Once we learn something is important, it is impossible to keep it to ourselves!
Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”.
Teaching and educating is my passion! My desire is to stir a ‘proactive spirit’ in people regarding their choices and the danger of harmful chemicals. Many people are not aware that what they are currently using is harmful to our environment.
University of Bergen Study
The University of Bergen in Norway recently performed a study of 6000 people over a 20 year period, who had regular exposure to cleaning products. It was found that their lung function had been significantly affected as much as a person who had smoked a pack-a-day for 20 years as well as put them at a 40% higher risk of developing asthma.
The study revealed was that “the small particles from the spray [cleaners] can remain in the air for hours after cleaning. The small particles can travel deep into the lungs and cause infections and ageing of the lungs” Dr. Svanes explains. Dr. Svanes, the main author of the study, recommends “You [do] not need a lot of chemicals after all, when cleaning. Microfiber cloths may be just as effective.”
Norwex performed chamber tests to compare the number of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs or small particles) released by chemical spray cleaners and paper towel vs. Norwex Microfiber cloths and water. The results were AMAZING!!! Traditional chemical cleaners released 800 times the VOCs than Norwex products! There is no need for dusting sprays, room deodorizers, artificial fragrances, floor cleaners, all-purpose cleaning sprays… when you have a Norwex EnviroCloth and water!
Problem: Paper Towel
Let me share some information about the truth about paper towel consumption in North America… and how Norwex provides a solution.
On average, a person uses and disposes of 2,400 – 3,000 paper towels every year.
Paper towels are used in 90% of households.
The average family of 4 uses about 26 rolls of paper towels a year. That’s an annual expense of approximately $91 for a single-use, throwaway item that is clogging our landfills!
Paper towel creates 13 billion pounds of waste every year! That works out to a whopping 3,000 tons of waste daily… comparable to the weight of 1650 economy cars!!!
Most are made from virgin tree fibre and used only once.
One paper towel is often not enough for many jobs, and some brands are even bleached with harmful chlorinated compounds—not good for your family or the environment.
Residential dwellings are the largest contributor to pollution, not industrial.
Long-term exposure to many of the cleaning products you use in your home every day has cancer-causing potential.
What does it take to produce just 1 ton of paper towels? Approximately, 17 trees and 20,000 gallons of water!
In North America, we have a huge paper towel habit. 3,000 tons of paper towel waste is produced every day and accounts for the consumption of approximately 51,000 trees and 60 million gallons of water!
Paper towels, even when made of recycled materials still produce an environmental impact. The recycling process still uses water, energy and chemicals.
If everyone cut back by one sheet of paper towel per day, it would save North America 571,230,000 pounds of paper towel waste, every year. Now imagine, if, one-by-one, households began to eliminate paper towel waste altogether…what kind of impact would we see then?
Solution: 4 Norwex Cloths
Norwex is a company that provides solutions for problems like paper towel. Let me highlight a few different eco-friendly Norwex products you could use to replace your paper towel.
EnviroCloth
The EnviroCloth is Norwex’s flagship product!!! The microfiber cloth has the ability to remove 99% of bacteria from a surface when following the proper care and use instructions. It contains Norwex’s exclusive Baclock™ agent – micro silver antibacterial agent – goes to self-purify and inhibits odours from bacteria, mold and mildew growth within the cloth within 24 hours so that it is ready to use again. The microfibers in the EnviroCloth are 1/200th the size of a human hair and if unravelled, have a maximum length of more than 3 million meters (10 million feet). The splitting process that happens during manufacturing creates open spaces in the fibres and enables the cloth to lift away dust and dirt and absorb serval times its own weight in water. And it only needs water to clean; no cleaner, chemicals or sprays required.
Doesn’t that sound better than a disposable paper towel??
Window Cloths
Window Cloths are designed to be used with the EnviroCloth. Once you have cleaned a surface with an EnviroCloth, use a Window Cloth to polish it to a streak-free shine. No paper towel or window spray required. If you love clean windows, but hate how long it takes, the EnviroCloth and Window Cloth will take 50% less time to clean and leave you with better results. The Window Cloth or ‘polishing cloth’ is constructed of tightly woven Norwex microfiber with the self-purifying Baclock™ agent, is lint-free, traps dust and grime in the cloth so your surface is cleaner, only needs water so there is no “chemical muck” left behind. This cloth will change your cleaning regime.
