method profiles - felicia benefield

Welcome to another episode of method profiles! Previously, Yvonne Roth revealed her secret lust for french lavender, and her torrid love affair with Brock! Gasp! Ok, no wait, it was just the lust for french lavender. I made the Brock part up. And now, today on method profiles...

Felicia Benefield reveals her secret habit of digging in the trash! (Don't you just love that photo! My, oh my! Felicia apparently loves her beer and method!) And she's got a lot to say, so on we go!

1+ Your name, please? And do you have a nickname at method?
Felicia Benefield. Miss Benefield if you’re nasty…which you probably aren’t because you use method. My method nickname is Felicity, and it was accidentally given to me from one of one of our advocates (looooooong story).

2+ What was your first method lust?
My first method lust was walking past the pop-up shop in San Francisco about four or five years ago. While waiting for the 38 Geary (a notoriously dirty bus here in San Francisco), I found myself pacing in front of a store. The store was lined with rows and rows of stylish cleaning products. It was the first time I had ever seen an entire wall of laundry detergent outside of a supermarket and I was pretty overwhelmed. I remember thinking I’d come back when I was better dressed, and by the time that happened it was gone.

The next time I saw them was at Target, so I bought some pink grapefruit cleaning wipes. I was so immediately drawn to the clean lines and the good price that I didn’t even notice that they were biodegradable. Well, needless to say, when I saw that phrase I was hooked and I’ve been lusting ever since.

3+ What brought you to method, the company? (How did you become interested in a career with method?)
I saw the ad for this job at Craigslist.org. I applied a year ago and I’ve been here ever since. Some of the method folks and I celebrated my one-year anniversary with bowling and beer. I love this job.

4+ What is your title/dept. at method, and what is it you do there? How long have you been with method?
My title is Pulse of the People. I know…it’s a little grandiose, right? I’m an advocacy response coordinator working with The Great Sarah, and I’m taking suggestions for a new title.

5+ What is the biggest thing you are currently doing, besides using method products, to help out the environment?
I’m not a green as some here, but I do believe even the small things can make a difference. I’m lucky that I live in a city where I don’t need a car, so I don’t have one. I recycle and have gotten my friends to do the same. I’m about 50/50 on refusing plastic bags, but before I got my “Plastic Bag Rehab” tote I never even thought about it. I use my refillable SIGG bottle and take it everywhere I think I might be inclined to buy a plastic bottle of water. I might be the only person in the office who knows where to put their trash in the complicated recycling/composting/worm bin/trash situation we’ve got set up. I try to teach visitors how to use it and sometimes (this is the gross one) I go through the composting bin when no one’s looking to get the stuff that doesn’t belong there. Gross right? Eh. I’m just doing my part until the others (and you know who you are) figure the system out.

6+ Who's the last person you've turned onto method?
My mom. She now loves to call me and tell me she saw method somewhere. It’s pretty cute.

7+ Which one best describes you as a person? Pink Grapefruit, French Lavender, Cucumber, or Go Naked?
Pink Grapefruit, definitely!

Thanks Felicia! Bowling and beer too, eh? What's with all the beer? I'm thinking if Felicia were in charge of fragrance at method, we'd have a special edition beer soy candle out soon! Hmm, maybe that's not such a bad idea... (I think I'll stick with my red wine, though.)

Ok lusters check back Tuesday and Thursdays for the next method profile! And be sure to catch up on previous method profiles by selecting from the sidebar list! (Psst! Over there, to your right.)

darn you method

Sigh... ok, do you see that pic above. I went nuts. NUTS. Want the whole story?

So yesterday I'd mentioned how someone let me know about method bloq being sold at their local Goodwill; and how I started running around for the lust of my life, green mint, to no avail; but also stopped at Big Lots to see if they had anything. And discovered some cut grass and fresh lychee aroma pill combo packs. Then someone mentioned they found discontinued candles as well at their local Big Lots. So I ended up checking two other stores, and discovered nothing more than a few fresh lychee pill refills.

But still aching over the fact this person had found the elusive fig candle (which I like, well, just drool uncontrollably over, mind you) I decided to head on over WAY to the other side of town, and see what that Big Lots held for me. I hadn't been there in forever, forever, and forever. I was sure it'd be just like the other store finds. And you know what...

...it was like a freakin' gold mine of method madness! Do you see what I found in the pic above? Huh? HUH? Do you know HOW much money I spent there? Do you know how the lady at the cash register just sort of stared at me wondering why I was buying like fifty dollars worth of cleaning and candle products?? Let's pause for a moment... yes, I said it. Fifty dollars. That's CAR-AZY! Like, I can't figure out how I'm literally going to afford to pay for gasoline for my guzzling truck for the rest of the month, but I suddenly decide to throw down fifty dollars on method discontinued products cause, well, I can't help myself! It's a sickness I tell you, a sickness! No one should get this excited over cleaning products! Really! The guy in the cleaning aisle that worked at Big Lots and was stocking finally had to walk off for a moment, as I just stood there in awe of everything and couldn't figure out what I was going to get and just wanted to scoop up everything and he realized I was about to destroy all his work of neatly placed items on the shelves and had to just leave me to my own devices!

And so let's do a rundown here, ok? Cause really I can't believe I found some of this stuff. We're talking yes, that is spiced pear all surface cleaner you see there. What the heck?! That stuff hasn't been around for a year and a half! I couldn't believe it! Along with the spiced pear candles I'd finally bought earlier in the day, I'm full up on some spiced pear lust! Then we have three lavender + lemongrass pill refills in their old packaging, and two lavender floorcare bottles! Lavender floorcare, from back in the old school method days! Yo, where did this stuff come from?! I can add this to my two bottles of rosemary mint floorcare I still have, and I'm floorcare covered until I'm 90 years old, I believe! (Cause this stuff lasts forever, because you have to dilute the earlier version with water.) Then we have one lavender + lemongrass candle, just cause they had a few for some weird reason; and then the skies lit open and the clouds parted and we're talking six freakin' fig candles here people! Six! And I wanted to buy more (they had a few more left!) but just could NOT afford it. I'm in figgy fig Heaven! Man!

