WIN/WIN

Watch it spin!

I like salad and I like having my 5 year old (the 1 year old isn't much help yet) help out in the kitchen. She loves to spin salad and I like to eat clean greens - win/win. We had a previous salad spinner from the same company - OXO, but it had a solid white top and you couldn't take it apart to clean it. One night I peeked in between the plastic parts and saw pretty solid black masses of mildew. Nasty! I ripped it apart to try and clean it and end up breaking it. I called OXO customer service and told them what happened. They were pretty awesome and sent me a new top to fit the bottom that was still fine, but it was the exact same model that you can't take apart to clean. They said to just leave the plunger open and let it dry. What I really wanted was their new model that you can take apart to clean and it's clear, so if it does get dirty - you'll see it pretty quickly. Sometimes luck takes over and  I accidentally (for real) dropped the salad spinner that I no longer wanted on the floor and it shattered - it was about 10 years old. I ordered the clear, cleanable OXO and it's pretty awesome. My daughter is really enjoying being able to look at the greens while they spin and she's able to entertain the 1 year old too. Win/Win.

By the way, when it comes to home goods I'm constantly torn between making a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond to use the $5 or 20% coupon that I seem to get daily in the mail and just finding the item online or checking out Costco to see if they have it. Bed, Bath and Beyond is 25 minutes from my house and unless I'm buying a really large item and happen to be heading that way for something else it doesn't make sense to spend that much time and energy (mine and the car's) for a small purchase - Amazon or Costco (I'm there every two weeks) is the way to go for me.