Fellowes M-12C Shredder for Spring Gifting #GiftFellowes #IC

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for Fellowes Brands. I received a product sample to facilitate my review as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation. Some links in this post contain affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my link.

The clocks have been set an hour forward; the temperature outside is going to be slightly above freezing for a few days.... it seems that Spring is just around the corner. Or at least I hope it is because I can tell you that this New England lady is really sick of zero temps and snow. With Spring often comes weddings and showers and house warming parties and the Fellowes M-12C Shredder will make a sensible gift for any of those occasions.

Fellowes M-12C Shredder Features: Cross-Cut blades that shreds up to 12 sheets of paper at a time Each sheet is shred into approximately 302 particles SafeSense® Technology automatically disables the shredder when hands touch the paper opening Shreds credit cards, paper clips, staples and junk mail Shreds for 5 minutes before automatic cool down

I've had this shredder for a few months now and it is definitely the best one I have ever owned. (Read my Fellowes M-12C Shredder review). It is powerful enough to shred multiple pages at a time (up to 12), including staples, which makes the shredding process so much faster and less tedious. No longer do I let my shredding pile build when I can quickly zip pages through whenever necessary.

But why would you want to give this as a gift to someone? I know it is not really a fun gift but it is very practical and in my opinion necessary, which overrides fun or cute any day. I certainly would rather have a shredder I will use often over those crystal candlesticks that will just collect dust for the next 25 years. (Seriously, why did I register for those candlesticks? I don't even burn candles.) In this day and age, sadly we can't trust very many people. Identity theft doesn't just happen through online means, but it can be achieved by merely going through one's trash. Using a shredder to destroy any information sensitive documents gives you another layer of protection and I feel it is something many young couples probably overlook.

In addition to all of its capabilities, the Fellowes M-12C Shredder also has built in safety features to keep not only little hands safe but your own as well. When skin makes contact with the silver metal around the paper opening, it immediately stops. I also like to keep mine unplugged when not in use for an added safeguard. So if the couple you're gifting this to has little ones running around, or plans to soon, they know that those tiny fingers are safe. 

Do you have any weddings, showers or housewarming events to attend this Spring? We have one wedding coming up in May that I am looking forward to.

Buy
Fellowes M-12C Shredder is available at Target with a suggested retail price of $99.99


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Protect your Identity with the Fellowes M-12C Shredder #IC #GiftFellowes

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for Fellowes Brands. I received a product sample to facilitate my review as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation. This post contains an affiliate link.

In this day and age where identity theft is a huge issue, one can never be too safe when it comes to their personal information. That's why we really have to be diligent when disposing of paperwork that someone could use to get access to our lives. Tearing up your mail and tossing it in the garbage or recycling bin is no longer a good option. I am a firm believe in "better safe than sorry" so when it comes to papers, receipts, mail, etc. that contain our information on them, they go in the shredder pile.

Now until recently, I had this tiny cheap shredder sitting in my home office to use for this. However, it was so slow which means shredding papers took some time and in turn that meant that I would just let the "to shred pile" grow and grow. Then I received the Followes M-12C Shredder to test out and in all seriousness, it changed this menial task for me.

Fellowes M-12C Shredder Features:

• Cross-Cut blades that shreds up to 12 sheets of paper at a time 
• Each sheet is shred into approximately 302 particles
  SafeSense® Technology automatically disables the shredder when hands touch the paper opening
  Shreds credit cards, paper clips, staples and junk mail
• Shreds for 5 minutes before automatic cool down

As you can see, there is that stack of papers I mentioned earlier. Now if I sat down and used my old shredder to do all of these, it would literally take me several hours. Obviously, I don't have that kind of time to spare which is why said pile grew so tall. However, I was eager to get started with the Fellowes M-12C to see what kind of difference a more powerful shredder could make.

Let me tell you, this is one serious shredder. From start to finish, it took me about an hour to get through my pile and I sat there in amazement as it gobbled up 12 pages at a time and even staples. I absolutely love the fact that it can handle staples. While this shredder can shred up to 12 sheets of paper, I prefer to keep it around eight. Once you start getting up to 10 and 12 it does slow down a little bit.

