I had heard of Grove Collaborative, kind of in passing, but was only really introduced to the company this spring when they were a bonus partner with the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle.  They’re a bonus partner again with the Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle this week, so I wanted to take a few minutes and tell you more about them and my experience.  (NOTE: Click here to be notified when the next Bundle is available, so you don’t miss it.)

How Grove Works

Okay, so what exactly is Grove Collaborative, and what’s all this stuff I’ve heard about “set baskets,” etc.?  Grove Collaborative sells household and personal care products (think cleaning supplies, toothpaste, feminine products, etc.) only from carefully-curated “natural” brands, and it does so with an auto-ship model — sort of.  (Don’t wig out if the idea of auto-ship makes you nervous; there’s a lot of flexibility.)

I have tried a lot of natural products in these areas and the sad fact is — especially when it comes to cleaning supplies — most of them just simply don’t work.  There are a few brands I find myself returning to again and again because they do get the job done, and these are the brands Grove carries.  Seventh Generation.  Method.  Mrs. Meyer’s.  (Okay, so I’m not as familiar yet with Mrs. Meyer’s, but giving the company it keeps here at Grove, I have high hopes.)  Those may not be the only brands Grove carries, but those are the big ones in the cleaning category.  Grove also has their own label with some products like the aforementioned walnut scrubber sponges, glass spray bottles, some beautiful cotton dish towels, etc.

They sell our favorite toothpaste (Earthpaste, from the makers of RealSalt), Preserve’s recyclable toothbrushes & razors, etc.

Never Run Out

The beautiful thing about the auto-ship option is that you can avoid running out of important things.  Just set it and forget it!  Similar to Amazon’s Subscribe & Save, your order will ship every month, based on what’s already set.  (The system knows to cycle through things.)  But if you’re like me and the budget is tight, you have a lot of flexibility.

You can add or remove items at any time up to the point the monthly order is processed.  You can change the date on your shipment.  (I always end up having to do this because we get paid on a 2-week cycle rather than a monthly one, which means our budget period gradually shifts to a different part of the month.)  You can also easily skip a shipment.

For instance, this is what my basket currently looks like:

There are several things I’d like to note here.  All of these items in my basket are items I’ve purchased before; that’s why they’re there.  And I love how easy it is to change quantities or flavors/scents from right there in the basket.  If I don’t need something this time ’round, I can simply delete it.  If I need something else, I can click “add product,” and shop around on the site for it.  If I want to defer my shipment, I can change the date, and if I want it to ship right away, I can click that button to the far right.

(This stuff all had a slight learning curve for me at first, but it’s really very easy once you get familiar.)

Say we want to change the date.  Then we just click on “change”  and this pops up:

Pick a new date (or just tell it to move the whole thing back a month) and, boom, you’re good to go.

What if I don’t want something that’s in my cart?  Well, then I’ll just click the little X in the corner of the product box, and then I’m presented with a few options:

If that’s all I wanted to do, I can just click “okay” and be done.  If I clicked it by accident, there’s an undo option.  Maybe I do want the product, but I don’t need it yet (we didn’t go through toothpaste as quickly this time, and can skip this month, or something).  In that case, I can just move it to the next shipment.  And if I don’t need that item anymore (have enough dishtowels?  decided I didn’t like a product I tried last month?  went through menopause and don’t need feminine products anymore?), I can unsubscribe altogether and the system will not put it back in my basket in future months.

By now, some of you are wondering about that “surprise me” option.  If you click that, it will add a surprise item to your basket.  See, here I’ve clicked it, and this item has been added to my cart:

This can be a fun way to try some new things.  If you decide you aren’t interested in the surprise item that was added, no big deal, just click the little X and take it back out of the cart.

Customer Service

The customer service is good and very responsive.  The site’s built-in communication is pretty good, too.  You get notifications when your shipment is coming up, etc.  There’s even an added safeguard.  I don’t know if there was a site glitch or if I loused something up or what, but one month I ended up with some bizarre quantities of things in my cart (like 10 toothbrushes, several bottles each of several different types of cleaners, etc. — don’t worry; this is not normal).  The net result was that my cart total was notably higher than in past orders.  The system recognized this and I got an extra email notification letting me know it looked really different and giving me ample opportunity to correct it.

Shipping

My things always come shipped compactly, in a cardboard box with brown paper for packing material, and with the tops of containers taped up to prevent leaks.

It’s not 100% foolproof (true story: this month’s shipment is the one time I’ve ever had a leak, so I had to borrow a picture from a friend — thanks, Stacy!), because shipping is shipping, but it usually does the trick.

I love that my dishwasher tabs, toothpaste, etc. come right to my door and I don’t have to deal with it.

What is VIP Membership?

VIP membership has a few extra perks.  Free shipping all the time.  Free items several times a year.  Extra-fast customer service (although the “regular” customer service is pretty great already).  And periodic specials.