The Only Child Option

I’m one of those people who has to have clean ears.  It sounds weird, but when my ear is itchy, it drives me to distraction. Having a child, I have always been super-careful when cleaning ears because I know that if you go too far, you can damage the eardrum for life.

Recently I was contacted by a new company called Clinere.  Theirs is the newest innovation in ear-cleaning since the cotton swab was invented in the 1920′s.  Their design is similar to a tool a physician might use, but is flexible and bendable so it can be safely used by consumers.

The first thing to catch my eye was their claim to provide “instant itch relief”.  Sounds good to me – I will go through several Q-tips if that is what it takes to get relief.  The Clinere Ear Cleaners have 2 ends.  The first is shaped like a Q-tip, but made of soft spiral plastic.  It is meant to exfoliate the visible area inside the ear.

Wow – does it ever work to relieve my itchy ears.  It is a gentle scratching that takes care of the itch immediately!  Love it!

The second end is a scoop for removing earwax and debris from the entrance to the ear canal.

“What about all the wax inside the ear,” you might ask. The ears natural process is to migrate wax to the outside.  When you use Q-tips, it is easy to push the wax back into the canal where it came from.  Scooping what naturally migrates to the outside will keep your ear in tip-top shape.

It really does work.  I used them on my son (who HATES) to have his ears cleaned.  He didn’t mind my using the Clinere Ear Cleaners because I didn’t need to go past the outer area of his ear.  His ears are staying much cleaner as a result and I don’t feel the need to clean them after every bath.

To learn more about Clinere Ear Cleaners please visit www.clinere.com. Clinere is available at WALMART, WALGREENS, CVS, MEIJER, HEB, SHOPKO, and K-MART.

Clinere would like to offer a lucky reader a 10 count box of Clinere Ear Cleaners. A 10 count package of Clinere retails for $5.99, but you can get them FREE here!

To enter please visit the Clinere website, www.clinere.com, look around, then come back here and comment on which end of the ear cleaner you would appreciate most.

For extra entries you can do any or all of the following. Please leave a separate comment for each that you have done. Extra entries are optional.

- Subscribe to email updates of Only Child Option on the right side bar.

- “Like” Only Child Option on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Only-Child-Option/183067681718543.

- “Like” Clinere Ear Cleaners on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Clinere-Ear-Cleaners/137488232962328.

- Use any or all of the social networking buttons found at the bottom of this post to share this review/giveaway with others. Please be sure to tell me what you did and provide a name and/or URL so I can verify.

This giveaway is open to US residents only and will end on January 20, 2011 at 11:59 PM (EST). The winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator from all eligible entries. The winner will be notified via e-mail and will have three days to reply with a name and mailing address (no PO Box) or a new winner will be chosen.

*I received free product samples in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own. Clinere Products will be supplying the prize.

The holidays are coming to a close, and hopefully the season was very merry for you. But for some kids, Santa doesn’t make a stop at their house. Which is where Toys for Tots comes in – helping provide thousands of toys for families in need. It’s really a wonderful program.

To help this great cause, CouponMountain.com (an online coupon code site) has pledged to give up to $50,000. But it’s up to you how much Toys for Tots will get. Because they’re going to give $1 for every Facebook Fan they have on Dec. 31.

So please – take a minute to log on and “Like” CouponMountain. Then pass it on.

How You Can Give $1 to Toys for Tots:

·      Go to: www.Facebook.com/CouponMountain

·      Select “Like”

·      CouponMountain will donate $1

·      Spread the word to your friends

I recently discovered the National Center for Biblical Parenting.  They give biblical-based parenting advice, their advice is also just plain good sense.  I got a free article called Tightening Your Action Point that I think gives a lot of insight into how to obtain obedience in your child or children.

You’ve all heard about counting to 3.  Kids learn that when you start counting, they are 3 counts away from being disciplined.  For some, this works great.  My son doesn’t need me to count to 3.  All I have to do is say “this is your warning” and he stops what he is doing.  My niece Emily, on the other hand, is a little less compliant.  I was talking to my brother the other day and he said when he starts to count, she just does whatever she is not supposed to be doing faster so she can finish before he gets to 3.   LOL

According to this article, getting to 3 would be the action point.  The kids know that when you get to 3, you will take action.  The key is getting to your action point before you get angry.  Kids react to anger and will likely do what you asked, however, it doesn’t address their heart or intentions.  Do you really just want blind obedience or do you want them to do the right thing because they know it is the right thing?  Take a look at the article – I think it is profound.  If you like what you see – take a look at the website. They do parenting seminars in churches across the country if you learn by listening, this might be a good option.  Enjoy!

What is the best deal you ever got on Black Friday? I learned a very important lesson a couple years ago:

If you watch the Black Friday ads ahead of time, you can score the deal BEFORE Black Friday. The catch is that you have to pay full price initially, go back to the store on Black Friday and get the difference. Most large retailers will do this, but please check before the store’s policies before you go – not every store does it.

In my case, I bought a TV in their Black Friday ad for $999 the Wednesday before Black Friday. I went in on Black Friday around 4 pm (a reasonable hour after all the crazies are gone) and cashed in on their guarantee to match a price for 10 days. I plan to do the same this year. Granted, the bizarre situations like “We will have only 10 not-yet-released-to-the-public toys on Black Friday” will not work, but normal items on doorbuster will.

Good luck – come back and tell me what you score! : )

I am trying a new day planner. This is a big step for me considering I have been using the same day planner for the last 4 years. My Life Matters is storming the day-planners-for-women scene. It has a place for EVERYTHING you could possibly want to record during the day and during the week.

They are offering a FREE download of the 2010 My Life Matters November/December day planner as a sneak-peak into their 2011 release. I have already printed it out and filled it up with November’s activities. There are so many reasons this planner is better than my current planner:

1. There is plenty of space to record my activities for the day. My existing planner has a small box where I had to cram everything together.
2. It has a place to record my daily workout. Who else out there will feel more compelled to work out when NOT working out results in a blank space in the weeks events?
3. I can record how much sleep I got. Again – If I see the pattern of 5s and 6s, I might be more apt to go to bed a little earlier.
4. And finally, the biggest thing for me, is the area to indicate the amount of water I drank and the food groups I covered in my meals. I am TERRIBLE about eating healthy. I seem to forget that fiber in a cereal doesn’t equate to fiber in a veggie. Not anymore!

The jury is still out since I just started today, but I am really hopeful that this planner will make my life just a little bit easier. After all, every little bit counts! Give it a try and let me know what you think.