One of my favorite features of this shredder is the pull out drawer that catches the pieces. This makes it so much easier to dump the shredded paper in a trash bag. There is a little window on the front so you can see it filling up. I recommend letting it fill about 2/3 of the way and then dumping it, if you wait till it is completely full, paper will go everywhere when you open it up.

Now if you have kids in the house like I do, an important feature of this Fellowes M-12C Shredder is the SafeSense Technology. When you are shredding paper, the light next to the SafeSense logo is green. If your hand (or any piece of skin) touches the silver area around the opening to the shredder, the light turns yellow and the shredder stops. Pull your hand away, and it resumes shredding. This will prevent little fingers, or even your own, from getting injured.

While a shredder might now seem like an overly fun gift to give someone this holiday season, it is a useful one. And I don't know about you, but I would prefer to receive something that would actually be useful to me. And this shredder is certainly useful. A shredder like this is something everyone should have in their home to help protect their information and identity. It could make the perfect gift for a young adult just going off on his/her own, new homeowners, newlyweds and even your spouse. Or honestly, its a great gift for anyone who hasn't take this step to protect themselves.

Buy
Fellowes M-12C Shredder is available at Target with a suggested retail price of $99.99

Connect with Fellowes
Website: www.fellowes.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Fellowes
Twitter: @FellowesInc

Spring Cleaning with OxiClean #MC

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting (#MC) for OxiClean. I received three product samples to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

I first discovered OxiClean about nine years ago after my first son was born. Until you have a baby for yourself, you don't realized just how much laundry they create! Messy, messy laundry. My son tended to explode out of his diaper more often than not, and regular detergent was not getting those stains out. So I got myself some OxiClean pretreatment spray and a tub of the OxiClean Versatile powder. My daily routine would be to take whatever stained onesies I had, spray the pretreatment on them, then soak them in a bucket of warm water mixed wit OxiClean. And well, I have been using those two products regularly ever since then.
Over the year OxiClean has continued to expand their product lines from stain removers to now laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent. Recently I was sent three of their new products to test out to get ready for some Spring cleaning!

OxiClean Laundry Detergent
OxiClean Laundry Detergent works deep into fabrics with three powerful stain-fighters and leaves with clean, fresh smelling clothes. The stain-fighters can lift away many complex stains, like grass, oil, grease and red wine and it is available in both liquid form and in detergent paks. Being that we are in the never-ending Winter over here still, grass stains isn't something I have to contend with right now. You know what my biggest stain issue is currently with four boys? Ketchup and pizza sauce and you mom's know that anything with tomato in it can be a chore to get out. Thankfully with the OxiClean Laundry Detergent, I was able to pour some on to the stains as a pretreatment and then wash them in the regular load and had great results. I also make a point to treat any stains immediately and get them in the wash as soon as possible because I always feel like the longer it sits the harder it is to get out.

OxiClean White Revive Laundry Stain Remover
OxiClean White Revive Laundry Stain Remover offers strong whitening just like bleach but without the damaging effects and dangers of chlorine. It removes the most stubborn stains, and keeps whites looking new. This powder can be added to your wash along with your detergent to help revive dingy whites and maintain brilliant whites. When I started using OxiClean Versatile way back when, I also stopped using chlorine bleaches. Chlorine is a known carcinogen (read: causes cancer!) and it is not something I want near my children or to be polluting our waterways. Since then I have never once missed using chlorine bleach on my whites. The new OxiClean White Revive Laundry Stain Remover takes that powder to a new, stronger level. We don't have a lot of whites in my house, just some of the kids socks and a towel or two every week. But if you compare the whites that I wash with the OxiClean White Revive to the whites my husband washes with just detergent, there is a noticeable difference as his whites are pretty much grey. What is also great is that it is color safe, so you can add it to any load of laundry you want. I like adding it to my towel load or a particularly smelly batch of the boys clothes. Since we are taking about Spring cleaning, I also find that his powder works well outside of the laundry room as well. This is the time of the year when I really start noticing stains in out carpet, so I walk around with a bowl of warm water with the powder dissolved in and work on any stains I can find. They usually come out with a few strong swipes with a towel. Be sure to always test on an inconspicuous area before cleaning, just to be safe with the color.

