Welcome to the second installment of my thoughts on the exciting new home care products now available on store shelves from Procter and Gamble. (All links are Canadian, but Americans can head to the parent company page for U.S. product information and coupon offers.)

The original Mr. Clean Magic Eraser created a huge clamor amongst housewives.  Finally, a product that easily removed permanent marker from, well, almost anywhere!  Those of us who’ve had toddlers grow up in our homes know how the toughest messes can appear in the most unlikely places.

Three new Magic Erasers are now on the market including the Febreze scented kitchen and bathroom cleaning erasers and the new Extra Power Magic Eraser.  At 50% stronger than the original eraser, permanent markers, juice stains, coffee stains, tub grime and more will quickly admit defeat.  Just add water and a pair of gloves if you have sensitive skin (my fingers feel slightly abraded from the microbristles if I use them without some protection) and you’re ready to work.  My absolute favourite use for the magic eraser is cleaning stains/drawings off of walls, they’ll also do a number on scuff marks on the kitchen floor.  Here’s a list of further tips to spark the imagination.  If you head to http://save.ca and enter your province you can also print off a coupon for a $1.00 savings on any Mr. Clean Magic Eraser – if you haven’t tried them yet (and I can’t think of anyone who hasn’t got in on this innovative cleaning product), now’s your chance!

Home Made Simple shares uses for the new and original Mr. Clean Magic Erasers while promoting a $3,000 spa vacation contest that closes January 04, 2009 – just click through and scroll down for details.

Some days I feel that we are the only family in North America who still washes all of their dishes by hand.  Of course, I know that’s not the truth .  Thankfully Dawn continues to develop intense dish cleaning solutions for those of us deep in the trenches…errr…sink!  Now my bottle packaging isn’t exactly as shown here, I think this might be the U.S. product, but you can get a peek at the real thing here.

Our family normally uses the regular Sunlight dish washing soap.  It’s available at Costco in large quantities at an affordable price, it’s brand name, I thought we were good.  After trying the Ultra Concentrated Dawn Plus with Power Scrubbers, well…we’ve been missing out.  It comes in Apple Blossom – and green apple is one of my favourite scents.  It’s antibacterial, contains invisible power scrubbers (but if you get your soap cold you can see them) and doubles as hand-soap.  In fact my husband found it much less drying than the Sunlight (yes he washes dishes, he’s been such a help after the arrival of our new baby).  It takes far less soap, keeps the grease at bay for longer, and does a bang-up job of washing up.  If your hands need extra tender-loving-care Dawn also makes a new soap called Renewal for hands that need additional moisture while washing dishes.  It looks sumptous and comes in Pomegranate (yummy!), but I haven’t tried it…yet .

You’ve all likely read of our rumble-tumble with the cats lately.  They’ve all had the boot.  Prior to that though we were able to freshen up the house with Febreze Fabric Refresher.  Eliminating odours and freshening fabric, carpet and air, we sprayed our Linen & Sky fine, misty spray over the kitty litter box, on furniture and into the air.  While the scent was light and refreshing I could tell that it was active and lingering.  I would continue catching a whiff now and then, and no one in our fragrace sensitive home complained.  If you have pets, you’ll likely need Febreze’s deodorizing action at some point (though it can’t be used around birds).  To see how the deodorizing effect works on fabric check out the micro-video here. Our bottle looked a bit different than the one shown on the website – it had a clear topped handle, and a light blue bottle, but you should be able to recognize it in stores from this photo.

In addition to their regular scents including Citrus & Light (oh, I adore citrus!) and Spring & Renewal a number of limited edition scents are available for the winter season.  You can read more about that, as well as the contest for a $3,000 trip to see family and friends here at Home Made Simple.

Don’t forget, I’m saving the best for last! Check back again soon for the latest Procter and Gamble product reviews here .