It really is all about truly free truly free cleaning products You guys are in for a great show today. Hi there, I'm Angela Brown This is ask a house cleaner and we're also streaming live today to our Airbnb show turnover cleaning tips So I'm super excited about our guest today Maria Mooney and she is the marketing director over at truly free products It's a company that started back in 2008 Right about the time that all of us became really aware that there was a better way to clean So I'm really excited about the truly free cleaning products that we're going to learn about today So I'm going to ask you guys to jump in in the comments with your questions We're going to answer as many of them as we can and we're going to learn about Maybe some alternative ways that you haven't thought of yet. So please help me welcome Maria Mooney Hi everyone. Thanks for having me today, Angela Well, I'm so I'm super glad that you're here today I just I've I've seen you're the the products that you have and they just look so fun And they look so natural and organic and I see that they're all clear and free of artificial coloring and all kinds of stuff So I am curious and you got to tell me the story. How did this all get started?  It's like he's got this rash so he calls in for his wife and his wife at the time was a Nurse and she came running in just completely panic and thought oh my gosh We need to get him to the doctor or something's wrong And so just on the way to the doctor's office they you know He called a family friend and they just said, you know, it could be your laundry detergent You know, you need to look at what you're using on his his clothes and and you know at the time We had gone to the doctor the doctor prescribed, you know Steroids creams all these things and he thought you know There's got to be a better way to do this and that's really where at the time it was called my greenfields and Really the story evolved and from there they you know, we started making laundry detergent in a cement mixer In a garage and just this company just came, you know out of tons of you know blood sweat and tears and just evolved and from there It was like, okay, you know, we're tackling the laundry room But what other rooms in in the homes of other, you know Members or customers that we can help right like if it's your laundry room What other areas under the kitchen sink under the you know in your bathroom? What are other products and chemicals that are you know, our families our children are being exposed to that? We can make a difference And so that's really how it started we started our laundry line and then I would say about five Almost five year a little over five years ago. We started our truly free Surface cleaners, so it's just evolved from there and we just continuously, you know add new products Just based on what our members are asking for so it's an amazing story. I Have to ask did it stop the Allergies that the Sun was having and it's a rash Yes, as soon as he switched the brand and started using a night, you know a more gentle You know non-toxic kind of a formula. He got better And so he knew Steven was like something, you know, this has got to be it like we got we got to do better I want to do better for my family, but not only my family who else is dealing with this kind of issue Right and maybe unaware of it people are dealing with eczema or skin, you know skin issues Or even not they're exposed to toxic chemicals, you know day in and day out from cleaning products laundry products So we knew there had to be a better way How common are allergies related to laundry products, do you know? Yeah, I mean I've read some studies about it that it's it can be you know common You'll see, you know, so a lot of times people don't really realize what it is, right? They may have eczema and maybe it's making it worse or you know certain things that we talked about like fragrance Right fragrances. It could be a thousand different types of ingredients that are labeled fragrance that we don't know and a lot of people are sensitive to that I mean, I think we've seen, you know, just in the green Chemistry alone that's been happening. You look at a lot of the products that are out there in the shelves now and You know the products that my mom used my grandma used They've now started coming out with the free and clear and the in the sensitive skin because that's becoming such an issue And really consumers are driving that So I think we you know what that's really evolved into that industry where a lot more, you know Consumers are asking for in demanding these types of products Well, Lorraine says that happened to me using a laundry detergent It was surf and it wasn't available ever again soon after I had a huge reaction Wow dropped from the face of the earth So I don't know the surf brand, but I'm glad that it did because I hate that Lorraine had a reaction through that And I do want to say hi, we've got lots of friends here Shalon. Hello. We've got Monica Michelle says aloha La La Land says hello Maria and Angela and chat. Hey guys Do you have any that truly cuts through grease vinegar does not work for me, and that's a great question JB I would love to answer that during our conversations. Yes That that's a great question. So we get that a lot with our members We get that a lot with hearing from, you know professional housekeepers as well and It's yeah, we have we have a couple products are one of the ones that can be used on a lot of different things is our heavy-duty Degreaser so that product I think I actually have it here. I'll grab it for you that product is amazing. It It can be used on like your kitchen stove your kitchen counter Ovens you can use it as a pre-treat even for laundry if you get grease on your clothes I think a lot of you know, the question comes up a lot where You know, we work with professional house cleaners and they'll say I need something that's going to work and work effectively And what can I use in multiple routes, right? Like an all-purpose cleaner is great. This actually sometimes even works as an all-purpose cleaner Um, we have like it's so safe that my children can use it But even my husband will use it in the garage So if there's like a grease stain on the floor or you know, he's got a grease stain on something It definitely just removes it. So I love it.  It has such, you know multiple usage. So yeah, absolutely this cuts grease Awesome, and it'll even work on like, you know, we have a pot and pan cleaner, but this will work on that as well Is that safe for stainless steel because we've got those oven hood ranges that are super greasy And then yes, you want to make sure that there's a good degreaser you can use on that So yes, I use this on my stainless steel I actually even use it on my cabinets because you know how you you always get the grease Like that's right above the cabinets and you get it on the wood. I use it on that as well and it will remove it Yeah, so it's it's great Yeah, it works really really well. Great question Well, um, I know that there are a lot of homeowners that are joining us today because we're talking about laundry And so I love the fact that you brought up the fact that the degreaser can be used as a pretreater for laundry um, I don't know any anybody That eats wearing their clothes that doesn't spill something on there is some time or another And as a house cleaner, we run the risk of spilling stuff on us at all times when we're cleaning And I know that my cleaning because I just did a load of laundry today and my my shirts that I wear as my uniform That the fronts of them are always covered in stuff from dog hair to dust to just gunk that's splattered up on it And just there's always little grease stains and all kinds of stuff that are on there I have to pretreat every single shirt every single time and then we have the protein stains that are underneath the arms And a ring around the neck and it's just it's great to have some kind of a pretreating Solution there. Absolutely All right, so, uh, I want to say hello to everybody else here And that's the question we had about the vinegar Shalon says, uh sunscreen can be very toxic the spray on sunscreen can be super dangerous too And I think that goes back to the things we're talking about that we're allergic to Idra says, hi Um, Lorraine says that happened to me using launch. Oh that was the question that she said Um, hello from buds and flowers. Uh, JB says, thank you Um, so thanks you guys so much for jumping into the comments. I really appreciate that So I wanted to ask how did you get involved with truly free because this is a really interesting journey for you Like now to be the marketing director of this company. Yeah, so it's a really interesting You know, I came actually from like a financial marketing background. So completely different industry I was like a former executive, but the way I came into this company Truly to me, it's really unique because I started my non-toxic journey just over five years ago And I discovered this company much like a lot of our customers do, you know, my son He's nine years old now, but at the time he was four He was dealing with like itchy skin and rashes and I was dealing with like, you know When you over wash your hands just like the amount of you know, the irritation and just trying to understand like what What is happening, right? And it really led me to look into The products that are out there and I started doing a lot of research and history and at the time I came across the company was called my greenfields. So, um, I found it. I started using the products myself and I have to say, you know, there's there's a lot of products out there, right? There's a lot of different, you know, eco companies a lot of them have come on to the market recently but what really struck me as Like the wall factor when I got my first box was just how much this company was very mission driven And the support that they give and that we'd give now that I'm on the team is Just amazing. I mean we there I got this little postcard and it was You know, the the dryer angel project that we do and and this this is actually, you know Something that replaces toxic dryer sheets and this is hand sewn by women in jamaica that were rescued from sex slavery and they were empowered to have sustainable jobs So I get this postcard with the story and I thought my goodness like I've never seen anything like this. First of all, but I mean to not only replace toxic dryer sheets, but actually to give back, you know And fun villages and empower women in jobs I mean you can you can buy your products anywhere and you can find eco companies You can but when you when you look at really the core and the mission of a company and what they're doing It's truly free was, you know, so much more than that So I think that really spoke to me when I saw that and I definitely wanted to be a part of that And so I applied and I started working with our customers. I worked my way up And really learned, you know, it was beneficial for me because it really I really learned what our customers wanted What they were interested in seeing what, you know problems and solutions that they needed help with And, you know, just we just built the team and the company has grown immensely and I've been fortunate enough to really be a part of it So, um, we got an awesome team and we're a small team, but I'm telling you we we really we're such a great group that, you know, works really hard to to make it happen So, yeah, I mean, that's really my journey and just worked my way up to, you know, working directly and managing our operations or, you know, marketing operations, so Well, you have me really curious now. What's the little thing you just held up? What is that? How does it work? So this is a replacement for synthetic toxic dryer sheets So everyone loves like a fresh scent in their laundry, right? Some people use dryer sheets. Some people don't some people don't, you know, they just like to use like a fabric software So this is this is the cover.  