Product Review: Mid Nite Sleep Aid

Mid Nite sleep aid has two selling points: One, you can take it at any point in the night.  Seems great, doesn't it?  If you take over the counter Dyphenhyramine sleep aids (i.e. Benedryl), it's suggested to go 6 hours between doses.  Wake up in the middle of the night and it's a bad idea to take another one and wake up for work.  Most prescription sleed aids suggest leaving a full 8 hours for sleep; you've got to take it before going to sleep.  Mid Nite says you can take "any time of the night", though it recommends not driving or operating machinery for three hours. 

The second selling point: it's all natural.  In fact, there is no "Drug Facts" label, since Mid Nite is a supplement.  Most of the ingredients are found in food you eat every day.  Also seems like a great idea; for those with frequent sleep problems, you'd rather take a "sleep vitamin" than "drugs".

So, does it work?  I purchased a package, and in my opinion, it was no more effective than just trying to get back to sleep on my own, without taking anything.  I didn't feel any noticeable difference, physically or mentally.  I'll stick with Dyphenhydramine for sleep dififculty and struggle through it if 4 am comes and I'm unable to get back to sleep, until someone finds a product that really does the trick for a middle of the night, short-term sleep aid, even if it's not "all natural".  If there's any positive, the tablets dissolve and taste good...just too pricey to take the place of Sweet Tarts.        

Name Brand or Store Brand: Disinfectant Wipes

So one thing I want to drop on the new blog are consumer reports/reviews/opinions.  The first ongoing topic: when is the name brand product the way to go, and when is the store brand and a few extra cents in the pocket just as good or better?

First product: cleaning wipes.  You know, the plastic tube with moist disinfectant wipes, for those of us who want a fresh scent cleaner that also lets us get away with being a little lazy an not needing to spray, wipe, and maybe even wash a rag. 

I've been going with the Up & Up Disinfecting Wipes, the Target store brand, and a brand I trust for a lot of household products.  They're relatively inexpensive, usually less than the branded product, and they get the job done: make cleaning easy, kill germs, leave a nice scent.  However, Target put the branded product, Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, on sale last week for a few cents less than Up & Up wipes.  Makes you feel like you're getting a bargain, name brand for less than store brand.  I'm not sure what the margins are to Target, but it's usually a given that they're better on store brand so that's what they push with the "Compare & Save" notices in store.  Well, I'll pay a few cents more "not on sale" than a few cents less on sale from now on, because Clorox Disinfecting Wipes are hands down better than their store brand counterpart.  I found the wipes to be a sturdier material so I use less, they clean and disinfect just as well, and they don't seem to leave a dry, stinging leftover behind-after wiping down surfaces in my bathroom with store brand I found the dryness and whatever was left on my surfaces to be irritating to the eyes and nose - not so with Clorox.  The scent is also stronger, fresher, and longer lasting.

Winner: Clorox Disinfecting Wipes