OxiClean 4x Extreme Power Crystals
OxiClean 4X Extreme Power Crystals is a strong dishwasher detergent that breaks up food on dishes, while leaving your dishwasher smelling fresh. The Power Crystals dissolve cloudy film and spots off of your dishware and glassware and lift away stains, even lipstick! OxiClean 4X Extreme Power Crystals are available in two scents: Fresh Clean and Lemon Clean; and comes in either a bottle or time-saving pak. At our home we have well water which also happens to be extremely hard well water. So finding a dishwasher detergent that works well with our water has always been a challenge. I found that the Power Crystals were good on getting caked off food (especially tomato sauce) off of our dishes and left our glasses almost spot-free. Again with hard water, spots are inevitable but I felt like they were really at a minimum. And yes, it does even get off lipstick! I can't tell you how many times I've run and rerun a glass through the dishwasher only to have a lipstick stain still there. (Because heaven forbid I wash it by hand!)

After trying all of these three products I was extremely happy with how they worked and how clean everything was. I do have one complaint that applies across the board to all three though. It has been 6 years since I stopped using scented detergents. There are two reasons for that:

1. I am sensitive to smells and they can trigger headaches so I try to avoid them when I can
2. With my light green lifestyle, I avoid the chemicals that are generally used to create fragrances in detergents and cleaning products.

That being said, the fragrances for these products were very strong. Now for most people that might not bother them so that's fine, but for me it was an instant headache. I would hate for someone to miss out a on good product over something like the scent so I think it would be beneficial to OxiClean to offer an alternative. I mentioned earlier that I have been using the OxiClean Versatile powder for almost a decade now. I was able to manage the fragrance because it wasn't too strong. When OxiClean started making a Free & Clear version I was thrilled and quickly made the switch. So hopefully that is something we will see down the road for these new OxiClean products.

Connect with OxiClean
Website: www.oxiclean.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/OxiClean
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/oxicleanvideos

Do you use OxiClean products in your home? What are some of the most difficult stains it was able to remove for you?

I Have Closet Envy

The closet in our master bedroom is a sad, sad sight. While I am grateful that it is a walk-in closet, it is on the small side. Since my husband and I share it and we both have a decent amount of clothes and shoes, well it looks quite disorderly. OK fine, only my side is disorderly, my husband's side is immaculate, but that's because I need more room. When we first moved into this house nine years ago, the closet had a single shelf up high on both sides with a rod below it. One of our first projects in this house was to redo this closet. It started with a trip to Home Depot to pick up some inexpensive closet organizers. We ended up choosing a white wire system. Though it isn't very pretty, it was in our price range. After deciding on the layout we wanted like where to put shelves and drawer, my handy husband got to work installing it for us.

Image Credit: California Closets

It has held up well over the years and for the most part it has done its job. But every now and then I will be skimming through a magazine and I will come across beautiful custom closets and I immediately start to suffer from closet envy. Some of them are nicer and larger than my bedroom. I would love to have a big, luxurious closet like this some day with wood shelving and drawers like the one pictured above. I especially love the shelves for shoes and handbags! A closet like this is like a woman's dream come true. OK, well mine at least.

What would your dream closet look like?

This post has been brought to you by California Closets.

What a Difference A Deck Can Make

One of the features that we loved about our house when we bought it almost nine years ago was the screened in deck off the back. How nice it was going to be to sit outside without the bugs bothering us! In the beginning we did enjoy it and when our first son was born, he had fun in his baby and water table out there. As our family grew, we realized a lot of inconvenience about our deck. It was on the smaller side and we instantly went from a family of three to a family of five, so all of being out there together did not work out very well. But more importantly is the placement of this deck. Instead of being off the main living areas of the kitchen or family room, it is off of a side room down the hall from the kitchen.