You can use these like even in like a car freshener. You can hang them You can put them like in a gym bag. You can put them in a locker room I use them like in the mud room or you can throw them even in like a Like, you know A little drawer like with your socks or wherever you want like to freshen a scent and they smell so great and they're natural They're not well, and I'm I'm thinking for the airbnb people that are on our show today I think that that would be a great solution. I know that when there are A turnover between guests oftentimes they'll take something like that And they'll put that like right in or near the bed and then right before the guests come Then they'll remove it and then when the bed, you know, the guests come everything smells so nice and fresh or whatever But it's not, you know, there's not a dryer sheet hiding in the bed Exactly that would be perfect for that. Absolutely. I love that idea um, so you said, um Leave that in your washer. I think you meant leave it in the dryer. Do you leave it in the dryer? Leave it in the dryer in the dryer room You can leave it right in your dryer. You don't even have dryer itself. Yep. Leave it right in your dryer And it's safe to go through a load of laundry and everything. Mm-hmm. Yep. Interesting dryer. Yep It might get on one of your fitted sheets Because sometimes it does but you just have it hides in the corner. It hides in the corner But yeah, you just pull it back out and you just leave it right in your dryer Interesting and how often does that need to be replaced? um every 30 days or 30 dry cycles So depending on which one is, you know, which one you do but yeah, it smells amazing I'm thinking that would be a great christmas gift. That's awesome Yeah, um, so tell me about your laundry service. You mentioned that it's a subscription. How does that work? Yeah, so we have um We have the way our refill system works. So we are a refillable company Refillable model and we have customers that you know are not on subscription They can buy it one time if they'd like to um, but the savings is really in the subscription So how we do it is you can buy a jug the one time So we have like our laundry jug and I'll show you what the refills look like so you have A laundry jug this this will do about 50 loads of laundry and the first time you're a customer You get the jug and then the next time you just get the refill pouch And then all you do is this is a concentrated powder pack And eucalyptus scent and then you just fill it to the fill line Which we have instructions on the bottle on the container you just fill it with water And then you refill the the reef the jug and all of our products the majority of all of them are refillable So it's great because it cuts down on plastic waste It's actually a lot more affordable because when you're if you think about it Your you know if you buy products at the grocery store the big jugs You know the big spray bottles the cleaning bottles you're actually paying for water Right, you're paying for it to be shipped there. You're paying for the weight of it You're paying for the water So it's really you know more economical too because you're getting a concentrated pouch And then you're actually able to you know refill that and and use it when you need to so you can get subscription We have members that but get it every month or they get it every two months or three months So it's really up to the usage and how many people are in your family and how much product you need And we help you with that as well too. We'll help you figure out how much you need One of the things I love best about that is it comes the first time in a bottle with a label And that way that way we know exactly what's inside the bottle and it meets meets all of the OSHA regulations So yay for that So um, tell me about uh Professional house cleaners because a lot of professional house cleaners don't actually do laundry They do if they're doing a mommy's helper package Yes, and they're they're popping in and they're helping tidy up in the morning But for the most part for regular cleaning, we don't do laundry So walk us through a scenario of what is the proper way to do a load of laundry and then share with us How we would use your products in tandem with the solution or how you go about doing that Yep, absolutely. So really when doing laundry, I think it's It's a matter of you know, obviously taking looking at everything you have and separating what you have right so I tend to separate the whites from if you have like athletic wear or you know, a certain type of clothing that needs to be watched Washed separately or professional clothing things like that So I think it's really important to sort what you have because then that you'll better identify like, okay This load, you know, if I'm doing a load of whites, they need to be washed in the hot water And they need, you know, not only the laundry wash, but they need something that's going to brighten it like an Oxy boost or we have like an enzyme stain remover that You know will remove effect of the, you know, the dirt and the grime and the dark socks and the in the sheets that have kind of that dingy look to them.  If you the good thing is is our our oxy boost that we have here This is a brightener But it also is color safe.  So that's great. Um, so yeah, really I separate, you know You separate your towels things that need to be washed in hot water Whites things that you want to really brighten and you kind of just, you know, look at what you're doing and figure out What what temperatures they need to be? washed in What really do they need? So if they need to be bright and then obviously they need some sort of enzyme, right? They need something that's going to break up stains. That's going to brighten it and whiten it if it's just, you know You know, obviously the hot water or cold water you can the good thing is is our products work in either or So if you did wash it in cold water, it'll definitely work The oxy boost tends to be a little bit more stronger within hot water as it activates and it'll start to bubble up and really You know break up those stains. So Well, and I think that's the chemical nature of an oxy boost. Yes Absolutely. Yeah, it needs to be in the in that like hot, you know, hot water to activate it. So Yeah, I think it's really, you know, looking at what you're washing You know, if there's some things that you like if you have stains and you need to pretreat, right? So we do have You can use the heavy duty greaser We have like an odor and stain eliminator that you can pretreat So just kind of can you tell us about that for a minute the odor and stain remover because we have a lot of parents That have babies and then the babies spit up and they have these protein stains where this bit up I don't know why but it ruins all the clothing Yes, so we have we have an odor and stain eliminator product and it is It is amazing. It's it's one of I would say it's one of my favorite products because Not only you can use it as like a pretreat But you can clean you can spray and clean like garbage cans You know when they the garbage cans like smell funky, you need to get that funk out You can clean that. Um, I use it for even on like Pillows things that you can't wash right like decorative pillows couches um You know areas like maybe you have some things that you can't wash I actually even use it like my son plays sports and he plays hockey and there's some equipment that I just can't wash I can spray it on that you can spray it on shoes Um, so there's a lot of great things that you can use it But you can also use it as a pretreat as well for laundry and it removes like stains on carpets. It removes Stains on clothing. It's just it's a great versatile product And I think you know when we look to develop a lot of products We always look at What are what are multi uses like a product could have right if we're going to develop something? What else could be used? For the use of that, you know for that customer. What else what else could they tackle? Like what other stains could they use? How could they use it around their home? And what other toxic chemicals could we replace? With just this one product. So that's what we really try to do when we look at you know the multiple uses We can create with that And i'm looking at your display here and that's really impressive I see that you have some uh, are those glass bottles or those plastic bottles? Those are uh, recycled plastic Okay, yep refillable. So those are refillable recycled plastic And so i'm guessing this is the same kind of concept where this is part of a subscription And you get the jug one time and then the rest of it comes in a refillable pouch or something Is that yeah, so yep, so all majority of them all have refills And i'll show you our cleaning caddy here. So these are what like what the refills look like so you have like the bathroom cleaner Glass cleaner so they have they each come with refills. So the first time you order same thing with the With the actual cleaning bottle you'll get the bottle the first time And then what size is that bottle? Is that a 16 ounce 16 ounce? Ah, it's going to fit perfectly on your apron Perfectly Yeah, we do have 16 ounces. We do have some smaller ones that are like wooden furniture polish are seen Stain and steel cleansing polish is a 12 ounce.  Do you guys also sell that cleaning caddy? We do That's really cool. Yep. That's really cool. I'm thinking now for christmas this year though Me an awesome christmas gift. Yeah, if anybody wants if anybody wants to send me that cleaning caddy Angela I will send you that cleaning caddy Why why not ask for what you really want? No, uh, I say that I've become of that certain age where I get really excited about cleaning chemicals I'm like, oh check it out something new. Yeah, but but I love learning about stuff like this especially because Since the pandemic we've become a really consciously aware of the chemicals the earth cleaning sanitizing disinfecting Choosing a better way of having chemicals inside our homes And many people are so sensitive these days with and I don't I don't know why I grew up with no allergies I mean I grew up out in the country. Everything was natural. Everything was organic I was just fine that I moved into the world of house cleaning and oh my goodness My eyes would just turn bloodshot red my nose would clog up I'm like, yeah And then every day when I would get home It was like I had to do a detox because my whole body was just kind of like And then that's where you go into the apple cider vinegar Lemon juice to try to like purge your system like before the next day of going back to work again, you know It's funny you say that because I was thinking about that recently It's you know the old way of of cleaning right like Before a lot of these, you know, I'm not only truly free but other companies that have have designed, you know Eco company eco products back in the day. I mean I was laughing the other day.  