This day I love.......: dust

My youngest was rather excited when I picked her up from school today. She has her nativity this week and in preparation they have been decorating the class room. I think they must have been talking about Christmas at school too as the second we walked in the door she wanted to know where her advert calendar was.

The girls advert calendars are cloth and each year I buy little treats to put in them. It means I can add little gifts in addition to the usual chocolate. My youngest has also clicked on that when the advert calendars appear it also means we get to make reindeer food ready for Christmas eve.

Every Christmas eve the girls sprinkle reindeer food outside to help Father Christmas find our house and for the reindeer to have something to eat whilst they wait for Father Christmas to deliver the girls presents. Reindeer food therefore has to have several components:

1. Something for the reindeer to eat

2. Something to help guide Father Christmas to our house

3. Snow [it is Christmas after all]

Therefore this is how we make Reindeer food ready for Christmas eve:

1. Make indoor snow. Indoor snow is really easy to do and requires cornflour and vegetable oil, you can read more about it here. We often have indoor snow ready made as it is a favourite of the girls to play with.

2. Add oats, this is the food for the reindeer.

3. Add glitter. The moonlight makes the glitter sparkle so that Father Christmas can find our house. You can use any colour glitter you like, we use red as the girls know Father Christmas likes red.

You can adjust the quantities to suit, we only use a few teaspoons as we do not need much. Once made we keep in a sealed container ready for Christmas eve.

On Christmas eve the girls love to sprinkle the reindeer food outside ready for Father Christmas. It has become a tradition like leaving the special key outside. Both girls are now getting very excited now the reindeer food is made!

This day I love holidays are coming

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Regular readers will know that my eldest daughter has eczema. Her eczema seems to be triggered by dust. My youngest daughter had an allergy to latex as a baby but thankfully she seems to be out growing this. I myself have multiple allergies, bees, grass, certain pollens and caffeine. As this week is allergy awareness week, I wanted to share a few facts about allergies

The latest NHS statistics reveal hospital admissions in England for allergic reactions are soaring to more than 20,000 each year, over 60% (12,560) of these are emergencies. I worry greatly about what would happen to me if I had an allergic reaction which turned into an emergency. According to Allergy UK I am not alone

- Over two thirds (68%) of UK adults have no idea what to do if they saw someone suffering an allergic reaction

- Almost half (44%) of allergy sufferers are living in daily fear of a reaction

- Yet 66% of people don’t how to use an adrenaline pen which could help save lives

My daughter and I recently attended an event with ao.com to learn more about allergies. I felt it was very important for her because as a child I was very aware that I was the kid with the allergies. I wanted her to learn more about allergies and for her to understand that other children have allergies too.

Ao.com had put on lots of activities for the children to do, and each one helped them to understand a little more about allergies. We were also shown Hotpoint range of washing machines and tumble dryers. They can remove 99.9% of major allergens during the wash cycle. This is thanks to a combination of high temperature technologies and extra rinses. The tumble dryers also feature an anti-allergy drying cycle. Hotpoint is a name which I trust and these anti allergy technologies are certainly a feature which would persuade me to purchase a washing machine from Hotpoint.

After the event I began to look at other ways in which we could help to reduce dust mites in our home The Healthy house provided me with a leaflet on dust mites and gave me some great ideas. I use a mattress protector on my daughters bed, but I did not realise that in order to fully protect against dust mites it needs to fully encase the mattress. We also use a pillow protector which helps to reduce the itching my daughter feels on her head.

I have also started using a product called HomeCleanse. We are currently saving to replace the carpet in my daughters bedroom with wooden floors. Replacing the flooring will help to reduce the dust mites and reduce my daughters eczema. HomeCleanse I can spray onto the carpet and it helps to kill dust mites. It is a great solution until we can replace the carpet in her room.

FabriCleanse is similar to HomeCleanse only it is placed into the washing machine. Using both HomeCleanse and FabriCleanse I have certainly noticed a difference in my daughters skin, with her itching much less. The products smell like eucalyptus which is also quite pleasant and refreshing.

As we approach prime hay fever season I would also love to know your tips for keeping allergies under control.

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A few weeks ago I took part in a twitter party talking about allergies and cleaning. I was really interested to know more about how I could clean the house more effectively and remove any allergens. I have an allergy to grass pollen, as well as other things and with my daughters eczema triggered by dust this was a topic of great interest to me.

As well as some great tips, e-cloth was mentioned quite a few times. I was keen to try as the conversation highlighted how easy and effective e-cloth are to use. E-cloth do not contain chemicals and only need water to clean. Research conducted by Silliker also shows that e-cloth removes over 99% of bacteria and when rinsed under warm water only 0.01% of bacteria was reintroduced to a sterile surface.

I was keen to give them a try and started with the window cleaning cloths. My girls have a lovely habit of putting sticky chocolate fingers on clean patio glass. I absolutely hate cleaning glass, it can often be time consuming and leave streaks. A quick solution would be fantastic.

I followed the instructions on e-cloth and wiped the window down with the wet cleaning cloth, then finished with the dry cloth. I was amazed at how quick it was to clean the window and how the window was streak free.

e-cloth provided a quick and easy solution to cleaning without the need for chemicals.

E-cloth has a range of products and I have even tried the polishing cloth, which was great for shining the chrome plug sockets. I would love to try the mop as I have wooden and laminate floors for most of the house and I think it would be a great way to keep allergens under control.

I have often wondered how good these cloths really are, I have seen lots of different brands. What makes e-cloth different is they come with a 3 year guarantee and because they are manufactured to a higher quality than other brands they are endorsed by companies such as AGA, Bosch, Electrolux, Smeg and Allergy Uk.

I have been impressed with the cleaning ability of e-cloth. I have managed to reduce the time it takes to clean the house giving me more time with the girls. As e-cloth uses only water I am no longer purchasing as many cleaning products, which means I have reduced my monthly spend and I feel that I am also helping my daughter by cleaning without using chemicals.

We were sent e-cloth the review, all words and opinions are my own.

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