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In April, I wrote a post about alternative menstrual products and mentioned The Keeper menstrual cup.  From that post, the director of marketing left a comment.  I emailed her back, and we wound up chatting and she graciously offered me a Keeper to try.  I had told her I had used the Diva Cup before and was not 100% satisfied and would love to see how the Keeper works.  I’m glad I did.

Before I went on vacation, I received a very small package in my mailbox from Julia at The Keeper.  As I opened it up, I was impressed that there was no extra packaging, just the Keeper itself, a cute little pouch, some literature, and a note from Julia.  Everything was recycled except for the Keeper.  I was impressed.  One of my biggest pet peeves is when I order some green product and it arrives in a huge package with tons of bubble wrap and plastic.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Keeper company lives out the true meaning of green.

One of the biggest differences of the Keeper versus the Diva Cup that I spotted right away was the brown coloring.  The Keeper is made from natural gum rubber (latex) and the Diva cup is all silicone.  I guess I felt like the Keeper is more “green” using natural gum rubber.  When it came time to use the Keeper, I inserted it just like I did the Diva Cup, but it was much easier.  The Keeper has a nice long stem (which I’ve heard some women will trim) and I really liked that because it gave me something to use to remove it, plus I didn’t have to worry about it getting lost.  Of course that’s not a possibility, but it’s still a fear that some women have.

The Keeper never leaked, I couldn’t feel it, and it made my period such a nicer time!  I feel great knowing I’m not going to get Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) and that I am keeping many disposable pads and tampons out of our landfills and sewer treatment plants.  Also, I’m not sticking dioxins and other toxic substances into one of the most delicate parts of my body.

If you haven’t tried a reusable menstrual cup, I think you should!  And to do that, The Keeper has graciously offered to give one away.  Check out my review blog for more details!

*This is not a paid, sponsored post.  These are my actual opinions and thoughts.

We are student loan debt free!!  On Friday, I made the final payment online, checked this morning, and it had posted.  I can’t tell you how excited I am to be rid of this debt!  We have paid off this last loan of $12,333.80  in 1 year, 3 months, and 25 days.  Yes!

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it on the blog before, but this $12,333.80 is not the only student loan debt we had.  In 2004, Mr. Money enrolled in culinary arts school and we moved across country for him to attend.  Fast forward to October 2006, and now he’s got his degree and has left school with over $36,000 in debt.  Yes, that is not a typo.  $36,000 was more debt than I ever cared to accumulate, and we went full force attacking it.

We paid off  almost $24,000 in two years, on mainly my salary of $12 an hour full time, plus Mr. Money’s salary of $8(?) an hour part time.  Needless to say, we lived pretty poor to be able to pay off that kind of money in that short of a period of time.  In 2007, we bought a house and added more debt to the plate.  At the start of this blog, we had $12,333.80 left. I knew I wanted to pay this off as quickly as possible. One of my 2009 financial goals was to pay off this student loan and I thought it was a hefty goal. Here we are, halfway through the year and we’ve done it.  It is quite an amazing feeling!

It doesn’t feel real that we’ve paid of $36,000 worth of debt (just in student loans!) in 2 and a half years.  Looking at how much money we made doesn’t even make it seem possible but we did it all while saving for an emergency fund, putting a nice down payment on a car, and paying extra on our other loans.  The fact is, we did it, and I can’t imagine a greater feeling.

Now onto chipping away at our car loan and living a debt free life soon!