You're getting your rubber gloves.  You're getting all these things. It's the dead of winter And my husband comes in and he'll say, why do you have the window open?  Like a lot of these products are they're effective You don't have to use toxic chemicals to get your house clean Well, you know, I started my cleaning company way back when and I didn't know any better And so I thought the more Color was in the cleaning solution the better a job it was going to do And I thought the stronger the smell of the chemical Exactly the more powerful it was going to be and the better job it was going to do And I made all the mistakes and I didn't know at the time that really clean didn't have a smell And that I was looking for non fragrance non perfumed cleaning solutions And just because it didn't have a color didn't mean it was not effective And I find myself now and maybe this is the the I don't know mature version of myself But now I'm looking for products that don't have colors and don't have fragrances and they don't you know what I mean? Yeah, exactly. We've got so many products that have improved over and over again that they're just as effective Tell us about the truly free products. How effective are they and how do we know? Yeah, I think that you know, we we use I mean in order to like develop so a lot of our products, right? When we look to develop our products, we we really work with like, you know, green chemistry We work with like-minded labs that come up with eco conscious Ingredients we're very selective about the products and the ingredients that were you know that we're putting into our products So, um, yeah, I mean it's very simple, you know the one thing I there's many things I love about truly free, but I would say The transparency, you know, there we're very transparent about our ingredients. We actually have it listed on our website Um, it's actually up against like environmental working groups ratings So you can go on to our site you can look up any ingredient and you can learn about it And I think that's really something that we you know, we pride ourselves on is education Like, you know, how do you know if it's effective, right? How do you know it's going to do the job that you That you want it to do and I think you know, everyone has an expectation of you know They want it to clean as well as a conventional product and it should right? So really doing the due diligence, you know in our in our creation of creating these, you know eco conscious products We do a lot of testing. We're very particular about the ingredients that we put in and we keep it simple Their ingredients that you can read their ingredients that you can understand and you can research and you can explain You know, why they work well, why is it, you know in combination with each other? How do they treat the water? How do they remove stains? Um, you know, how do what are the you know, we have a quadrasalt technology that's in our laundry That's a you know, patented formula. That's four salts and they work You know together to remove stains to treat the water to Not, you know, have your stain get re deposited onto another we talk about grease stains.  It wasn't even supposed to be there So so we've done all of that to where you know, that's what makes them effective it's really the quality ingredients how they work together And the rigorous testing that we do I mean it is not like we come up with an idea We launch a product in you know, two weeks. It takes us sometimes years to get it right. We've been perfecting Um, a toilet bowl product for a long time and we're not quite there yet And we're like what's not ready We got to keep going back to the drawing board and get it just right So there's a lot of testing that takes place in order to do that So I would imagine there's a lot of testing that takes place in order to take a liquid product and put it as a powdered product And then when you reconstitute it it becomes a product that is still stable and still is as effective That sounds like a really fascinating concept to me But I think we're moving to that as a like a new norm The reason I say that this is this is kind of off topic, but I keep this handy because it's interesting This little jug right here is windshield fluid And my husband said here's your windshield fluid. I was like I need more than that And he goes, I don't know. This is a concentrate. He said they're not selling the big jugs of it anymore. They're just selling the little tiny Concentrate and I was like, whoa, but I mean it's so cool. What a concept That's the era that we're in right now To buy your cleaning supplies in a powdered bag. I mean, can you imagine the storage of that instead of cleaning? Uh organizations that have cabinets full of jugs of stuff Can you imagine having just packets and how how that would change inventory? Whereas a professional cleaner we Do inventory every single night to make sure that we have everything all packed and ready to go What if you could mix stuff up on the fly if need be and you're just mixing it up as you need it And it's in a dry packet Until you do it saves you time saves. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, what a great idea Yep, that makes a lot of sense So tell me for our airbnb owners that are doing laundry Is this stuff safe on whites and linens like bedding and pillows and all that kind of stuff Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I mean it's safe for all of that. It's very gentle Um our the laundry wash is designed that it doesn't it doesn't leave any residue. It washes away clean It smells amazing It's perfect. I mean it's perfect for for bedding for towels for laundry for sheets, you know whitening Um, yeah, it does all of that.  So yeah, it definitely what it definitely works and brightens very well So is it a natural fragrance or is it a like how does that work? Yeah, so it is um, we use plant-based oils and so it's like um like a eucalyptus there's um There's a lavender scent and they and they're all essential oils that are mixed in in this In to create our what is called our signature scent? So, yeah, there's not like synthetics And so if um customers were looking for truly non-toxic products What would they be looking for when they choose your products or any other products? Yeah, I think you know when someone's let's say starting their non-toxic journey, right? Where do they what do they do? Um, we get that question a lot and it's it can be overwhelming to start. Where do I what do I start? What do I do?  I mean sometimes people do that But it's not always as easy as just ripping off a bandaid, right? So we say You know start room by room. Don't don't over complicate it You know start if you're having issues with skin sensitivity or You're noticing like your your glasses and your dishes have films on them There's like are you having issues in your home in certain areas? Maybe start there? Um, a lot of a lot of customers who are new to us typically what they do is they start in the laundry room I think it's easier to switch laundry detergent than maybe some of the cleaning products at first You know, they can start with that And then they eventually migrate over to like kitchen So they'll replace like their dishwasher detergent and their dish soap and their hand soap and those types of products So um, and then it evolves into the bathroom and the cleaning and all of those type of things So I think it's you know, really not to be overwhelming It's it's just you know, everyone's at their own pace of education And we try to do our best to you know, communicate like What to look for? Um, and just really you know kind of educate as to why you know, someone's having these issues But really just go room by room and try to make those changes You know, obviously with the caddy cleaning kit you can do all of those at once And you we sell those with the kit and everything together So that makes it a lot easier with the refills So if you had to replace all of like your basic products that you need to use in the home to clean homes From your glass cleaner to your you know, your bathroom cleaner heavy duty all of that You can definitely get that in one kit and you can replace all of that at one in one time to make it really easier too I know we're going to get questions on the bathroom cleaner. Can you tell us about the bathroom cleaner that you have? What does it do? What can you use it on? Is there anything you can't use it on? Yeah, so a bathroom cleaner it it's really effective.  You can use it on granite. You can use it on Marble, you know all of that it works really well It removes a lot of that caked on like calcium that you get those are so hard to remove from Fossets, you know, you get a lot of even that that's always you know an issue um That works really well and um, it doesn't really have a scent to it Which is nice because you're using everyone's used to that like harsh, you know bathroom like chemical ascent And this doesn't have that So it works really really well. It's super effective Um, so i'm curious is it safe on fiberglass and gel coats as well as stone like granite and marbles Yeah, I think if if there's anything that there's a concern you can always test it right to see if it But we've tested it on multiple surfaces and have never had an issue with it So i'm guessing they are sealed surfaces. Yes. Yes sealed surfaces. All right. Yeah And it's great for shower doors and stuff like that you mentioned shower doors Yeah, I get that we get that a lot here shower doors soap scum in the little crevices little things Yeah, it removes all of that It's and then I have I have another weird question But how about the the metal rim that's around the shower glass doors is it safe for that It is safe for that. I have In my house. Yeah, I have like it's the What is it the not the nickel? It's the brush like the bronze Yeah, and I use that all the time my kids have it. I have it in my shower and it just And that's what i'm thinking because with the bronze so many products you can't use on the bronze So we'll eat the finish or it's like a faux painted bronze And then you use it and then like it eats away and then the house cleaners are always like, ah, I ruined it What do I have to do now? Are you like replace the bronze? You know, yeah, yeah, this won't do that. Yeah, this works really well It's very safe. Yeah Cool. Well, we got a couple of questions that have come in Um, tay says they're also washable too. Oh, and she's talking about I guess the little uh, the little wash Laundry packets that you have so no worries if it doesn't make it in the washer Um, mackayla says hello. Hello mackayla Miss Udini 123 says what about is it reef safe for boat use? That's a great question. That's a great question. We actually a lot of a lot of our Customers will use our they'll use the bat. They can use the bathroom cleaner for that. It is reef safe They can also use the heavy-duty degreaser. That actually is the product that's used for boats the most often that we hear Interesting. