Marcal Small Steps Review and Giveaway (ENDED)

Winner Annouced!!

Congratulations Kate! I hope you enjoy your Marcal Products! - Sadly Kate Didn't respond so I had to pick a new winner and that winner is:

Congrats Steph! Hope You will enjoy the Marcal products

I was contacted by Marcal Small Steps to see if I wanted to do a review for Earth month. Well, today is Earth Day and what better day to share my review with you!

Marcal Smalls Steps makes toilet paper, napkins, and paper towels from 100% premium recycled paper- not trees. It may seem like a small thing, but it actually adds up. If every household in the U.S. replaced one package of traditional toilet paper with Marcal Small Steps, together we could help save nearly one million trees. And, in your own home, a family of four could save two trees a year (17 trees over 10 years) just by switching to paper products made from 100% recycled materials.

For those of us watching our budgets (who isn’t?!), Marcal doesn’t have the “green premium” often attached to earth-friendly brands. In fact, Marcal Small Steps typically sells for less than traditional paper goods that are made by cutting down trees and often contain dyes and fragrances that Marcal doesn’t use.

My Review:

I was really excited to receive the line of Marcal products to try.  I'll be honest, we don't use a lot of paper towels in our home.  For most jobs I use microfiber cloths to clean with, and towels for spills but I do occasionally buy a package (2 roll) of paper towels.  That will last a long time in our house because it's mostly used when I cook bacon or something that needs to be set on something to get rid of the grease, so a roll can last a couple of months.  The Marcal paper towel was fantastic.  I loved that I could tear off a small piece or a larger piece. The paper towels I usually buy doesn't have that option.  I did use it for one small spill so I could see how absorbent it was and it worked like a charm. Did the job without falling apart too.

Marcal also sent me a package of 180 ct Napkins in a Drawstring Bag. Again we mostly use cloth napkins, but these will be nice for occasional use. I really liked the drawstring bag. I've bought napkins other times and there is no nice way to store them without napkins everywhere. The drawstring keeps everything neat and tidy and I like that!  They were very comparable to other napkins I've purchased in the past. They did a good job and held up well.

Our family is never going to be one of those families that uses Family Cloth in the bathroom - not for bath tissue or facial tissue. Maybe if I lived alone, but I'm never going to convince my husband or the kids to use cloth. So the option of buying a recycled bath tissue is fantastic to me.  I have to say the first day that I put the Marcal bath tissue on the roller to use everyone noticed a difference in the softness. It wasn't public restroom hard but it wasn't quite as soft as we were used to. After a couple of days of using it though I can honestly say it really didn't bother me anymore. So if you are used to that squeezably soft stuff and wanted to change to a more environmentally friendly option I think you could do it fairly easily.

The facial tissue was very comparable to the usual facial tissue I buy.  I only buy the lotion tissue if someone has a cold (those sore noses hurt!).  I didn't even notice a difference in the way it held up - it did a great job. Also not only is the tissue made from recycled paper the cardboard box for the tissue was too. :)

The Giveaway: Marcal Small Steps has graciously offered to giveaway a Marcal starter kit (worth $25) to one of my lucky readers. The starter kit features an assortment of Marcal paper products—toilet paper, napkins, paper towels and facial tissues. Perfect for somebody who wants to give Marcal Small Steps a try!

Mandatory Entry: (remember to leave each entry in a separate comment box or it won't count) The only thing you need to do is go to the Marcal Small Steps website and leave me a comment about something you learned about the company or products. It's that easy!

Really want to try Marcal Small Steps products? Here are some ways you can get extra entries: (remember to leave each entry in a separate comment box or it won't count)

• Blog about this giveaway linking back to Typical Ramblings, Atypical Nonsense and Marcal Small Steps and leave the URL where you did (2 entries)
• Follow Me with Google Friend Connect (1 entry)
• Subscribe to Typical Ramblings, Atypical Nonsense (1 entry)
• Follow @Luvschweetheart and @MarcalSmallStep on Twitter; leave a comment with your twitter id (1 entry)
• Tweet about this giveaway; leave the URL where you did. (you may tweet once per day for an extra entry) (1 entry per day) * #Win Marcal starter kit ($25 value) of recycled paper products from @Luvschweetheart & @marcalsmallstep  http://bit.ly/bkXb4V*
• Become a Fan of Typical Ramblings, Atypical Nonsense on Facebook (1 entry)
• Add Marcal Small Steps to your Facebook Friends (1 enrty)

*Remember these are all extra entries, the only one you are required to do to win is the mandatory entry.*

You must leave your email in your comment so that I can contact you.

This giveaway is only open to the US. Giveaway will end April 30, 2010 at 10:00 pm EST. A winner will be chosen by random.org and will be notified by email. I will announce the winner at the top of this post as well. You must contact me within 48 hours. If you fail to claim your prize, a new winner will be chosen by random.org and emailed.

**Disclosure: I received the Marcal Small Steps products free of charge in exchange for this review. The opinions expressed are my own**