Beauty and Babbling at Home - Honest Dishwasher Pods

Disclaimer: All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me. This post contains my affiliate link, which earns me a $20 credit if someone uses it and makes a purchase. All opinions are honest and completely my own. 

I haven't done a Beauty and Babbling at Home post since my initial one. I think it's about time for another one, don't you?

I don't mention my journey to go cruelty-free very often, so if you are new to my blog, you might not know about this goal. Most of my makeup was already cruelty-free, so I'm doing pretty well there. Most of what isn't is currently in my regular rotation to be used up, listed in my blog sale, or in a bin waiting to be listed on my blog sale.

I've had a harder time with home products and some toiletries, but I'm making progress.

One company that has been really helpful though is The Honest Company (referral link). The company was co-founded by Jessica Alba and Christopher Gavigan, an author and a collaborator with WebMD. Their goal was to create products that were eco-friendly, non-toxic, and affordable. The more I read about this company, the more I like it. For example, while searching their site for information about them to add to this post, they have earned Gold status as a Green America Certified Business. I had no idea what this was, but you can check out everything that the company has to do in order to receive this certification here. I'm impressed!

One of my favorite Honest products so far is their dishwasher pods.

Price: $10.95 for a pack of 32. If you choose to subscribe to their bundle service, it is cheaper (more on that later).

Ingredients: Sodium Carbonate (Natural Soda Ash), Sodium Citrate (Citrus Derived), Sodium Metasilicate, Sodium Percarbonate (Solid Form Of Hydrogen Peroxide Bonded With Natural Soda Ash), Sodium Sulfate (Mineral), Crystalline Silica (Mineral), Non-Ionic Ethoxylate (Biodegradable Cleaner), Sodium Polyaspartate (Mineral), Sodium Iminodisuccinate (Biodegradable Water Softener), Alpha-Amylase & Protease Enzymes (Organic Enzyme Blend), Polyvinyl Alcohol (Biodegradable, Water-Soluble Film)

Performance: These are fantastic! I love the the convenience of the pods compared with a loose powder or gel, and they work as well, if not better, than the brands I used to buy. I'm pretty lazy about rinsing dishes before sticking them in the dishwasher. I'll usually make sure there aren't chunks of food left on dishes and do a quick rinse, but I don't scrub everything off before they go in the dishwasher. The vast majority of the time, all of my dishes come out completely clean. The items that don't are ones that really did need a good scrubbing before going in, but I was too lazy to bother. :-) I also have a couple of cookie sheets that I use regularly, and these pods have gotten rid of all the build-up and discoloration that tends to happen with cookie sheets. 

My only minor issue that I've had with these occurred recently. I just got a new bundle shipment in, and it included two bags of these pods. I haven't actually opened the bags yet, but there was a lot of loose powder in the bag, so I could tell that several pods had broken (I've never had that happen before, and I've been getting these since the summer). I shot the company a message on Facebook and included pictures. In less than a week, I had a new bag shipped to me to make up for the broken pods. No hassle. No fuss. The company also made a point of asking for the batch number of the bags I received so they could investigate the problem. 

Bundle Subscription Information

When I was first introduced to The Honest Company (referral link) and became interested in the brand, I signed up to get their I signed up to get their Essentials Bundle trial kit, which includes trial sizes of their shampoo + body wash, face + body lotion, laundry detergent, healing balm, and hand soap. I only had to pay $5.95 shipping and handling. 

This signed up up for their Essential Bundle service. The standard setup for this service is receiving 5 full-size products every month for $35.95 plus $5.95 shipping and handling. Each individual can choose which products they receive, and it can be changed with each shipment. 

These bundles can be customized even further. The Honest Company allows up to 3 add-on products in each bundle at a 25% discount. If the bundle total after add-on items is over $50, the bundle ships for free. Also, even though the initial setup has bundles shipping ever 4 weeks, the shipping frequency can be changed to every 8 weeks. If even that is too often, there is a calendar that allows for personal ship date selection. For example, I just received a bundle, and I have enough product to last me a while, so I adjusted my next ship date to the end of May. If it gets close to that time, and I still have product to get through, I can adjust the date again to push it back. 

When constructing my bundles, I usually end up doing a lot of mental math, and even sometimes scribbling some figures on paper. The bundle is a really good deal, but only if I pick up some of their more expensive products. A lot of them are around the $6 mark, which isn't really a deal if a bundle is only made up of those items. They, unfortunately, don't have anything to indicate whether your bundle has reached the $50 threshold for free shipping, so I end up doing some figuring to make sure I've reached that amount. 

One of the other downsides to the bundling program is that there is no way to cancel a bundle except for calling the company directly. I would prefer having the option to cancel online, but since I plan on continuing with the service for the foreseeable future, this isn't really a big deal for me. 

Final Thoughts

These dishwasher pods work really well for me. With my current bundle and the extra bag sent to make up for the broken pods, I have 5-6 bags of these stashed in my kitchen, and I'm happy to have them. I love the fact that I'm supporting an eco-friendly, cruelty-free company that does its best to provide products without a lot of nasty chemicals. I haven't loved all of their products that I've tried, but I have liked the majority of them. 

Do you have any favorite eco-friendly, cruelty-free household products? Have you tried anything from The Honest Company? 

Disclaimer: All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me. This post contains my affiliate link, which earns me a $20 credit if someone uses it and makes a purchase. All opinions are honest and completely my own.