Help Is Here For All Your Holiday Packing & Shipping

We live far away from almost all of our relatives. Okay all of our relatives. The closest ones are about 500 miles away. Over 31 years of marriage, you can imagine how many packages we have had to send. The number would be staggering to think about now, but we have learned a lot from mailing all of them.

One of the most important thing we have learned is not all packing tapes are the same and the kind you use makes a big difference. One kind of packing tape we recently tried out is Zitriom Packing Tape  for Professionals.

This packing is tape is similar to others in many ways. It is about 1 7/8" wide and 55 yards long. It comes on a standard size roll with a 3" wide cardboard ring in the center. It fits the standard size dispensers we all have seen (the red ones). Zitriom sells the tape in packages of 6 and includes a dispenser with the rolls. You end up with 330 yards of tape for a good price!

Where this tape is different is in the thickness of the tape. It is very thin, which is good because it does not add a lot of extra weight to your package, saving you money. Where the thinness can be a problem is when it get's stuck to itself and trying to find the end. But the tape is very strong and holds really well. I was pleased with how few strips of tape it takes to secure a box closed . I don't have to use tons and tons covering every bit of possible opening spots, and the box stays shut during shipping and delivery.

The tape also protects labels from getting wet. Now it is not considered waterproof, but it does stick well enough and covers well enough that the label does not get damaged during delivery. The company says that it will hold in extreme heat and cold conditions. We just dealt with the cold part here, and the tape stayed put even with a box sitting outside in the cold and snow for a few hours.

The cutting edge of the dispenser is nice. It does not have an even serration. That type of edge cuts the tape much quicker and there is less build up of the sticky part of tape in the teeth. It is very sharp though, so be careful letting kids use it. One thing, though with the uneven edges of the cut, when the tape falls back on itself it can be hard to get it stated again without getting bits torn off and little strips coming off. That can be frustrating! But as long as you make sure it is behind the little guides on the dispenser, it should not be a problem.

A good packing tape at a good price and just in time for all your holiday shipping! You can ourchase your own Zitriom Packing Tape  for Professionals HERE!

This reviewer has been compensated with receiving the product free in order to bring you an honest review. All opinions are those of the reviewer.

Traveling With Our Newfoundland and Keeping The Car Seats Clean

I love to travel around with my dog along. Our Newfoundland, Bender, loves to go for rides, but he's really rough on the upholstery! In fact, he pretty much fills up the entire back seat of our car. Some days I miss our van.

But I still like to have him with me. He's a good passenger and enjoys seeing the sites and barking at the occasional creature he sees along the route. I also love seeing the shocked faces of people when they see how big he is. When was the last time you saw a 120 pound dog in the back seat of a sedan? LOL! But he does leave a lot of hair and once in a while, okay more than once in a while, he leaves some drool. Have you ever had to clean up lots of long black fur from cloth seats? Not fun!!

I was excited to try out something to help protect the upholstery in our car recently. I had very high hopes for it. It's the Zitriom Seat Cover for Dogs & Pets.

The seat cover is made from weatherproof durable heavy duty quilted polyester material. It comes in a neutral beige color with brown trim and is get this, machine washable! That's wonderful! And I do suggest washing it when you first get it. it has a new plastic smell to it when you open the box and washing it takes that away some.

We had a little trouble getting the cover installed. Our back seat has different headrests than shown in the pictures on the box the cover comes in. It took us a bit to figure out how to keep the strap around the headrests to stay in place. We got them to stay for a while, but do have to fix them after having the dog in the car for very long. Unfortunately even the extra bit of strap and hook that come with the cover didn't seem to help either. The side elastic straps held the cover for the most part, although it would hold much better on bench seats in a van, CRV, or SUV.

What did help keep the seat cover from going too far were the Stay-put devices. There are two of them and they tuck into the back seat crack and holds the cover still on the seat. There are also several openings in the cover to accommodate seat belts so both your fur babies and your human babies can be safe in the back seat!

I love how it is much easier to clean the hair off the seat cover than the seats, although we still get some on the backs of the front seats. After all we are traveling with a ginormous dog! You're bound to get hair somewhere with him around. LOL!

Both my husband and I are not sure if we will continue using the cover. We love the idea, but it just does not stay put enough with our big dog. Now when we travel with the little Chorkie, Scruffy, who weighs a mere 10 pounds, we have no trouble with it. I think it would do great even for medium sized dogs. But for a large dog, if you do not have a bench seat it is not as easy to use.

You can purchase your own Zitriom Seat Cover for Dogs & Pets HERE!

We received samples of the products for the purpose of review. No other compensation was given. All opinions expressed here are those of the author.