I’ve mentioned before that one of the reasons I love writing reviews is that I often discover products i wouldn’t have known about otherwise.

Now, this list is more-or-less off the top of my head, which is why it’s not called “My 5 Favorite Products…” – because it could be that something else super-awesome is momentarily slipping my mind. And there are lots of other good things we’ve tried.  But these are some of my personal favorites, that I did not know about prior to hearing about them through blogging.

1. Prefense

This is my #1, all-time favorite product that I discovered directly as a result of doing blog reviews.  It’s a non-alchol-based hand sanitizer.  It doesn’t contribute to “superbugs.” And it works as a “preventive” – you can put it on before you encounter germs.  That makes it amazing for errands with young ones!

2. Write Outside the Lines

Write Outside the Lines is a book of writing prompts.  Except that’s overly simplistic.  It walks the reader through the whole writing process, creatively and in a non-threatening manner.  My daughter loves it!

3. Simply Aroma

Okay, this one’s a little different from the others in this group, because I didn’t find it through a review.  But I did find it as a result of blogging.  Simply Aroma is a direct sales company bringing quality essential oils to the public via a party plan.  And their product presentation is such that it makes essential oils simple and straightforward and not so overwhelming.  I heard about it from one of my blogging buddies in a sort of “mastermind group” for bloggers.  (Thanks, Mary Ellen!)

4. Cocomo Joe

Cocomo Joe makes a variety of products, but our favorite is the babyBAR.  It’s pretty tough to find easy, prepackaged finger foods for babies that aren’t grain-heavy.  Even yogurt bites and such often have flour in them!  But these are coconut-based, with no grains.  And Caleb loves them.  (They make a mess.  But he loves them.)

5. Twiztt

And the final entry in this list is Twiztt non-stick cookware.  It’s ceramic-coated, so it’s the healthy kind of non-stick – no Teflon here.  And it works.  Our pan is a little bitty one that’s great for cooking just one or two eggs.  I use it all the time when I’m fixing eggs just for myself.  I’d use it even more often if it were larger.  But there is simply no comparison between its non-stick-ness and the supposed non-stick-ness of some of my other pans.