Counter Cloths
Norwex introduced Counter Cloths as a great alternative to paper towel. They are the same size as a half-sheet paper towel, come in beautiful colours, are made from 50% recycled materials, have a super-absorbent unique new weave for quick spill clean up. These beauties are perfect for your kitchen and bathroom. They even have Norwex’s self-purifying Baclock™ agent in the cloth. Seriously, with these handy little cloths, you won’t ever grab for a paper towel again!
Napkins
For anyone who loves to use a half-sized paper towel as their dinner napkin, Norwex has an alternative for you too. On average, a family of 4 uses more than 3000 paper napkins/paper towels a year. The Napkins are made from 50% recycled materials (5 plastic bottles per set of 4) and are lovely. They come in either charcoal or peacock blue, the microfiber also has Baclock™ agent so you can use them more than once before laundering, they are quick-drying and very absorbent, plus they make your dinner table look pretty. Saving trees and dressing up dinner all at the same time… not bad.
So, what can you do?
Let me give you a challenge! Next time you start a new roll of paper towel, take a pen and write in the date inside of the roll. First, try if you can go 4 months with one roll, then 6… then try if your family can stretch one roll of paper towel to last an entire year! You can do it! Other customers have done it, I know you can do it too. Imagine with me the impact that would be realized by simply changing the way we use paper towel.
Become an Educator
Since I started my Norwex journey in 2006, thousands of Consultants have been working with me to spread the word about these amazing products. I believe Nelson Mandela’s statement about the power of education… which means, we have a lot more educating to do! Every grocery and department store has at least one aisle stocked with toxic cleaning chemicals. Only 2% of North American homes use Norwex products… we have a lot of people to educate! Join my team, become an educator and help Norwex make a difference.
Are you going to take the paper towel challenge? Leave a comment about how it went. Was it easier or harder than you thought?
Delores VandenBoogaard is an Independent Norwex Sales Consultant from Edmonton, Alberta Canada with customers and consultants throughout Canada and the United States including; New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, North West Territories and Ontario. She also has customers and team members in; Michigan, Texas, California, Massachusetts, Florida, Arizona, Missouri, Colorado, North Carolina, South Carolina, Idaho, Washington, New Hampshire, Iowa and Maine.
Join Norwex in the fight against Breast Cancer by Cleaning for a Cause!
In five short years, the Norwex Foundation has donated over a million dollars, to consultant nominated charities, impacting local communities. This month the Norwex Foundation for a Brighter Future is donating $1 for every qualifying party to help fight breast cancer. One dollar sure adds up across North America… Norwex has a goal to raise $40,000 for cancer research. The success of this fundraiser depends on amazing hosts, like you, to help reach their goal. Isn’t that is awesome?
When you get involved with Norwex, either by hosting, or attending a party, or being a Consultant, you can be sure that you are part of something great. This fundraiser is just one way that Norwex gives back to our world. And I haven’t even started to talk about the host rewards… keep reading to find out what is available this month.
“We are striving to create a legacy to achieve a better quality of life for present and future generations.”
—Bjørn Nicolaisen, Norwex Founder and Chairman
Host Rewards
I love my hosts. It is such an honour to be invited to educate people and guests about the importance of reducing the chemicals and simple ways to do that with Norwex. Norwex has an amazing host rewards program that is based on: total guest sales, # of buying guests, # of new bookings. This month there are 5 different rewards that add up to a lot of FREE product and a great addition to your Norwex collection. This month has a lot of beautiful limited-edition products for you to earn and a lot of other great products to stock your home!
Invite Everyone You know Who Cleans (that’s everyone)! This STAR rewards you for each buying guest. I always encourage my hosts to invite everyone they know. It is true… everyone cleans with something! I love having the opportunity to teach people how to clean their homes without using chemicals… with simple-to-use, nontoxic, time-saving Norwex methods. You invite your people and I will bring a fun, informative presentation.