So there you have it, I'm so freakin' poor it's scary. I think I need to start going to method anonymous meetings, but my house will sure smell pretty while all this is happening. So be sure to head over to your nearest Big Lots, cause someone (be it method or Big Lots) decided to clean out their method vaults and went crazy! Have fun, let me know what you find!

(Note: another method luster let me know he found some fig aroma ring refills for $2. So it's just all sorts of stuff! If I could find some fig aroma pill refills, well, let's just say they'd have to cart me away to the funny farm! Cause I'd be so excited! Oh, and by the way, this is just what I bought. They also had eucalyptus + mint, lavender + lemongrass and sweet water pill combo packs; sweet water pill refills, and eucalyptus + mint candles!)

you know you're doing something right...

...when the Big Guys start copying you! From the similar writing style (though they don't quite get it down.) to the English/French translations! Too crazy!

get'em while the gettin's good!

UPDATE Ok, so upon making a quick trip to another local Big Lots, I did discover some fresh lychee pill refills; along with the combo packs. So it does look like those are showing up as well. On a side note, I personally picked up the last two remaining spiced pear candles sitting on the shelf! Yay! They were a little beat up (hello, they're like two years old) and I'd been staring at them for ages, but finally the idea of "who needs lunch when you've got spiced pear!" took over and I just grabbed the suckers!

Also, fellow method luster Greg says:

"At the Big Lots in my city (Cleveland), I found not only the cut grass and lychee pills, but also a bunch of recently discontinued candle fragrances (eucalyptus-mint, fig, etc) AND a few of the big old chocolate-martini candles, which have been discontinued for YEARS. And the chocolate-martini candles were $2.50!"

That's CRAZY! I wish I could find some fig candles! Man! (They still have them on the method home site, but they're $8. which is a bit pricey for moi. I can't believe he found chocolate-martini candles, from the method premium candle line which, like he says, was around years ago! Enjoy!


Previously
While searching out the elusive bloq green mint personal care items at my local Goodwill stores (due to a hint from method lust reader Rebecca that they were selling them at her local Goodwill (I had no luck on my search, sniff-sniff.) I DID discover something at my local Big Lots! (They also carry method items from time to time, and I thought maybe the bloq items had hit there, but again, no...) but they currently have the method aroma pills in cut grass and fresh lychee! For $4.00! (Which is a great savings from their usual price of $7.99 at Target!) This is the plug-in pill/refill bottle combo.

I'm not sure what has happened to this spring edition line. Originally these two scents were to hit stores (to my knowledge) for the spring/summer line, but then the aroma air sprays were discontinued, sort of seemingly throwing a wrench into the aircare line; nothing new showed up for a while in stores, then we got the special edition citrus cilantro and beach sage items; and we did receive the cut grass aroma sticks, but nothing more in the spring/summer line. So I figured sooner or later they'd show up at Target; but suddenly they're at Big Lots. It's just the pill combo box; nothing more (no candles, aroma rings, etc. at least at the moment.) So run and grab some up while they're in stock! It's a great deal! (And I even managed to find three lavender + lemongrass pill refills in the single pack packaging there, too! I bought those up, so you might find them as well!)

If you happen to see any method items at close-out discount stores, or thrift shops, let method lust know! Thanks!

peek inside

Here's a small sneak peek inside the method San Fran offices! Are they not gorgeous! I want to know where they got those hanging lamps, they are to die for! Geesh! The Great Sarah! is promising to send along more inside pics of method! I can't wait to check them all out! So look for more to show up here soon on method lust!



This is the ceiling of method's elevator! How cool!

(Special thanks to Rider Thompson, and aqui-ali!)

virgin soap

I just knew someone was as insanely obsessed with method as I am, and would take a pic of that freakin' sticker they have on the new Virgin America airlines (they use method soap in their airplane bathrooms! How cool!) And here it is! Yay! Thanks!

method belly button

Take a look at the updated method dish soap bottles! While the older bottles were difficult to handle while washing dishes (or at least people did complain about this problem, I've personally never had an issue with this, at least yet) the new bottles come with a thumb indent! Now it's easier to hold! (But don't they sorta look like belly buttons for the bottles now?) (Thanks to Derek Powazek for the photo)

I personally think the lil' bowl blu needs this as well. I LOVE the design of that bottle, but gotta say it's a bit of a challenge (not much, but still) to hold it tightly upside down while squeezing. One day I'm afraid it's just gonna go ker-plunk into the toilet! Ha ha!

method gone wild

method luster Brodie Chree saw my post asking for photos of method in your own homes, and decided to send these in. The really cool thing is, he went artsy with his method home pics (obviously the guy is a photographer, no?) and did some backlighting on the method bottles, and what resulted were these beautiful images!







I just love them! The colors are great! Brodie did an amazing job!

You know, one thing I've thought of for a while (though perhaps it's a bit played out at the moment) is how many companies have put out "artist series" versions of their products. Limited edition packaging with artwork/paintings/drawings, etc. on them. I think this would be a GREAT idea for method, especially since they focus so closely on their packaging BEING art! What do you think? Hey, method, I know one artist that would love to wrap some artwork around your bottles! (Hint hint, uh, me!)