a peek inside the fishbowl

Bits and bites, for your weekend:

• Yellowberry: meet the teen titan who is taking on the youth bra industry
• How the Kids Do It Now: School
• Fussy babies get more screen time, study finds
• Seven things you can do to shake up a sedentary lifestyle
• The Overprotected Kid
• Where Can I Shop for Clothing? Understanding Bangladesh, Safety and Ethical Sourcing

Awhile back I received an email from Canadian Tire about the goclean waterless car wash, asking me if I wanted to try out a sample. I am often on the lookout for useful/new/cool things for my editor’s faves column in Capital Parent Newspaper, and this seemed like a good candidate. (I’d also seen goclean on Dragon’s Den awhile back and was intrigued!)

I don’t find it very easy to fork over money to go through a car wash, do you? I find it overpriced and more often than not we come out the other side with a sub-par scrubbing. The alternative is a DIY car wash in the driveway. Generally speaking, I don’t really care how dirty the exterior of our car gets. Mostly because I know (a) there’s always a rain shower just around the corner and (b) Mark is more likely to break down and do something about the car sooner than I do.

Why is it a good idea to opt for a waterless car wash? It’s simple really. First, it saves water. Washing the car uses hundreds of litres of water – DRINKING WATER. It’s a little crazy when you think about it, especially given how many people don’t have access to clean water… including people in our own country. Second, going waterless saves harmful chemicals from being flushed into the water system. Did you know that some municipalities have banned driveway car washing for this reason? Storm water does not get treated before it goes into the river. It’s worth noting that the City of Ottawa – although they haven’t gone so far as to ban the practice of home car washes – suggests washing vehicles at a commercial car wash instead.

I think the waterless option is better.

So my package of waterless car wash stuff finally arrived. Inside was a bottle of the waterless car wash, a package of four cleaning cloths, and some simple instructions that I can summarize thusly: spray, wipe, buff.

I asked Mark to help me out with our moderately dirty car. He was skeptical to say the least. Armed with a bottle of the stuff, along with two micro fibre cloths each, we went to work.

It took very little effort on our part. The whole car was done in about 20 minutes and did not require an extraordinary amount of scrubbing action. The instructions didn’t lie. We sprayed a section of the car, wiped the dirt off with one cloth, and buffed with another one. There were no buckets and sponges to lug outside, no need to drag out the hose or get elbow deep in dirty water. (I should mention we did not wash the windows or the tires with this stuff, but everything else got cleaned.)

Mark was quietly impressed with the whole deal. He didn’t think it would work, but it did. I think we’ll invest in their spot remover (ideal for dried bird poop and bug corpses!) and maybe their interior cleaner too. And then I’ll hire my kids to clean the car. ;)

It’s worth noting:

• This stuff is not made of harsh chemicals that are damaging your skin/car/eco-system. It’s plant-based and biodegradable. (You can read more about it on their official website.)
• It didn’t take very much of the spray to wash our car. I suspect we will be able to get at least 5-6 car washes out of one bottle.
• You can find goclean at Canadian Tire for $15.29, and at terra20 for $10. (!) Regardless of where you buy the stuff, it’s cheaper than running the car through a commercial car wash.
• I washed the cloths with the rest of our laundry and hung them on the line to dry. Now we’re ready for next time. That’s all there was to it!

For what it’s worth, the goclean waterless car wash did make the cut and appeared in the May issue of Capital Parent Newspaper, which you can grab at various locations across Ottawa or online right here.

Edited to add: want to try this stuff out for yourself? Enter this giveaway hosted by terra20!

We are a little bit compost crazy here at Casa Fishbowl. We have a city-issued green bin, a backyard composter (it’s big and black with two hinged flaps on top) as well as two big “cages” for leaf compost in the back corner of our lot.

We’ve been using the big green bin all winter for all of our compost (in partnership with our Kitchen Cone, which I still love), but now that it’s warmed up a little I’m starting to divert scraps into our covered backyard bin again. Why am I starting now? (a) The sun is high and warm enough to start melting the frozen interior and (b) because I like the rich and gorgeous soil that I get from it.

Every few days I’ve been adding a bowl full of what I consider to be the “best” scraps to our backyard compost:

• egg shells
• coffee grounds
• orange and banana peels
• carrot tops and peels
• apple cores

Today I also tossed in a couple handfuls of dry leaves in there (it’s important to get the right mix!). It felt really good to do so too. I don’t even consider it to be extra work… this is how much I love Compost Harvest Time. In a week or two so I’ll pour in a bucket of water and give the whole thing a good turn with a pitchfork. Poking holes in it will help speed up the process.

Are you compost crazy like me? You might also be coveting this compost thermometer from Lee Valley. (I am. Seriously.) And related to all this blue bin/black bin/garbage talk, I just noticed that terra20 carries these special brackets to keep the bins off the garage/shed floor. Yay spring!

p.s. speaking of spring, don’t miss the terra20 and Tiggy Winkle’s giveaway going on right now!