So we decided to build a larger deck directly off of the kitchen. We went to Home Depot to start researching the different options that were available. We looked at pressure treated wood, composite railing and decking and PVC decking. After pricing it all out and weighing the pros and cons, we decided to go with composite. The extra cost was worth it to us since composite does not need to be painted or stained. With the help of friends and family, my husband built a large deck on the back of the house for us. The he took out the bay window in the kitchen and replaced it with a sliding glass door.

Building the new deck was such a smart investment for us. Yes it increases the value of your home, but more importantly it gave us additional space for our family. Now the kids can run and play on the deck with plenty of room while I make their lunch inside. Since the deck is directly off the kitchen, I can see every move they make. And the deck was a life saver for me when my fourth son was  born. Having a six month old baby to care for all day meant there was barely any time for me to go outside in the yard with the older three. They were too young to be outside in the yard without an adult, but they could go on the deck while I stayed on the deck with the little one.

Of course our old deck is all but abandoned now. The room it is off of is the playroom and no one goes out there anymore. I don't think you could get the door opened with all of the toys in there, even if you did want to go out on that deck. But it is a shame for it to go unused. I may clean it up for the summer and make it a little outdoor office so I can watch the boys play from there and not be attacked by insects. Or I could just put a single lounge chair in there and it could be a quiet, shaded, bug-free place for me to read all of my Kindle books. That actually sounds fantastic.

Do you have a deck on your house? Does your family spend a lot of time out there.

Thinking About Making a Laundry Sorter

When you have a large family, laundry can be quite terrifying. I swear dirty laundry breeds and multiples overnight while I am sleeping. Four kids and their pajamas, school clothes and sometimes play clothes sure ads up to a lot. I am trying to come up with a better solution for sorting our mountains of laundry as our current method is  not working. And by "method" what I really mean is no method at all. Our washer and dryer are all the way downstairs in the basement, or as I like to not so lovingly call it, "the dungeon." When the laundry basket up on the top floor is full, it gets brought down two flights of stairs to said dungeon and then dumped onto a pile on the floor. From their I sort it into micro piles for towels, sheets, whites and colors. My colors are then divided into two piles: one for cotton and one for synthetics.

So basically what I end up with is 5 mountains of clothes surrounding my washer and dryer. It looks awful, not that anyone else goes down there, but its also just not very functional. I have been looking online for some laundry sorters, but nothing is big enough and everything is too expensive. For instance this four bin chrome laundry sorter at Target is $92.99. I don't think I could fit even just one day's worth of laundry in here.

So what is a mom to do? I got to thinking that maybe I could build us a laundry sorter out of PVC Pipe. It is relatively inexpensive with pieces starting under $1.00 each and this non-crafty, non-handy lady should be able to design something and snap it together without too much trouble. It might not look all shiny and stylish, but I could make it the dimensions that work best for our large family. And at this stage of life, function outweighs fashion pretty much any day. Plus it would certainly look better than laundry sprawled out all over the place.

So now I am in research mode of my little DIY project. Little did I know that there are multiple types of PVC pipe out there like plumbing PVC pipe, structural PVC pipe, CPVC Pipe and so on. Plus their are different brands like Lasco but I'll probably just go with whatever our local Home Depot carries.

I was able to find some step by step instructions which should help me put together some sort of plan. I need to figure out what materials I will need such as the pipe and fabric and how much everything will cost. I am fairly confident though that this could be an affordable project. Once I can get the numbers together then hubby and I will decide if its worth it to move forward. Chances are I will need his help with some of this and luckily he is extremely handy. I'll let you know if we decide to go ahead with it.

Have you ever built anything with PVC pipe? I'd love any tips!

Tips for Decluttering Your Home

Spring is just around the corner, at least that is what I keep telling myself anyway. So its time to start thinking about Spring cleaning and getting rid of the clutter that seems to take over our homes.  Now I am not an organized person at all. And I have been accused of holding onto way too much stuff. But these past few months we have done a fairly decent job of finally going through our house and ridding it of the dreaded clutter. I can actually sit at my desk and work in my office, which I haven't done in years. Here are a few tips to help you get started on your own Spring cleaning.

