At a conference once, I shared a hotel room with a gal from East Texas. I had never met her before, and I decided she had a really strange habit. It made me gag to watch her every morning as she performed her ablutions.
She filled the sink almost full with water each morning. First, she dipped her toothbrush into the basin and brushed her teeth. Then, she washed her face with the water from the sink, even though she had spat into the water while brushing her teeth. Then, she used that water to rinse her legs and shave them. One morning as she brushed her teeth, I watched her dip a cup into that sink full of water and take a sip out of it!
I watched her do that the first morning. You can bet I was standing the with my mouth hanging open and my eyes as big as breakfast sausages. I asked her why in thunder she did that. With a somewhat superior air, she said, “I’ve been taught not to waste water.”
Well, maybe so, Honey, but I would not be surprised to hear that you have died of Typhoid or some other horrendous disease. But, don’t you worry. I bet that in your eulogy someone recounted, “And, she never wasted water.”
I think it might be possible to find other ways to save water! Ick! I don’t even like to touch a hotel room sink, let alone drink out of it. Especially after some of my experiences in hotels.
Do any of y’all remember me telling you about the horrible hotel room I had in the Uncomfortable Inn in Beaumont? If not, you can go read about why I don’t think business travel is exciting. That was one of the nastiest places I’ve ever encountered.
That gal I roomed with might have thought twice about using water from the sink if she had taken a gander at this one.
That’s the sink that the housekeeping department at that motel left for me! Do you wonder why I was appalled? That’s exactly how I found it when I entered the room.
Now, on that trip, I happened to have these two boxes of Magic Erasers.
One is the Mr. Clean brand and the other is the store brand (which is a dollar cheaper per box). I had been planning to see if there was any difference in their performances that would warrant that huge price disparity. They were in the car, because I was too lazy to take them out and put them away.
In fact, I use these magic erasers in my housecleaning because I am lazy. I don’t like to waste a lot of “elbow grease.” Have y’all ever tried them? I love ‘em. I use them on my stove to get the gunk off of it, I use them to clean the sink, I use them on the toilet (and I use a different one for each site, aren’t you proud of me?). They really do remove dirt, grime, and stains without having to use scouring powder that might damage the finish.
I decided to try my test on that hotel room sink. I used one brand, and then tried the other. Though they made a big difference, even magic couldn’t save that sink. It needs some bleach or scouring powder and a whole LOT of disinfectant. Or, maybe just a new sink.
Anyway, I discovered that both brands work equally well, so save your money. If you want to use them, buy the cheaper brand. Then, you can use the money you saved to help buy a latte at Starbucks to fortify yourself for housecleaning.
Please note that this is NOT a pay per post. I have eschewed doing those because I thought it might ruin my credibility with you.
But, come to think of it, I probably don’t HAVE much credibility with you. I ought to be doing pay per post! Give me the right product, and I know I could make more money than I do with Google or the other ads on my sidebar!
Then, I wouldn’t have to enter writing contests just to earn money for Share A Square. Have y’all voted for me yet? Matty did and Janet did. Susan Helene Gottfried did and Bermudabluez did and Jen did. Robindid and Robin did! Rebecca and Annemarie did, and they aren’t even bloggers (they just made a comment). Aaron voted for me in his reflections, and he even entered the contest. How am I going to win that $100 to send out more afghan kits if you don’t?
Just go here and make a comment. Better yet, put the following into a post
Simonne at All Tips And Tricks is having a group writing project asking…’What is Your Best Blogging Achievement?’ You can see the entries here. I vote for Shelly to win.
The least that Simonne deserves for giving away $100 is a little link love. And, if I win, you have helped donate enough money to send 6-10 afghan kits to the kind volunteers who will stitch them into afghans. I hope your day is enjoyable. Use your powers for good.
Technorati Tags: Magic Erasers, housecleaning
Truly revolting… So those erasor thingies really do work? I’ve held off buying them because they didn’t seem like they would. I’ll have to try them now.
PS Will vote for you just as soon as I get my act together to do so.
Yes, ma’am they do work. I keep ‘em all over the house for use. Though they get the grime up, you probably still need to wash over the surface with a cleanser, because they don’t get germs. Yes, and do go vote even if it’s only to comment!!
Shelly,
In behalf of the gal and conserving water in the fashion she did is a little stupid, well a lot stupid, but gosh darn her heart is in the right place! I am applaud with our society in general, when it comes to WASTE in the USA. Water being the biggest. We CAN’T live without clean water folks. We are not going to run out in our life time if your 50-60, but what about our kids and their kids!
One of my biggest pet peeves is watching someone turn on the faucet and let it pour down the drain as one talks or does who knows what while their doing it. Makes me want to scream at them. Call me a freak, I’m worrying about things that likely won’t effect me, but I deeply care about our planet! Yep.. I call it Janet’s Planet sometimes, it’s my religion.
Hey, Janet. While I am all with you on conserving, I think that gal used more water by filling the sink than she would have by just wetting her toothbrush or rinsing her razor. Unsanitary and dumb is what it was.
But, these little magic erasers save water, I think, because all you have to do is get ‘em wet and then wipe.
You keep right on preaching your religion, girlfriend. There are a lotta folks who need to hear it!
Ok, what that woman did was nauseating. I totally agree, it’s important not to be wasteful with anything, but risking your health is just silly.
You’re right on top of this hotel room thing, though! There was just something on our news where they put hidden cameras in the rooms and saw what housekeeping did. The housekeeper cleaned the toilet with a rag and then only rinsed off the glasses in the room (didn’t replace them with clean ones) and used the same rag to dry them and put them back! GAG!
They did this in several hotels and of course, all of them were acting horrified and saying how unacceptable it was, but it was happening at all of them.
I like those Eraser things, too! They have some generic ones at our store and they work great!
I also cast my vote for you!!!
(Hugs)
Jessica
Aww, thanks for the link love, darling! I’m adding your copy to my current post now!!!
Shelly,
You have made it so easy for people to vote…all they have to do is copy and paste…how hard is that??
Now that I know it works I will buy some of those Magic Erasers…store brand. Thanks for checking it out…have you thought about bringing your own sheets and pillows to motel’s?
And as for that water-saver…..ack! I’d hate to see what she does with bath-water??
Now, Shelly, just today, Leon told me to stay in the apartment until he turned the car around so I wouldn’t see something horrible when I walked around the car. He even called the landlord from outside so I wouldn’t know whatever it was. When we came to the corner hours later he told me to close my eyes in case the landlord had not handled it. (Whatever it was, she had.)
Do I have to get him to read your blog posts before I read them from now on, too? That was disgustingly gross. I don’t know HOW you stayed in that room with that woman. She would have had to clean herself up after I got sick.
Take your own sheets and pillow, have no roommates (except that handsome husband of yours), or get an RV!
first of all, that lady is ‘nutzo!’ and secondly, that hotel tub is just unacceptable. i would have forced them to do something about it. there’s a reason that the first thing i do is go into a hotel room and pull back the sheets to make sure that all is well hiding down under the blankets.
Magic Erasers are okay, but they’re certainly not magic…it’s all chemical. By the way, I use chemicals to clean, but if you need to shape it into a sponge that disintegrates that worries me. I’m a fanatic about cleaning and use more than one product. Disinfecting is just as important as getting something clean.