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Oh, that's cool. Um, shalon says they need to stop selling water beets water beets are killing toddlers They need to stop selling toxic toys They get lodged in the child's intestines. That sounds like an interesting topic for another conversation I don't know a lot about water beads, but if it's killing toddlers, whoever's doing that, please stop That's not nice. Don't kill toddlers And frank says their laundry wash product used coconut oil based soap as the active cleaning agent soaps haven't been used to wash Laundry for over 70 years. No modern washers designed to use them. Can you address this about coconut oil? So he's saying the laundry wash product uses coconut our laundry wash uses coconut oil based as the active cleaning agent Um, that's a great question. I Out that's probably something that I could re I could answer a little bit more in detail after the call Yeah, frank. I could get you that information. I'd love to share that with you in more detail so you can see exactly how it works Yeah, I would be interested as well. Um, I don't know. I don't know about coconut oils used in laundry soaps But I do know believe it or not There are a whole lot of different varieties of laundry soaps whether they're it's powder or liquid or pods or whatever What form does your laundry detergent come in? So right now it's in a powdered form So it's a powdered refillable form. So our our other product we have is the softening rinse. That's in a liquid form Which is this is what replaces fabric softener Uh-huh, and that's that's a liquid form. But right now our laundry wash is in a powdered form And that is a refillable as well refillable as well. Yeah, this is what softens clothes and gives them a nice and replaces um fabric softener Oh, I love that. Yep This is so exciting. Oh my goodness. I I have I have Learned so much just by looking at this great big display This is so fun now up in the top of the display here that I'm looking at There's some little tiny bottles underneath the cleaning caddy. What are those little tiny bottles and what's inside? So that is our our line of essential oils So we started selling those. Oh gosh, probably six six or so years ago and developed just a small line of essential oils We have you know customers that like to You know add essential oils to maybe some of our cleaning products that are unscented like the bathroom cleaner or the everyday cleaner They like to add their own and create their own sense So we have a small line of it But um, yeah, it does it does well and a lot of our our members love to use those To add and I'm guessing the essential oils are safe with the products that you guys have created Yep, they go hand in hand together It doesn't change the stability of the product at all No, it it doesn't you can we we have some instructions on how to do that And then how many you should put in like usually 10 to 15 drops on average To to change it anything other than that you wouldn't want to over, you know over essential oil it But you'd want to keep it within about a 10 to 15 drops per product. Yeah And then my question about the lifespan or the the age of a product once it's Activated and it's inside water. How long does it last and and how long is it good for before you have to swap it out? Yeah, it's usually um, I would say, you know, maybe one and a half to two years is if you have a you know A refill a refillable, you know product that's just kind of sitting under your shelf We usually have like the dates on the little refill pouches So we know how long those would last but yeah, that's typically like one like one and a half to two years Cool. So that's really consistent with regular cleaning products that are also 12 to 18 months is typical for a cleaning product for the shelf life. And so I'm I'm glad to know the Activated product is that long. What about the in the in the bag packet? How long did those last? Yeah, those are the same that would be the same. Yeah. Okay. Yep same. Yep, and we put that on the back as well And so when you talk about a subscription, how often does the subscription happen if somebody was going to just like say Yes, any to me. I'm interested in that. I'm guessing it's different for every person. But how how long How does that work? Yeah, typically you're right. It is different for every person. So in my household We have I have three kids two dogs. Like we're kind of we're busy. There's a lot of washing going on so I get my product sent every 30 days So what the great thing is is, you know, you can customize it. So maybe this month I'm like, okay, I need more laundry wash or, you know, holidays are coming up. I need more heavy-duty degreaser I need products that I can wash my pots and pans and I need more soap or maybe we're going through that So you can kind of customize what you what you want to get every month Or you can get it every, you know, 60 days you can get it, you know, kind of when you want it Um, but yeah, really our customer service team will work with our customers to say, okay Let's help you figure out what you need because every product is different, right? You might end up using laundry wash more often Um, you might not use the, you know, wooden furniture polish as much Maybe you don't always have to like clean your wood furniture as much or maybe you're using another product on that Um, so yeah, it's really customizable. I would say the majority of our members typically get it every 30 days They just log into like a membership portal and they'll change they'll remove things and Yeah, so we have a program where the more the more you buy the more you save So the more products you buy if you buy like more than four Fortify products you get actually two full-size free products. So you can choose every month like oh this month I want to try oxy boost. Okay. I'm going to add that to my order or I've always wanted to try the dishwasher So you can get that free and it'll show you like hey, you haven't you haven't picked your free products yet make sure you get those right so We try to really incentivize You know our customers to save money, right if we can ship them You know more things that they want it's less shipments for us But we're savings, you know savings for us on the shipping we're passing that savings to the customer By getting that into their box. So We really try to do that So we do like a free soap for life which is they can pick whatever they want every month And then the discounts that they get when you say free soap for life. Tell me about the soap Yeah, so the free soap for life is the free products So whatever they want if they if we're doing You know laundry wash and that's my product. I want every single month.  Wow. You get an extra one Yeah, an extra packet in your box every single time, but you can switch it. So maybe this month Okay, I'm stocked up on laundry wash. I don't need another packet of that. I'm going to get the you know the Heavy-duty pot and pan spray. I haven't tried that yet. Oh, that'll be my free product So it's a great way for our our members to really try other things Save money Get discounts and you know really just kind of get the ability to try everything to see what they like and how they How they want to use it So I don't want to sound greedy or anything But I have to ask because somebody's going to ask me the question I know you guys have put together a special discount code for everybody that's watching the show Yes, we do go to truly free home.com and then when you get to check out you type in ask angela 30 And that's a discount code that will then tap you into a discount Does that also include the discount and the free product? It does It does. Yep. Yep. It'll include that for you.  I love it. I love it. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Love you guys. All right. So you mentioned dishwasher. So tell me about that Yeah, so we have um We have a dishwasher soap product. I don't think I have it here with me, but it's um It's in probably in the picture that you have too. It's it's a Nice like good size packet. It'll last you like over a month Yep, it's right up in the left hand corner there and it is I would say The one of the best dishwashing products I've ever had and we took a long time to perfect it to make sure that it was You know, it works with all different waters, right? Some people have hard water Some people live near, you know, they have well water and that you know, that can cause issues with your glasses Right? Your glasses your dishes you have the coating no matter what you use So we've tested it. We found the right natural like softeners things that can work with hard water That can you know, change the pH of the water and really treat the water to get Effectively clean dishes and this product works so well. You can use it with a rinse aid, which we do have But you don't always have to it works just just perfectly without it. So um, yeah, it lasts about 30 30 I would say about 30 days for the for the bag and you can really get a lot of great use out of it Yeah, and it works amazing So is that for the dishwasher or is that for like washing dishes by hand in the sink? So we have both so that one is for the dishwasher itself the machine And then we do have a dishwashing soap up at the top there. You can see that is a refillable as well So you keep the bottle at your sink and then you just get the refill packets to refill that into your into your container I love this. All right. So now I've got a different question But if I have this little it looks like a pump spray there the of the dishwasher or a little dish dish Whatever that is for the dish What do you have for the bathroom so that I've got soap at my bathroom vanity? Yes, so we have for the bathroom. We obviously we have the bathroom cleaner that we we spoke about already We have hand soap. So a foaming aloe hand soap that's unscented Which works amazing. It's just it's like the more you wash your hands like the softer they get It's such a great product and then we also have um a space freshener which is way up on the top left there that is a It's made with essential oils and you can use it instead of like those breezy type of, you know Products that are out there. You can use that as a deodorizer. You can freshen up a room. You can use it for a bathroom um It's it's amazing and it's refillable as well And a lot of people love that because you can you know you get a lot of use out of it It's a good size. It's a 12 ounce bottle. You don't need a lot to spray um, so that works quite great as well and then For the bathroom as well our oxyburst, which is a laundry product, but it's also great for bathroom use So you can take this and just sprinkle it into a toilet And you can use your scrub brush and scrub the inside of the toilet You can spray, you know sprinkle it into a tub and you can clean a tub It gives you that nice grittiness that you can really you know scrub and then rinse with hot water Um, yeah, so is that safe for septic systems? Yep, absolutely Yeah, we know I'm gonna ask that question. Yeah, it is Yeah, great question. No, it definitely is over. I'm gonna get flooded. Is that safe for septic systems? I'm gonna go. I don't know. I should have asked all of our products are Yep, so they definitely are step. Yep. This is multiple uses so Yeah, it's it's great.  