This STAR is like a Norwex Wishlist. Maybe there is something you have always wanted to try… like Norwex’s versatile Cleaning Paste or the luxurious Body Cloths? Write them down and earn them for FREE! As a Host, you will receive a percentage of the total sales (8% to 12%) in “FREE HOST DOLLARS” to choose what you want.
This STAR is simple. For each new booking, you will receive a FREE Window Cloth. They are perfect for polishing windows, mirrors, marble/quartz countertops to a streak-free shine. You will love having a spare FREE cloth.
This STAR is designed to give you a taste of what Norwex products are all about. As your party sells more, you earn more FREE product. As I mentioned above, this month’s rewards include lots of ‘limited edition’ products. If you love trying ‘new stuff’ you will love these products.
Let me highlight a few products…
Lilac EnviroCloth with Baclock™
The EnviroCloth is the first amazing product that started Norwex.It is constructed of 3 million meters of microfibers that are 1/200th the size of a human hair. As if that is not enough cleaning power, the cloth as an exclusive Baclock agent that goes to work to self-purify the cloth. The size of the microfiber and the Baclock agent is what sets Norwex cloths apart from the rest of microfiber cloths. Did you know? To be advertised as microfiber, the fibers only need to be 1/6th the width of a human hair.That doesn’t even come close to Norwex. The limited-edition part… is the pretty lilac colour.Who doesn’t love lilac?
Grey Chevron Body Cloth, Hand Towel & Bath Towel with Baclock™
These grey chevron style beauties are a limited-edition and they are just as luxuriously soft, ridiculously absorbent, non-smelly because of self-purifying properties and quick-drying as Norwex’s traditional towels. One thing to note is that they are noticeably thicker than the regular Norwex towels. Also, the grey chevron is a fun pattern to add a little interest to your bathroom decor.You will love the whole set.From washing your face and body with the body cloth, to drying your hands with a continuously clean towel, to drying off after the shower in a fluffy towel.These towels not only feel good, they self-purify so they don’t need to be laundered as often… and that is good on time and on the environment.
Spa Stone Grey Chenille Bath Mat
This bath mat is the most absorb mat around. Norwex constructed it out of extra absorbent, extra soft chenille microfibers. The chenille microfibers are so soft and absorbent because the nubby-shaped microfiber that creates a lot of surface area that is soft to stand on and has lots of ability to absorb water. Two things you definitely want in a bath mat!
Laundry Detergent
This Laundry Detergent isn’t a limited-edition (although the packaging just had a face lift), but it is a Norwex staple! It will change how you do laundry… because it has no fillers, no brighteners, no fragrances, no chemicals, you only have to use 1 scoop for a large load (HE) and it does a fantastic job! It also means that the clothes that cover the largest organ of your body are now free of harmful chemicals and irritants. Doesn’t that sound good?
Exclusive Host Reward! This makes the host rewards ‘5-STARS’… seriously. When your party has $800 in Subtotal A Sales, 3 Buying Guests and 1 New Booking, you will receive $64.96 in FREE Norwex Products. They include: A Limited-Edition Fuchsia Textured Kitchen Towel & Cloth as well as a Steel Grey EnviroCloth. Doesn’t get better than Fuchsia!
Host a Party, Earn Host Rewards & Fight Cancer at the same time
When you add up all 4 STARS, the host rewards are amazing.To top it off, by hosting a party, you will be part of the fight against Breast Cancer by helping to raise $40,000. In fact, if you think about it, by introducing your friends and family to Norwex, you will also be fighting cancer by learning how to avoid/reduce using harmful chemicals in your house cleaning and body care regime. Make your guest list and your wish list and then host a party this month.
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Delores VandenBoogaard is an Independent Norwex Sales Consultant from Edmonton, Alberta Canada with customers and consultants throughout Canada and the United States including; New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, North West Territories and Ontario. She also has customers and team members in; Michigan, Texas, California, Massachusetts, Florida, Arizona, Missouri, Colorado, North Carolina, South Carolina, Idaho, Washington, New Hampshire, Iowa and Maine.
