That Time I Grove-d...

Okay, Grove, you got me. 

I'm never interested in these box subscription services, but Grove put out a commercial about all of the plastic-free products they have (ones that I had yet to successfully replace in my home) and I had to check it out. 

They really got me with their "get a bunch of free stuff with your first order!!!" promo...

I put my email address in and let the games begin! Okay, it wasn't that exciting. 

I got to choose which kind of free stuff I wanted.

So, what's important to know, that I deduced, is that Grove offers both plastic-free and "natural" (containing only natural ingredients) products. So if you're JUST interested in the plastic-free stuff, like I am, you have to look out for plastic stuff. 

I picked the Grove Beyond Plastic Starter Set, not because it was "worth the most money" but because it didn't show anything plastic in the picture. Also because it seemed to have the most items that I was interested in getting free-or-otherwise.

(See end-of-post for details of the other free offers)

Then they showed me a slide show of what I "needed to know."

After clicking through the slide show I was taken to my cart. I was able to see all my free items and a variety of other stuff that added up to over $38 (more on that later). I was easily able to remove the stuff I didn't want (almost all of it). 

I missed that this is a monthly subscription situation before ordering, BUT it was easy to pause my subscription so that I can pick out more stuff when I need it. 

Or you can pause it like I said? I just got my first box, and paused it already, (I got an email that made me realize it was a monthly thing and paused immediately),so I don't know what this experience is like.

This is also true! The extra thing for me was one of these bottles with a blue sleeve and glass cleaner concentrate. It requires buying $38+ of other stuff. I wanted the free thing so after deleting all the stuff I didn't want, I replaced it with stuff I did want. 

It's useful to notice that you can change the quantity of the free items in your cart and you only pay for the extra items... and that you can change the color of the free bottle. I regrettably did not notice this. Oh well. 

Before getting to the unboxing, I also want to mention the VIP membership thing that gets you free shipping. They give you a trial of the VIP membership for two months, but if you're like me, and don't want to accidentally get charged for something because you missed an email, you are able to cancel that in your profile and easily. And you can get free shipping on future orders by spending $40 each time. 

Okay. So my box came today!

There was a handwritten note on the top! It was a nice touch.

I opened it up and on top was a little pamphlet further explaining how the subscription service works. I didn't really read it since I'm never going to let them send me stuff automatically.

I removed all the paper from the top and, so far, no plastic to be found!

I took everything out so you could see it.

First I opened the hand soap bottle box. Bubble wrap. Bummer. 

I didn't even really want the hand soap or dispenser (I like bar soap), but I couldn't remove them since they were the freebies. Maybe I can sell them?

Then I opened all the spray bottle boxes. They didn't have bubble wrap, I'm guessing because of the silicone sleeve. The bottles are very nice and I hope the sprayer works well and hold up a long time.

The box says that the bottle and sleeve are dishwasher safe; hand-wash the sprayer. Btw, The cream color is fine, I just would have liked a different color since I had the chance to change it. 

Then I opened up the mysterious envelope. It had all my concentrate bottles (glass, tub & tile, and all-purpose) and my sponges. 

Sadly, the sponges came in plastic. The sponges themselves are not plastic, but I guess it's important that sponges stay moist?

They were not a "Beyond Plastic" item, but I was in the market for more sponges. 

The wrapper specifies that it's not recyclable.

My Tub & Tile cleaner was packaged together in a two-pack and had no plastic!

The bottom of the box specifies that the box can be recycled with paper and that the glass can be recycled with glass and with the lids (???). 

And finally, the envelope. The envelope itself can be recycled with paper...

But you'd want to remove the pull tab and paper strip, if the envelope isn't sealed like mine wasnt.

The Meyer's hand soap. I picked it to reach the free item threshold and because it was wrapped in paper. 

But the paper is coated in plastic. Bummer. 

The tissues (made from bamboo instead of trees) have no plastic! (Most tissue boxes have a plastic flap inside.)

The Dish and Hand Soap Refills were obviously metal recyclable, but the back does specify that you can also recycle the cap when recycling (once the bottle is empty).

And that's everything! 

I'm definitely going to add labels to the bottles for what type of cleaner each is. I know that's what the colors are for, but I'm not going to remember that.

Tbd how much I order from Grove going forward. All of the cleaning products are things that I haven't been able to find a good plastic-free replacement to previously. (I replaced liquid hand soap with bar soap.)  So I'll probably order at least one refill for the cleaners. 

If you want to try it, you can get the free gift set here! And let me know how you like it!

As promised, here are the other free gift set details! :)