There's like that ring around. It's like, how do I get that off? I don't want to use something like chalky or You know a really pungent like bathroom cleaner This will work great with a good scrub brush and just clean it off and it it removes all of that So that works great. Yeah, so the bathroom there's there's definitely a lot of great things you can do there Oh, bc says I live in an old building with a fiberglass tub and it's so hard to get shiny Is there something that you can recommend? Yes, this is what I would suggest That's absolutely. Yeah Yep absolutely Yeah, all right, so I have another question then and my question is if I'm new to cleaning and I don't know what kind of cleaning solutions to use All of yours are clear and they're all I know they all have labels on them But yeah, what what if I'm using a cleaning solution? Can I just guess or assume that if it's safe on this item it's safe on another item? Or do I really need to stop and read labels or how would I decide what product to use where because you just said The oxyboost can go in the tub and the tub Yeah, so we we have a lot of that on our packaging So there's a lot of direction on that we do have a product guide that the customer would get So the first time they purchase from us they'll get a guide with here are your products hear how to use them A lot of the products that we have Every one of them have like if you could see there's a qr code on the back So you can scan them and you can actually it's a how-to video Of how to use your products where to use it what surfaces to use it on And then I'll also take you to the website where we have the rest of the guide Well, you'll see all the other products So if you have any questions you can always reach out to us But we try to give as much education as possible Even on our website, we have our product guide that'll show you different rooms You can try different things, but yeah on the back of the bottles we'll have you know This is great for this this this and this You know, you can use it safely on this this Countertop or you know dog beds We have a product that our odor and stain eliminator is great for dogs and pets and it's putt safe putt safe and friendly So can you tell us about that product? Yeah, so the odor and stain that was the one I was telling you about that You can use it on garbage cans, hockey equipment all of that I use it you can use it on dog beds You can use it on you know, I have two dogs two big ones and they you know It's like sometimes you just have like your carpet or your rug that you're like I just want to freshen and I can tell he's been laying on it, you know You can't quite shampoo it or you don't have the time to You can spray it on there and it has this enzyme blend in it that Just basically like gets rid of the smell gets rid of the odor It'll get rid of a stain like one time I accidentally clipped my dog's fingernail too tight and he was you know They bleed sometimes if you do it too short or too short on them That and I got the blood right out of the carpet Which blood is really hard, right? Usually people are using like you know peroxide or whatever to try to get that out it removed blood stain So and it's safe. I mean I I have you know my you know kids pets I don't want to use toxic chemicals around them And my one dog she has a lot of allergies too. So you have to be careful even like You know Pesticide fertilizers, you know things that are outside like affects her. So Yeah, it's definitely pet friendly and safe And I can literally spray it next to her when she's laying there and and know that it's not going to do anything to her Which is awesome Oh silver hercules says hello my first time watching live. I want to say hello silver hercules and welcome I'm so glad you joined us today I'm learning some really fun stuff here about cleaning supplies And what really excites me is when I hear stuff like this is really safe for pets And then the next thing is because I'm going to get asked a ton of questions If a dog or a cat pee's on the floor, is that the same product that you would use to remove the smell? Absolutely. I love that. Yeah, it it will it will remove pee from dogs small children I mean, yeah, it definitely will it does break down that that stain in the urine and it'll get rid of that Yeah, is it safe enough to use in the bathroom for the the area around the toilet where there's overspray and there are accidents sometimes Yes, absolutely. Yeah, does a great job with that Yep, yay. Okay. Cool. All right now you mentioned earlier a furniture polish. Tell us about your furniture cleaner or your wood cleaner Yeah, so we have a a wooden furniture polish. Um, I do have it here. It's in the 12 ounce bottle this is really great for You know restoring like your wooden furniture that is dull You know, like I mean I have a wood counter behind me. I have a wood kitchen table And it's just it's really nice like especially this is a big seller for us around the holidays Because you know, everyone's starting to come over and you want to get that, you know, that dining room table looking good Or you have end tables that have been scratched It really restores that furniture And it puts a nice, you know, a nice it's not not a residue coating But a really nice shine and I find like it breaks down a lot of like that that dullness that's there and it really restores the wood So it's a it's a great product it's not one that you'd want to use on the floor because it has a like a Like a conditioning treatment in it so it can make floors slippery So we do have a floor cleaner that we use that is is safe for floors Obviously, this is not something you'd want to spray on the floor. So, um, yeah Is this wood cleaner safe for a wood that has like a a varnish or a finish on it? Yes Absolutely. Yep. Yeah, it'll clean it'll clean really well and it removes any kind of like dullness And just really restores it Yeah, it's really great. What about really dried out wood that's like antique for example, is it safe to use on something like that? You could yep, you actually could I would I would check it if like, you know, if it's not If it's not treated and it's just like, you know, a regular piece of wood I mean, I would test it, you know, because of the conditioning treatment You wouldn't want it to leave like a little bit of like an oil type of us, you know, look to it But really anything that is, um You know You know finished wood would be safe for it. Yeah absolutely I love that. It's a great product and it's refillable too. That is so exciting. Okay. So, uh, Yvette says the walls around my stove are So greasy and I've tried everything but nothing works Do your products cut the caked grease on walls not Tyler backsplash just the regular wall So I'm guessing we're talking about like a drywall for example. Is this something you could use on a drywall that has a A painted drywall painted walls. Yes. Yeah, so yeah, probably I would not say just, you know Untreated walls like a drywall not painted. But yeah, definitely painted walls. Um, that is something that happens in my house Um, I use the heavy duty degreaser on that and that removes it Yeah, it actually even gets off like either the odor insane or the heavy duty degreaser like scuff marks But to get grease the heavy duty degreaser. Yeah, that'll remove that So is that also the product you would use for those six panel doors where people open the closets or the bathroom doors And there's like this this much and I say this much a foot and a half above and a foot and a half below the handle Yeah, or people that kind of brush the door closed with their hand. Yeah, absolutely. Yep. That is the worst Yeah, it would definitely that is the product for sure And that's the degreaser the degreaser Oh, that's awesome. Yep Love it Very cool. All right. Now you just uh mentioned something else that I have to ask you about you said you have a Floor cleaner. Tell me about your floor cleaner. Yeah floor cleaner. Maria you just have everything. This is so cool We do we're trying to you know, we're just trying to remove one toxic chemical at a time, right? So yeah, our floor cleaner is it's really cool.  You want to you don't want to feel like you're just washing with water, right? So it's a refillable product. Um Yeah, it's amazing. I have hardwood floor throughout my entire house tile in the bathroom and it's great for every single Surface, I mean, I use it when I mop. I literally do my finished wood stairs coming down That look dull. They get dusty from the dogs, you know, it just really restores it and that nice citrus smell I feel like it cuts through like any film or grease, you know from cooking on the on the floor like spills little You know dog drool like any of that I mean you have babies or small kids that are dropping food or there's you know splatter Um, yeah, it just really restores it. It shines. There's no residue The hardest thing I think, you know, when you're finding trying to find a floor cleaner is like You find stuff that just leaves like residue behind or after you've used it and you're just like Oh my gosh, like I just mopped this floor and it looks like I didn't even do it, you know And that's just like the worst feeling sticky. Yeah, if you sticky Yeah, I use our floor cleaner even in and we get this question a lot like in steam steamers like Like a bissel cross wave like a lot of customers use that they'll fill it in like that refillable container And they'll use that in like it vacuums and it mops at the same time just to cut down or you can you know You can pour a refill into You know a bucket of hot water you can use it with that It also comes with the bottle comes with a squirt like if you had to just do like a quick Like oh, no, there's a quick spill, you know You just have to squirt the floor and do like a squirt mop or you can actually spray and spray it So it has a sprayer if you had to do a quick cleanup You can just spray it and just clean the floor really quick with like an eco cloth and and clean the floor Just like that makes it super easy Well, I'll be look at all this Stuff This is really amazing. Um, so on the top shelf there of your your magic cleaning display I'm seeing something next to your cleaning caddy and it looks like it might be a scrub brush or some microfiber claws or something What am I looking at there? Yeah, so we we