Camping is one of my family’s favourite things to do together. If you are a camper or have a cabin, there is nothing that compares. Every family has their favourite camping spots, hiking trails and lucky fishing holes, favourite campfire snack and ‘remember when’ stories. Getting away from it all is just the best.
As we all know, one thing you can’t get away from, is the mess. Camping is wonderful, but it also requires a lot of cleaning after the fun is done. Dirty feet, dirty dishes, sticky gooey marshmellow fingers, more dirty dishes, are all things that Norwex can help make easier to clean when you are getting away from it all.
I will highlight a few items for your RV and Cabin needs:
The Entry Mat – It is extremely absorbent and stops the dirt and the toxins before they can get into your travel trailer. It works because it has scrubby strips embedded into the mat to remove debris from the bottom of your footwear or from your pet’s paws.
Bottle Brush – A travel mug is a must for any coffee or tea drinker and especially when you are out camping. At home, a travel mug can save countless disposable cups and while camping, it is perfect for keeping your beverage hot. One of the biggest issues with travel mugs is getting the inside clean… like really clean, not just rinsed out. The bottle brush will quickly become one of your favourite kitchen tools to clean your travel mugs or coffee pots. I have one in my kitchen at home and in my travel trailer.
Dish Mat – This drying mat is fantastic! You can see it laying here, on my travel trailer stovetop. It adds a little extra surface to my counter, is very compact, extremely absorbent, it never smells, and dries quickly.
Kitchen Towel – Most of us don’t have the luxury of a dishwasher while camping. You need absorbent tea towels. And absorbent tea towel, sounds like oxymoron to many. That is not the case with the Norwex’s Kitchen Towels. So when you have too many dishes to air dry on your Dish Mat, grab a Kitchen Towel and get to work. You will be amazed how many dishes will get done. My favourite testimony was from a customer whose dishwasher quit on Thanksgivings day and she was given the opportunity to put her Kitchen Towels to the test. For a 35-person dinner, they only needed two towels to dry all the dishes, the pots and pans, all the ways down to the fine wine glasses. If they can tackle the Thanksgiving dinner dishes, they can tackle the dinner dishes at the campsite.
The Kitchen Towels are available in 8 different colours.
Peppermint Foaming Hand Wash – This foaming hand wash is scented with peppermint, smells amazing and will conserve water. Simply take a pump of this peppermint foam soap into your hands and lather for 60 seconds then turn on the water to simply remove the excess moisture soap from your hands. Your travel trailer water tank will thank you! It’s even available in a refill size so you can simply pour the foam soap solution into any foam soap dispenser. The soap is not antibacterial, as antibacterial hand soaps are now proven to reduce your immune system. This is just clean and simple.
Bath Towel – Whether you’re on the lake for the day, or you’re showering in your travel trailer or cabin, Norwex Bath Towels are awesome. Norwex towels are compact, incredibly absorbent, imbedded with silver to stop bacteria growth and dry quickly. Boat owners love these towels, because they dry so quickly! These towels are available in multiple colors and sizes.
The Bath Towels are available in 4 different sizes & 4 different colours.
Superior Mini Mop Collection – For all the sand and debris that gets past your Entry Mat (like sand in the cuff of your kids’ shorts), the Norwex Superior Mini Mop is the perfect solution. It is lightweight, compact, and extremely efficient! Once or twice a day, simply zip over the smooth surfaces to collect all the debris leaving a spotless service – ready for the next time. Use your Norwex Rubber Brush to remove all the collected hair, dirt, sand, grass and debris. Keep it simple, quick and easy!
Living in our trailer with three girls, I can collect a pile like this two or three times a day.
This is where I store my mop. It stands perfectly behind the toilet and never falls down, even while we drive down the road. It’s quick and easy to dry or wet mop the floor when needed. If you’re thinking, ” why on earth is she wet mopping her RV?” The answer is: dirty feet, a puppy and dripping freezie juice!! Life happens!
Camping with your Norwex products will give you another reason to get away more often. Happy Camping!
