How I'm Cleaning During the Holidays - Swiffer Bissell Steamboost {giveaway}

This post is brought to you by Swiffer Bissell Steamboost. As always, all opinions are 100% my own. 

I can't believe 2013 is coming to a close. The year has flown by and I know next year is going to go by just as fast (if not faster) when we welcome our baby boy in April. 

I have really enjoyed the holidays this year, but they are definitely a lot of work. You all know I love to bake, but with baking your bound to make a mess. As much as I try to keep the powdered sugar in the bowl, it somehow always makes its way to the floor! 

So to help me clean up the mess I made during my holiday baking this year, I had the opportunity to try out the new Swiffer BISSELL STEAMBOOST.

The Swiffer Bissell Steamboost is basically a combination of the Swiffer, which I think most everyone is familiar with and a steam cleaner. I love using steam to clean since you can get better results without harsh chemicals. 

The Swiffer Bissell Steamboost took no more than 5 minutes to put together and get up and running. You just take the pieces out of the box, snap a few together, fill the chamber with water, attach the cleaning cloth and then plug into the wall. Then, in about a minute you're ready to start steam cleaning. 

The machine was pretty easy to use. All you do is push the button when you want the steam to come out. Since I had a big sugary mess on my floor, I was pushing that button quite a bit. But if you're mess wasn't that big you probably only need it every few seconds or so. 

One of the drawbacks of the steam mop is since you need to plug it in, you can only travel so far with the machine before you need to unplug and put into a closer outlet. My kitchen is fairly big and I still only needed to do this once, so it really wasn't a big deal. You probably want to change out the cleaning pad  for a new one too if you're doing a large area. 

I was pretty impressed with the Swiffer Bissell Steamboost. My floors were cleaned only a few days before my baking so I didn't think it would clean-up more than what I spilled on the floor that day. But from the photo above you can see that it also steam clean mopped away dirt and stuff that my that my other mop left behind - love that!

I'm still not sure this steam mop completely replaces some good ole' deep cleaning, but for in between those cleanings it is quick, easy and gets the job done. And I love that when I'm done I can just toss the cleaning pad in the trash and not worry about it. 

For more steam cleaning tips and tricks, visit http://www.swiffer.com/cleaningtips/frequency/floor-steam-cleaning. You can also learn more about the Swiffer family of products by visiting www.swiffer.com or www.facebook.com/swiffer. 

Buy a Swiffer BISSELL STEAMBOOST starter kit before December 31 and receive a $15 mail-in rebate (rebate restrictions apply). For more info on the rebate, visit www.swiffer.com/rebate.

And now one of my lucky readers has a chance to win your very own Swiffer BISSELL STEAMBOOST! 

All you have to do is enter through the Rafflecopter link below and tell me one of your tips/tricks for cleaning during the holidays. Once you comment, you will more hances to enter. The giveaway runs from December 31, 2013 to January 17, 2014 and 1 winner will be chosen and notified on January 18, 2014. The winnerswill then have 48 hours to respond, or another winner will be chosen. Please read the complete Terms & Conditions as this giveaway is only valid for U.S residents only (Sorry, rules of the giveaway prohibit us from offering this outside of the U.S.).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Favorite New iPad App

I love discovering new apps - especially when it's an ad that will make it so much easier to read my favorite magazines. In the past few years I've subscribed to a few different magazines - like Martha Stewart Living and Glamour, but I can probably count on one hand the number of magazines I've actually sat and read. I tend to only sit down a read a magazine when I'm traveling or laying out by a pool. Instead, I have a piles of magazines in a few places around my house where the magazines stack up collecting dust.

So enter the Next Issue app for iPads and tablets - it's a digital subscription to your favorite magazines. I subscribe to a digital movie & TV service and to a digital music service, and Next Issue works very similar to services like those. You can download and the read magazine straight on your tablet. 

With Next Issue you have unlimited access to over 90 magazine titles - and it includes the current issue as well as back issues. I was really impressed with the magazine selection. They were ones I have or do subscribe to currently (like Real Simple, Oprah, and HGTV) and they even have weekly magazines like People & Time - how awesome is that?

You customize the library to what titles you want. One tap adds your picks to your personal library and new issues of your selected magazines automatically appear in your library. Tap any cover to open that magazine or browse the back issues.

With one account you can read titles on up to 5 devices - so you only need one per family! And I love that it eliminates all the paper to help you go green. I always felt bad throwing away old magazines, but I don't have to worry about that with Next Issue. 

If you're still not convinced, they offer a 30 day trial so you can try it for yourself and see what you think. 

I do wish the app was available for iPhone and Android because I would probably use it even more if it was available for my phone (think, standing in line at the grocery or waiting at Doctor's office) because I don't always have my iPad with me. 

The pricing is pretty reasonable and since there are titles that my husband likes too it seems like something we would get regular use out of. And I won't have magazine all over the house collecting dust anymore :)

• Unlimited Basic: $9.99/month (access to all 84 monthly titles including current and back issues, e.g., Cooking Light, Esquire, Real Simple, Vanity Fair, Wired, etc.)

• Premium: $14.99/month (unlimited access to all monthly and weekly titles including current and back issues, e.g., The New Yorker, People, Time, etc.)

I love this app and will probably actually read magazines if they are on my iPad...now I just need to get a waterproof case so I can read by the pool on our next vacation. Enjoy! 

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Family BBQ - King's Hawaiian Bringing People Together

Thanks to King's Hawaiian for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions are my own. 

My husband's sister lives in Anchorage, Alaska with her two kids. Right now they are down visiting, so we had a big family BBQ over the weekend.