have um, these are eco-friendly reusable cleaning cloths So we have they come in a little two pack And they're they're amazing. They're multi-purpose. They're durable sustainable And yeah, they're awesome. So I you can use these as like dusters If you want to use them just, you know dry dusting you can use them at that You can use them with our everyday cleaner which everyday cleaner here We didn't get to talk about it too much But this is like this is the cleaner that will replace all purpose cleaners So if you're just cleaning down your kitchen counter or you're cleaning a toy room or kids room or this is the cleaner that You'd want to use for every every room in your home anywhere. You want to dust or anything that you need to clean This is the this is the product to do it. So so yeah these these cloths. I use them to dust I use them to um, you know clean my counters and it really saves on paper towels Because I don't know about you but oh my gosh like it's easy to go through Paper towels and paper towels are so expensive, right? So it's just a great way to take these either washable And you know, you get a bunch of these and you can use certain ones for certain cleaning Maybe ones I only use for the bathroom ones. I only use for the kitchen and then you just wash them So they're good And I love the fact that you have two different colors because you put one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom So that you're not contaminating that my question is do you use those wet or dry? You can use them both. I mean I use them with the everyday cleaner and spray it when they're wet. Um You I you can also dry dust So I use them if it's just a quick like wiping down a tv entertainment center, you know quickly wiping down an end table That's dusty. Um, yeah, they work both ways and they and they collect a lot of dust They really do they really they don't just push it around they really, you know, they catch the fibers catch it and They're they clean awesome and they wash really well too. They don't shrink which is nice, right? So you want to keep them the the size that they are and they're just so durable I love them. They're great. So when you say they're washable Does that mean you wash them by hand or are they washable in the washing machine washing machine? Yeah, no hand washing Yeah, you can wash them in the washing machine And so do they need to put in we put in like a mesh bag or something like we do with our other microfiber claws You can if you want or you don't have to I mean, I actually wash mine with our towels I'll wash it. It doesn't pick up lint or anything. No No, huh Does it change the effectiveness of it because I know with microfiber claws for example If it picks up lint and stuff then it's not as effective. Which is why we use the mesh bags. Yep. No, it works just great Yeah, I don't see any consistency change at all Yeah, they're losing Awesome, right or is there anything I forgot to ask.   Um, I think one of the things we were going to maybe bring up is We talked about maybe like some fall cleaning tips, right? Like we're getting ready for holiday season and what are some things that we can do Um, yeah, I would say a couple things that you know come to mind for me Is you know getting ready for the holidays, right? We're getting ready to spend more time in the kitchen It's like, all right. I'm about to have a lot of people over like what do I focus on? What do I clean right and I think a lot of what we're seeing now is you know Kind of stopping and like looking around and like, you know, wiping down your counters or wiping down your cabinets is a big thing Right, you're having a lot of people over or just family Looking at your walls like before we go and start putting up holiday decorations and all of that and I know that for a fact because Having three kids and dogs people are running in and out my kids come through the mud room They put their hands on the you know walls So, you know before you start putting up your decorations and all of that I think it's important to kind of look at and wipe down your walls The everyday cleaners a great one for that To keep it super easy and just kind of clean, you know wipe down your walls and all of that stuff for smudges and things like that Is the everyday cleaner and all-purpose cleaner? Yes. Okay. Yeah, so it works really great with that um another one I find is in a lot of this I hear these stories all the time too with a lot of our members is like Clean you wouldn't think about it, but cleaning and organizing getting your kitchen ready for food storage And you you know, you don't think about that But it's like oh cleaning out those Tupperware drawers or cleaning out like the the kitchen areas that you're getting ready You're about to start cooking or you know finding the casserole dishes that maybe you hid far away And now you need to pull all that stuff out and especially when cleaning up from the holidays, right? I know that's happened to me several times. I've had family over My sister-in-law my mom's like in the you know the drawer trying to you know put away the stuffing or put in there Like where's the lid? I can't find the lid You know, so it's just kind of getting yourself more organized and and cleaning up and getting things ready So so it really allows you to spend time with your family And kind of get your house ready for a little thing. So a little you know declutter things to look for I love that. That's fantastic. I do want to highlight the fact and thank you so much for doing this for our audience We didn't ask you to do it and you did it anyway Thank you so much for putting together a code for our members that can get a discount on your products I think that's just a god's end. Thank you so much. And then also For those of you that haven't checked out the products that are eager to do that go over to trulyfreehome.com and check out the products that Maria has just shared with us because she gave us a wealth of information And if nothing else it's going to give you a chance to look at cleaning supplies a different way So if you're not sure what to use like I said, there's a the qr code on the back like maria mentioned That's going to give you some education that you can you can learn as you go But this is a really safe way to try some new cleaning supplies that are maybe more I'm going to say allergy free friendly for your family So if your family does suffer from allergies and you're in a constant state of stuffy nose and runny eyes and itchy eyes This this might just be the thing that you're looking for So, um, we're out of time today. I want to say thank you so much for coming on the show This was really awesome. I just really appreciate it And I want to say I thank those of you guys that jumped in and the newbies that are joining us for the first time today This was just amazing. Awesome. Thank you so much for having me. We really appreciate it Is there anything you want to leave with us before we we close today? Um, just thank you everyone for the time and really taking the time to to learn about this and anything We can do to help we're always here to serve you. So thank you again. Really appreciate it Thank you so much and thank you truly free


Hi and welcome back here on my study channel, The London Writing Academic. So I'm here today with a back to basics video, which is basically back to basics is a playlist here on my channel and also a series on my blog, The London Writing Academy, which you can access at blog.NefisaLondon.co.uk. And it's all about going back to basics in terms of academic writing skills. Now, the reason why I called it this is because the topics that I am going to cover in this mini series and playlist are basic academic skills that you need to master in terms of developing your skills in both undergraduate and postgraduate study. However, there are also skills that a lot of people need to refresh and that is absolutely fine. When I first started this PhD program that I'm doing, there was a forum that we were discussing a specific paper that we had to write. And there were people there who hadn't studied for 20 years plus. Of course, they have their first degrees, I have their masters, but they were just kind of, you know, a little bit shaky and apprehensive about basic academic skills such as, you know, referencing even which voice to use, whether to use the passive voice, whether to lead with I, the I voice, paraphrasing all of these basic skills. So it's not that they didn't know what they were, but of course, you know, because, you know, they spent years working in industry where perhaps academic writing wasn't necessary for them to do, you know, they kind of needed to brush up on those skills. So for those that profile of people and also for people who are getting started or getting into academic writing who don't have experience of that, these are basic skills. And, you know, while they are a starting point for the basis of good academic writing, they're also skills that, you know, we need to revisit, we need to sharpen. And that's fine, because life skills, you don't just learn them. And that's it for life. A lot of the time, you need to come back and kind of refresh and, you know, what am I doing? For me, referencing is one referencing is something that especially if you have to switch between different styles of referencing, it is easy to kind of forget the conventions and you have to check it. So that's the idea behind the playlist and the series that I'm doing both on this channel and on my blog back to basics. So it's to cover all the, you know, the basics of academic writing. So if you need this and you find this useful, please do subscribe to this channel if you haven't already. Take a look at my blog. I put a lot of free content that is useful. And of course, you know, have a look at my academic writing community on my Patreon, which is basically my online school where you'll have access to a plethora of academic and study skills resources. And don't forget to hit the like button. That will help me out. And it also helped me to know to make videos like this in the future. So today, the basic academic and writing skill that we are going to be focusing on is understanding the essay question. And I am going to be looking or we, we are going to be looking at five instructional verbs, which are common. They come up in undergraduate and postgraduate assignments. And essentially, the there is one, or there are several concepts, but the main concept I want to get across today is I want my students to step away. I want you to step away from just simply describing. And I speak as somebody who I teach both undergraduate and postgraduate students academic writing. And for the students who want to get the top marks, they say to me, you know, how do I get the top marks? What they have to do, what is essential is to step away from simply just describing what they are writing about. And it's something that, you know, a lot of educational systems that my students are used to, or where, you know, they, they, they come from require them to memorize information and to simply just regurgitate. But if you've watched any