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Delores VandenBoogaard is an Independent Norwex Sales Consultant from Edmonton, Alberta Canada with customers and consultants throughout Canada and the United States including; New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, North West Territories and Ontario. She also has customers and team members in; Michigan, Texas, California, Massachusetts, Florida, Arizona, Missouri, Colorado, North Carolina, South Carolina, Idaho, Washington, New Hampshire, Iowa and Maine.
Our homes collect dust. Dust is made up of all sorts of stuff – organic stuff like dead skin, but also toxic stuff from our environment. Although spring cleaning includes dusting because of how wonderful it feels when the dusting is done, but it should also be done as a fight against toxins in our homes. The EWG or Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to empower people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment”. They conducted studies to reveal the dirt about dust in our homes. They found that dust,
“is a place where harmful chemicals are found. One recent study by the Silent Spring Institute identified 66 endocrine-disrupting compounds in household dust tests, including flame retardants, home-use pesticides, and phthalates.
The chemicals in your dust originate from both inside and outside your house:
1 Products inside your house “shed” chemicals over time — furniture, electronics, shoes, plastics, fabrics and food, among other things.
2 Outdoor pollutants enter on your shoes and through open and cracked windows and doors.
Once inside, the contaminants in indoor dust degrade more slowly (if at all) than they would outside in the environment where moisture and sunlight typically break them down.
One type of toxic chemical commonly found in household dust is chemical flame retardants (aka PBDEs). As highly flammable synthetic materials have replaced less-combustible natural materials, PBDEs have been added to thousands of everyday products, including computers, TVs and furniture — among many others.”
The EWG cautions that young children are at a higher risk of being exposed to these toxins because they spend most of their time playing on the floor putting their little fingers and anything they grab into their mouthes… so let’s get started and remove dust without adding any more chemicals.
Walls – First you will need to wash your walls from fingerprint height and lower (everything above this height is just dust) using a well-wrung Enviro Cloth. For any scuffs use a small square of a Micro Cleaning Hand Pad and give it a scrub. For dusting, lock the head on your Mop, attach the dry head (yellow), and dust all the way to the ceiling.
Wood Furniture – Put a Dusting Mitt on each hand- the faster you can dust the better- and give the dusting mitts one spray of water. It will remove all the dust, finger prints, coffee marks etc. and leave the furniture streak free.
Doors – Put a Dusting Mitt on each hand, spray with one squirt of water clean the details in your doors beautifully.
Blinds – Put a Dusting Mitt on each hand and hold the blind with one hand and rub along the face and underside of each slat. The mitts will hold a lot of dust while leaving your slats clean.
Watch how:
Door Frames – Bend the EnviroWand in an upside “U” and drag along the tops of your door frames.
Pictures Frames – Put a Dusting Mitt on each hand and hold the frame with one hand and dust with the other.
Light Fixtures & Ceiling Fans – Bend your EnviroWand and give it a squirt of water and gently remove all the dust from those fixtures.
Done!
Remember your EnviroWand can bend and flex, so give it a squirt of water and sneak it into areas you have never dusted before.
Between the Dusting Mitts and the EnviroWand you will be able to dust the majority of the surfaces in your home. Isn’t that amazing?
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Delores VandenBoogaard is an Independent Norwex Sales Consultant from Edmonton, Alberta Canada with customers and consultants throughout Canada and the United States including; New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, North West Territories and Ontario. She also has customers and team members in; Michigan, Texas, California, Massachusetts, Florida, Arizona, Missouri, Colorado, North Carolina, South Carolina, Idaho, Washington, New Hampshire, Iowa and Maine.
With the long-waited spring season comes the long-waited barbecue season! Spring cleaning would not be complete without getting one of our favourite “tools” clean. As the BBQ works hard during the summer months to supply mouthwatering meals, I would like to show you a biodegradable, all-natural but tough cleaning system for your BBQ that works FANTASTIC! It is one that you will feel comfortable cooking dinner on, right after you clean it.
Roll your BBQ onto a tarp or a used newspaper to avoid staining your deck — this is a greasy and sometimes drippy job.
Heat your BBQ to its lowest setting, approximately 150 degrees, turn off.
Spray the BBQ racks including the upper racks with Oven & Grill Cleaner, close the lid and let sit for five minutes.
