Earlier this week, I promised a giveaway because Five in Tow has reached over 600 Facebook fans!  Plus, I’ve welcomed many new e-mail subscribers since the last giveaway.  Welcome!

I love doing giveaways because it gives me a chance to say thank you, at least in a small way, to all of you who support my blog.  You allow me to do what I love, to be very real and very me, and (so far) you keep coming back.  Thank you!  Because you’re so great, I have a great giveaway for you.

A few months ago, my friend Andrea sent me a box full of Norwex cleaning products.  She said she thought of me when she started using them, and I thought, “How does she know my house is a mess?”  But she said, “No, I thought of you because you’re into natural stuff.”  Oh.  “Use everything in the box,” she said.  “I know you’re going to love it!”

Her optimism was encouraging, but what Andrea didn’t know is that I haven’t had much luck with natural cleaning products.  First off, they’re almost always more expensive than their toxic counterparts.  Second, they don’t always work.  Not really.  But I use them because I can’t stand the thought of polluting my home with harmful chemicals.  So I scrub away with my ineffective green cleaners and console myself with the fact that most people are never going to see the inside of my shower anyway.

But Andrea is a friend so I had to open the box.  One of the things inside was a set of two cloths, an Enviro cloth and a polishing cloth.  Andrea said I could clean my entire house with these two cloths and nothing but water, and when I was done, I could hang them up and they’d self-purify.  Uh-huh.

I set to work using her voodoo products.  I cleaned my mirrors.  I cleaned my windows, counter tops, stove, sinks, shower and stainless steel fridge.  I even cleaned the fingerprints and other kid-griminess off the white trim around our doors.  UNBELIEVABLE.   These cloths did exactly what Andrea said they’d do, only better because now my house was clean.

I was on a little bit of a kick now so I cleaned my sliding glass door, the one that no matter how hard I clean, it always looks dirty as soon as the sun shines through it.  I wiped it with the wet Enviro cloth, then polished it with a dry polishing cloth.  There were absolutely no streaks.  None.  Not only that, but it took a fraction of the time, I didn’t use any chemicals or paper towels, and the result was better than anything I had ever tried before.  I had my daughter do another window, just to see if technique mattered.  As it turned out, my nine-year-old could clean the windows just as well as I could using these products.  You couldn’t even tell a kid washed the window.  Guess who has a new chore?  Bwahahaha!

After I finished my cleaning spree, I did a little research.  I found out Norwex cloths use two types of technology.  They’re made of high-quality microfiber that picks up all the microscopic bits of dirt and bacteria in your home and traps it inside.  But what is really amazing to me is that the cloths are woven with silver, so once the dirt is inside, the silver kills the germs and keeps new bacteria from growing.  Silver is naturally antimicrobial.  Bacteria can’t grow on it.  In fact, hospitals use silver bandages on burn patients because burn victims are so susceptible to infection.

When you are done cleaning, you simply rinse out the cloths, hang them up, and the silver kills the bacteria and purifies the cloths so they’re ready to use again.  You can use them multiple times before washing them in the washing machine (be sure not to use fabric softener—it coats the silver and the microfiber and makes it less effective) and they won’t smell or spread bacteria around your home.  Plus, unlike my other green cleaners, they are actually more effective than anything I’ve ever used before and are completely non-toxic (it’s just water!).  Amazing.

By now, you’ve probably guessed what the giveaway is: Norwex cloths!!!  One lucky winner will get a set of two Norwex cloths.  You are going to love them!

To enter, please share your favorite Five in Tow story with your friends.  Many of you have already shared and shared and shared my stories, but I’d love it if you would do it one more time because it’s amazing how this one act has helped to bring new readers to my site.  For example, How to Get your Toddler to Eat Anything has been shared over 8,000 times on Facebook, and over 18,000 people read it in one day.  Counting the Hours has been shared over 5,000 times and is my all-time most popular post.  That’s the power you have, wonderful readers!

So, pick a favorite post and share it on Facebook, Twitter, or by carrier pigeon.  It doesn’t really matter.  Then, come back and leave a comment about the story you shared (this is my covert way of learning what kinds of posts you like best, so choose wisely).  I’ll also give extra entries to anyone who knows a good literary agent or publisher.  I may even kiss your feet.

One reader will be drawn at random on Wednesday, August 29^th.  Please allow 2 weeks to receive your prize.  Thanks for participating!