of my other videos, you will know that critical thinking is a big thing. In order to know if you are after the top marks, you must demonstrate level, a high level of criticality, critical thinking, and which goes beyond it's not enough to just describe something. Something if you've read a whole textbook, I do not need to see that in your writing. I do not need to be told things that I already know. The examiner doesn't need to be told things that he or she already knows. So it's really about stepping away from that. So with the five instructional verbs that we'll be looking at today, I'll be showing you what is required and what it doesn't mean, because a lot of people will look at these words and they will think, you know, okay, without really understanding what is being asked, they will just give a description of, you know, what they've read or just say what they've read. And that is really, at best, it will just get you a basic pass. Like I said, it doesn't show it doesn't demonstrate any form of criticality. It doesn't show any form of, you know, analytical skills. It doesn't show any synthesis ability to synthesize from sources. By synthesis of sources, I mean, read in a wide range of literature and being able to, you know, streamline it in an essay and, you know, put your argument forward clearly and logically. Okay. So it is important that obviously you understand what you are being asked to do, and that you do that effectively. So we're going to be focusing on five instructional verbs today, which are analyze, assess, consider, discuss and evaluate. Now, of course, this is not an exhaustive list. There are more instructional verbs. And I will put a list of the most common and what is required. I'll put that in a document and I'll have that available on my academic community. Again, the link is in the description bar below this video. But today, we're just going to be focusing on the five because these are the most common, both undergraduate and postgraduate study. And it's something that you will be asked to write about. So really understanding what it requires and being clear on what it isn't is, you know, a really, really good starting point. So let's begin. So the first verb I'm going to look at the first instructional verb is analyze. Okay, so when you are asked to analyze, you are being asked to look in depth at how and why something is the way it is using supporting arguments as evidence. Okay. Now, again, I'd like to draw your attention to supporting arguments as evidence. This is a recurring theme. You will see this is a requirement of all the instructional verbs which we are looking at today. So firstly, I would like to draw your attention to this right here. This is a bottle of Chanel nail polish, which happens to be the color that I'm writing. And yes, if any of you are familiar with my other channel, do not worry, this is not a beauty video. And it certainly isn't a makeup tutorial. However, what I would like to demonstrate is the concept of analyze. If we were to analyze this bottle, it would be it would require looking in detail at how and why it is the way it is. So if I was to tell you this is a bottle of Chanel nail polish and it's the color is what looks like pink and the lid is black, you can clearly see what I'm telling you. I haven't told you anything groundbreaking. There is no revelation here. And you're not going to be wowed.  And that is what you want to get away from when you are asked to analyze. So if we're being asked to analyze this bottle, again, we're looking in depth at how and why something is the way it is. So firstly, of course, we'd have to start with some form of description.  We look closer at the color. And I think the color here, it says Camellia. So we're going a little bit step closer. Then we'll say the material this is glass. And perhaps, you know, the reason why it is glass is because the manufacturer wanted the customer or the potential customer to see the color. The contents within the the bottle need to be displayed. So by taking, you know, a transparent material such as glass to house the product allows for the customer to see what is inside. Okay, so why did the why did the manufacturer use glass rather than plastic? Plastic is an option. It could be for several reasons. It could be that, you know, glass gives it more of a luxurious feel. Obviously Chanel is a high end product. And given, you know, using glass as opposed to plastic, plastic gives it more of a luxury feel. Also, it could be that, you know, glass is more environmentally friendly, and the manufacturer is environmentally conscious. It could be the case. If we look at the lid, if we take it off, we can see that there's a double lid. There's a one lid. And there is a second lid. So why is that the case? Why did the manufacturer use a double lid? Why wouldn't it be okay to just use one lid? Okay, it could be that having two lids, one serves as an aesthetic function. It looks good. It fits a certain, it keeps the certain shape that the manufacturer wanted, which is a kind of a cuboid oblong shape. It could be for ergonomic purposes, you know, it fits nicely into the hand, it's nice to hold. And then it could also be for functionality. So if we take this off, you can see that this lid requires a twist feature. And then we can open the bottle and, you know, we have access to the contents inside. So this has a twist feature. But it could also serve as a protective measure. So if you close this, maybe it is not as secure as it would be if it has a double lid feature. So the double lid allows for aesthetic in terms of ergonomics, it feels better to hold rather than just having it without. And then also it serves, you know, to protect the contents from spillage. So if there was a spillage initially, the second lid would serve as a protective feature that would stop the liquids or the products from leaking. Now, can you see how we've taken a closer look at how the bottle is the way it is and why it is the way it is? It serves the function, the purpose. However, we still have to go a step further. So if in terms of talking about the glass, the glass feature as opposed to plastic, I would need to bring in evidence that glass is, I've said that glass could be more environmentally friendly. But I have to show that this is the case. And it's not enough for me to say this. So I would need to show from evidence of reading, whether it's from a textbook from a journal article that glass is more environmentally friendly, or more biodegradable, whatever word you want to use than plastic. And that is perhaps why the manufacturer decided to use this. I would also need to show support from other literature that the design, the concept of the design maybe having a double lid feature is something that nail polish manufacturers like to use. So if we go back to what analyzing involves, you can see we have, we have looked in depth at how and why the Chanel nail polish bottle is the way it is. And then if we bring in the evidence about the glass being more environmentally friendly or more biodegradable, and we bring in evidence from maybe design books about why certain manufacturers use certain designs, then we have fulfilled the criteria of supporting arguments as evidence. And we've stepped away from simply describing and telling the reader or the viewer what they can already see. So what analyzing isn't is simply describing something, a trend or a pattern, because that does not show criticality. That does not show analytical skills. It is a basic, basic concept describing something is at the bottom of the pyramid that I had previously spoken about. Bloom's taxonomy, I will leave the link in the description bar. I suggest you have a look at that.  Okay. Moving on, the second instructional verb. Assess. So it's often you will be asked to assess something, you'll be given a, often a sentence. And at the end, it will say assess or the assess the instructional verb assess may come at the beginning of the sentence. So what does assess mean? Assess requires you to judge the quality, importance or effectiveness of something supported by reasons for your judgment. Again, you can see this is a repeating pattern supported by reasons. So you need to bring in evidence from your reading, you need to show that you have engaged with the literature. So let's take a closer look. If you judge the quality and importance of something, you really, again, it goes beyond describing. So again, by engaging with the literature, you will see, you know, what, what is quality, you will see, you know, you will be able to judge, but you will support and say, you know, according to what you have read, this is what is regarded as high quality, or this regard is as important. Therefore, you will be able to judge the quality, importance or effectiveness or something. But the key idea here is you have to bring in evidence from reading, because otherwise, it's very easy for students, you know, anyone can make an assessment based on their own personal opinion. But in academic writing, everything you say must be supported with evidence from sources. So it is key that you support your reasons for judgment by engaging, by showing that you've engaged with the literature. So you do need to show what you have read and how that informs you to make a judgment of the quality, importance or effectiveness of something, such as this product that we looked at in the first, the first example of analyse. What assess is not is simply stating advantages and disadvantages or something. Again, if you state advantage, if you just simply state the advantages and disadvantages of something, it's just describing. It's describing, it really doesn't show any form of critical thinking. And assess does not mean simply stating advantages and disadvantages of something. Again, you need to go a step beyond that and engage with the literature, find the support from reading textbooks, journal articles and engage and show that you can judge the quality of something based on what you have read, using that evidence to support the arguments you make in favour of something's quality, importance or effectiveness. Moving on to the third instructional verb, consider. So consider is another common instructional verb that does appear a lot in undergraduate and postgraduate essays. And obviously the word consider means to think. It's a synonym to think, but in terms of an instructional verb, consider requires you to think carefully, usually to a certain extent, about something before drawing a conclusion. You will need to look at various aspects and or different perspectives to your own. So again, the fact that you need to look at various aspects and different perspectives, again, it requires you to engage with the literature. Simply, it means you need to read. You need to read and be informed. What is the debate in your field? Well, what is, what does the literature say? What evidence can you gather from the books, from the journal, articles, from the sources that you have read? So obviously here, the key thing is to think carefully. Okay? Think carefully. Consider. Now if you're thinking carefully, this goes beyond