Sort

Remember that TLC show Clean Sweep, where organizers come into crazy cluttered homes and have them sort their stuff into piles? Do this for yourself. This is a great first step in getting yourself organized. We pulled our van out of our garage and set up three sections in there: sell/donate, keep and trash. Take a really hard look at the items you think you want to keep. When was the last time you used it? Is it something that you really must have? This was the hardest part for me: letting go of things I thought we could use in the future. But the truth is if you haven't used it in the past five years, you aren't going to use it ever. So get rid of it. If there are items that you must keep but don't have the room to store, you can look into portable storage containers.

Sell
Once you have sorted out what you are not keeping, you can ease some of the pain of getting rid of your stuff by selling it. This is not limited to just tag sales, although those are a great way to earn a few bucks. We had a tag sale last year but it wasn't that much of a success. I am also a huge fan of consignment shops, especially for kids clothes and gear. If you have a Once Upon A Child near you, they will pay you cash for your baby and kids stuff, no need to wait for it to sell. I make trips to our local one regularly as my youngest outgrows things. Also look into online groups on places like Facebook, Yahoo Groups, etc. I actually started a local tag sale group on Facebook for moms in our town and we all post our gently used items we are selling there. It ranges from kids stuff to furniture and it has been great. Whatever you end of not selling you can donate. I like to bring items to the Goodwill store. I also used a local "Mom Swap" group, on Facebook, to pass along our old couches and larger things that I could not get over to Goodwill. 

Organize

Our ClosetMaid
toddler toy storage.

Once you have cleaned out everything you no longer need you then have to organize what you have left. You need to avoid the cycle of it all happening again, which is something I often struggle with. Invest in some inexpensive organizational tools so that everything has its specified place. I happen to love the ClosetMaid storage solutions at Target. We have three units in our house being used for toys and one for the boys shoes, hats, gloves and backpacks. If you have office issues like I do, where the paperwork and mail seems to quickly pile up, develop a system that works good for you. Have a bin for bills that need your attention, papers that need to be filed and so on. At the end of the week, file anything that you need to keep so that the pile doesn't grow.

Decluttering your house really is a daunting task and not one most people look forward to. The above steps are what really worked well for us and hopefully will help you as well. While the process can be long and frustrating, once you have gotten rid of clutter and are surrounded by a neat and organized home, you will be so glad that you took the time to do it. 

Do you have any decluttering or organizing tips that could help us all out? Please share them!

This post has been brought to you buy Zippy Shell who offers affordable, portable storage in Houston.

It Pays To Get Organized

I am not so great when it comes to being organized. To be honest, I flat out stink. Our home office can vouch for that as it is the scariest room in the house. I also like to call it the dumping grounds. Company is coming over? "Quick, throw all the junk from the kitchen island into the office!" Over time all of that junk builds up until you can barely walk into the room. It even starts to injure people when in an attempt to turn on your Wi-Fi network, your mother falls and nearly loses a limb.

There is no question that I want to clean and organize it, but I like to procrastinate. Which is kind of the reason I am even in this situation in the first place. However, I have a big trip coming up soon and I promised my husband that I would get it done before I left. So operation clean up the office has begun.

This is my office this past Sunday. It looks ridiculous right? Well, this is AFTER I spent a few hours for three days working on it. I wish I had taken a true before picture, it was frightening. Sadly, I have to admit that 99% of it is mine. Over to the left just out of the picture is my husband's desk which while not perfect, is in  much better shape than mine.

But wait a second Marianna, you said it PAYS to get organized? Yes I did say that. While cleaning off my desk on Sunday and sifting through papers I came a cross a stack of gift cards: Victoria's Secret, New York & Co. and three for Kohl's. I called to get the balance for each one and it turns out I have $30 to spend at New York & Co and $134 for Kohl's! I could get myself an outfit or two for my upcoming trip! That is very exciting stuff. I never buy myself new clothes - as I type this I am wearing some pretty scruffy looking yoga pants.

So I still have a littl ways to go, but the office is already looking even better then it does in the picture above. Once I can get rid of all the junk and put everything in its place, it will be awesome to finally be able to work at my desk again. I haven't sat at my desk in like two years. I will for sure have to post an after photo.

What room in your house is in some desperate need of organization? Have you ever come across surprise finds like money or gift cards while cleaning up?