used to polish your coffee table gives it a nice pine-smell if it means that junior is going to start coughing up blood after eating the nutri-grain bar that had been sitting on it. It’s no fun to realize that by trying to keep your house clean for your kid, you could actually be making them sick.
This is where Dapple products come in. This line of products was created by a few moms who were dissatisfied by the quality of the major consumer-brands of various cleaning supplies. They created a line of products that are safe for cleaning the things most used by your children (bottles, toys, etc). These products are all natural, completely non-toxic and on top of that, they are environmentally safe and completely biodegradable. Yeah, yeah, I know that sounds like a-lot of buzzwords, but they are good buzzwords.
We have enough to worry about as parents, so it helps to know that the mass-market products made by S.C. Johnson, Proctor and Gamble and some of the other major brands aren’t our only option and that safer alternatives exist.
Dapple’s products include a line of dish-cleaning liquids and powders as well as a line of toy-cleaning sprays and wipes. Courtney and I were able to try out the toy-cleaning wipes and they were great. We’re not the type of parents who are hypersensitive about germs, but we’re still vigilant, especially when you consider 
that Courtney and Anna host at least one large play-group here per week. Figure 6-12 kids per group and that’s a lot of snot & germ covered toddler hands touching all of our stuff. Its nice to be able to use the Dapple wipes to clean-up afterward and know that our living room isn’t going to smell like a newly disinfected operating room. The other nice thing is knowing that after you use the product, you aren’t introducing some toxic material to the environment when you throw it out (yeah, yeah, some of my friends who read this and know my record on recycling, are saying, “since when do you care about that”, but I’m coming around, trust me). One other nice thing – one wipe goes a long way. We were able to clean off most of Anna’s toys with a a single wipe, so it is obvious that the company has designed this product to be useful, not just to maximize the number of wipes that you use (who cares if they are biodegradable if you need to use a whole package to clean a room).
These are definitely high-quality products, and the company is focused on making products that are safe for our kids and the environment. They are just the type of company we like to support on this site, so please check them out and let us know what you think.
Dapple Products
The Giveaway
WIN IT! One reader will receive the Dapple Dish Liquid (Travel Size) and the Dapple Toy Cleaner Wipes (Travel Size)!
To enter, check out the post on Courtney’s site. Rules for entry are listed at the end of the post. Good luck!
http://blog.theartofbeingmom.com/?p=293
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