you simply stating your opinion. If you're going to think carefully, you will have to look at various aspects which are different from your own. And that is where your reading comes in. You've read a wide variety of sources and you've gained different perspectives. And once you've done that and you've looked at that in relation to a specific topic, then you will need to draw a conclusion. Okay? Now it is very common for you to be told consider the extent that consider the extent of or to what extent does blah blah blah. Okay? So when you're asked to consider to a certain extent, obviously within the scope of what you have read, how far is what is being said true? That is something for you to think carefully about. And again, you need to think if you, if you are being asked to think carefully, the issue at hand is multifaceted. By multifaceted, I mean multi-dimensional. By multi-dimensional, I mean there are more sides to to your own. Okay? There are different perspectives and you need to demonstrate that you have thought carefully about these before you present your own conclusion. Okay? So again, the key is support evidence by engaging with the literature. So what consider does not mean is simply saying what you think without support or evidence from sources. This is not only just going back to, you know, the basic skill of describing, but also not presenting support or evidence from sources means you just haven't engaged with the literature. So therefore, you have not thought carefully and in order to consider, you need to demonstrate that you have, you have the ability to think carefully. Okay? Moving on to the fourth instructional verb, discuss. Okay? So again, discuss is another common one where you'll be given a statement or a sentence and at the end of that, usually will be accompanied by discuss. Okay? Now again, please understand that this does not mean describe, it doesn't mean describe. Discuss requires you to look specifically at issues surrounding a specific topic and make arguments for and or against based on evidence from sources. Again, the recurring pattern, evidence from sources you need to read, you must demonstrate in your writing that you have engaged with the literature and you can only do that if you have read a variety of sources. So again, like I said, look at specific issues surrounding a specific topic. When you discuss, obviously you don't typically discuss something by yourself. A discussion is usually a dialogue of two or more people. Now in writing, this is exactly the same case. In writing, if you are being asked to discuss, you will need to look at specific issues, but again, it usually is more than one point. It will require a minimum of two, but most of the time it is, again, multifaceted, multi-dimensional, or simply there are different perspectives. It is, if you are being asked to discuss something, usually it's something that is debate worthy. It is usually something that is controversial. It is something that there are different opinions and then of course there is your own opinion. So you can see here, you need to make arguments for and or against based on evidence from sources. So you've done your reading, you've taken out all the interesting points that you want to present, but you have to do this by showing that, yes, you can make an argument for something and against something and you can back this up because, yes, you can demonstrate that you have read the debate, you are aware of the debates in the field, the current debates in the field, and the way that you are aware of this is because you are able to present evidence from what you have read. A very important thing is, when we say arguments for or against, if it's a discussion, you must also show a balance. You cannot be one-sided and simply just present everything. If it's a discussion, like I said, it involves a dialogue usually of two or more and with a dialogue it has to show a balance. Now, can you form, can you present your opinion? This is where students have to be very clear. Yes and no, you can present your opinion through the arguments you form supported by evidence from reading, okay, but you also have to show, what is the what are the counter-arguments? It's fine that you make arguments, but you have to show that, yes, you are aware of other perspectives and different opinions from the literature that you've read. Therefore, it has to be, there has to be a balance there. If you make arguments for, you have to present that there are also arguments against. So therefore, discuss does not mean simply stating whether you are for or against something without giving evidence or reasons. Again, this is a very, very basic level and it's describing and to be honest with you, the only academic writing that you can get away with this is only in IELTS exam writing and that is the only reason why you can even get away with that is because the nature of the exam is focusing on your language. It's not really focusing on how well you know and understand the topic. So therefore, you don't really need to bring in evidence of engaging with the literature. However, at undergraduate and postgraduate level writing, this is absolutely not the case. You must show that you have engaged with the literature and you have to show that you have critical thinking abilities and you are able to discuss by engaging in looking at both sides of an argument and bringing in supporting evidence to show that you have engaged with the literature. Okay, last but not least, the fifth instructional verb, evaluate. So again, evaluate is one, I guess it's slightly similar to assess but it also isn't because evaluate does involve the prior instructional verb of discussing as well. It does involve a little bit more than just simply, you know, going straight and making a value judgment. So if you're being asked to evaluate, you need to decide on the worth of something by drawing your own value judgments again supported with evidence from sources. That is, this is fundamental. Again, you can see all the instructional verbs require this evidence from sources and how do you do that? You show that you engage, you show that you have engaged with the literature by reading in and around the subject. So deciding on the net worth of something, again, you would have to look widely, you'd have to look at, you know, the usefulness and the uselessness, the advantages and the disadvantages, the effectiveness or the ineffectiveness.  Okay, so again, if we look at the products that we started off with here, if you were going to evaluate this, again, you would look at things like, okay, how useful is this? How, you know, how does it serve its function? Again, we can look at the design and we can say, okay, yes, you know, the fact that it has a double lid design, it could be useful in terms of preventing leakage. It could also be a deterrent, perhaps, for young children because they would have to, if they could just access the product by just doing that, it's quite easy and it could be dangerous, but if they have to twist it, it could be harder, it could be more challenging. Again, we would look at, you know, using glass, is that actually the best material? Or, you know, if I drop it, could it shatter? Could it be dangerous? Maybe, in this case, plastic would be better. Again, you'd have to bring in evidence, you'd have to, you know, show that you've read that this particular glass is either shatter proof, it's either shatter proof or it's shatter resistant, or it shatters easily. It's all about evidence, it's not simply about saying something, it's simply, it goes beyond simply saying something, you have to say something and support what you are saying with evidence that shows, again, you have engaged with the literature, you know what's been said in the field and you understand this and you reflect this in your work. And that is how you form your own value judgments because you've been able to read, understand, engage, and now critically apply that in order to evaluate deciding on the net worth of something. What evaluate is not is simply describing the strengths and weaknesses of something and that is something, that is something that I see so much of the time where students think, okay you know evaluate, I'll just simply describe the strengths and weaknesses of something, I'll just say the strengths and weaknesses of this but you haven't formed your own value judgment because in order to do that you need to show how do the strengths and weaknesses decide, help you to decide the value judgment, how do you draw the value, do you think this, okay so the price of this let's say is £25 if you simply just describe the strength and weaknesses you haven't shown whether you think this is worth £25 but if you engage and you you know you support the evidence, like I said you know that they've used shatterproof glass, they've thought about you know the product in terms of you know leakage or and being leak proof and you know you're able to form the judgment that this is worth the retail price of £25 then you have evaluated the product rather than just simply stating the strengths of weaknesses which most people know what the strengths of weaknesses of something are, you haven't really given, you haven't presented anything that is worthy of them reading your work people read your work because they want to know what do you have, what's your take on things, what do you have to add, what can they gain from it so simply describing strengths and weaknesses doesn't cut it for evaluating something, you need to make sure that you look beyond that, you look at the strengths and the weaknesses and you bring in evidence from the literature and then you form your own value judgment, is this now polished worth the retail price of £25? Okay so that is all I have for today, as I mentioned I do hope that you know you found this useful these five instructional verbs are possibly the most common but they are not the only instructional verbs you will be asked to write essays on so like I said if you head over to my community you will see a whole list with the definitions of more instructional verbs that you know explain what you need to do when you have been given these essay questions and like I said the main thing I'd like you to take away from this video is one to move away from describing, simply describing is a very very basic critical thinking skill and it's not going to get you to top marks and the second thing is that whatever instructional verb you've been asked to write your essay on you must show that you have engaged with the literature by bringing in evidence as support from the sources that you have read. Okay so that's it for today, again this the table that has the definitions and of what the instructional verbs are and what they are not will be available on my blog I will leave a link to the blog post but my blog the London Writing Academy is available at blog.nafisa london.co.uk so don't forget to like this video and of course if you haven't subscribed do hit the subscribe button and you'll see me soon for the continuation of this series Back to Basics for Academic and Study Skills here. Bye-bye