Grab a small bowl of water and a use a Spirinett to scrub across the face of the BBQ racks. This stainless steel ball will remove all the burnt on deposits and make your racks clean and shiny.
To finish the job, use an well-wrung EnviroCloth to wipe both the outside of the BBQ and the racks inside that you just scrubbed.
Bring your EnviroCloth to a sink and rinse well; rub it on itself to remove the majority of the grease.
Put your BBQ back in its original spot – ready for your next BBQ!
Done!
While we are outside let’s continue our “get it done” spring cleaning, by getting started on the windows. Our windows collect dirt, debris, whatever hit your window or what they left behind and creates another spring cleaning job. I would like to show you a simple method to maintain clean windows in your home that doesn’t not require paper towel or chemicals.
Box the outside edge of your window with a well-wrung, flat-folded EnviroCloth.
Wipe the remainder of your window with the same EnviroCloth. Spray your window with a little water if you find the moisture is evaporating too quickly.
Use your flat-folded WindowCloth to polish the window – leaving a streak-free and shiny window.
Done!
For high windows:
Attach a well-wrung EnviroCloth to your Mop System head – after you have attached your wet mop pad (leaving it dry) – with the clip system.
Lock the head of the mop so it doesn’t swivel.
With an up and down motion, clean your window.
Replace EnviroCloth with a Window Cloth. When your Window Cloth is dry you can only work in an upwards motion. So give your window a squirt of water and polish from the base to the top of your window.
Done!
Lastly, we will clean our patio furniture. Patio furniture is one of those things that gets dirty just by sitting there – not even being used. But we want to use them this spring!!! Again, this is a job that usually calls for paper towel and windex, but the Norwex method will eliminate the use of paper or chemicals. Even your kids can be the boss of the patio cleaning. So, let’s get started.
Delores VandenBoogaard is an Independent Norwex Sales Consultant from Edmonton, Alberta Canada with customers and consultants throughout Canada and the United States including; New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, North West Territories and Ontario. She also has customers and team members in; Michigan, Texas, California, Massachusetts, Florida, Arizona, Missouri, Colorado, North Carolina, South Carolina, Idaho, Washington, New Hampshire, Iowa and Maine.
Norwex introduced Counter Cloths as a great alternative to paper towel. They are the same size as a half-sheet paper towel, come in beautiful colours, are made from 50% recycled materials, have a super-absorbent unique new weave for quick spill clean up. These beauties are perfect for your kitchen and bathroom. They even have Norwex’s self-purifying Baclock™ agent in the cloth. Seriously, with these handy little cloths, you won’t ever grab for a paper towel again!
For anyone who loves to use a half-sized paper towel as their dinner napkin, Norwex has an alternative for you too. On average, a family of 4 uses more than 3000 paper napkins/paper towels a year. The Napkins are made from 50% recycled materials (5 plastic bottles per set of 4) and are lovely. They come in either charcoal or peacock blue, the microfiber also has Baclock™ agent so you can use them more than once before laundering, they are quick-drying and very absorbent, plus they make your dinner table look pretty. Saving trees and dressing up dinner all at the same time… not bad.
Invite Everyone You know Who Cleans (that’s everyone)! This STAR rewards you for each buying guest. I always encourage my hosts to invite everyone they know. It is true… everyone cleans with something! I love having the opportunity to teach people how to clean their homes without using chemicals… with simple-to-use, nontoxic, time-saving Norwex methods. You invite your people and I will bring a fun, informative presentation.
This STAR is like a Norwex Wishlist. Maybe there is something you have always wanted to try… like Norwex’s versatile 
This STAR is simple. For each new booking, you will receive a FREE Window Cloth. They are perfect for polishing windows, mirrors, marble/quartz countertops to a streak-free shine. You will love having a spare FREE cloth.
This STAR is designed to give you a taste of what Norwex products are all about. As your party sells more, you earn more FREE product. As I mentioned above, this month’s rewards include lots of ‘limited edition’ products. If you love trying ‘new stuff’ you will love these products.
Lilac EnviroCloth with Baclock™ 
Laundry Detergent 
