Want to be green and help save the planet, but constantly forget your reusable grocery bags? Try these shopping totes. I’ve picked out bags to grace your arm that are the most stylish and practical available. They’re so fun to carry; you might never forget your bags again.
1. New York City Cool – The Dean and Deluca food retailer opened in 1977 in SoHo, New York and has been a symbol of gourmet and high-end deliciousness ever since. Grab a piece of that style with the Dean and Deluca Grocery Tote, made of jute and only $10. Dean and Deluca.
2. Support a Cause – Want your bag to do more than just help avoid plastic bag waste? Check out the hearty, yet cool-looking Feed Bags. The money you use to purchase these bags will go towards feeding hungry children through the UN’s World Food Program. The “Feed 100” bag for $30 buys 100 school meals for hungry children in Rwanda. The “Feed 2” bag feeds 2 children in school for 1 year for $100. While you are buying your groceries, you can feel good that you helped others who don’t have enough – and look stylish while doing it. World Food Programme Feed Bag
3. Artistic - You may recognize the artwork of R. Nichols from the cover of the bestselling book, “French Women Don’t Get Fat.” He has used his same style to create grocery totes. These bold, graphic and practical bags are the ones I personally keep in my car. I’ve had many a compliment, especially from the baggers at the market who comment on the large size and durability of the bags. The bags run from $24 to $28, and will last many a year. R. Nichols Recycled Grocery Totes
4. Pretty Canvas – Do you like the feel of a canvas bag? Check out these bags with handles built right into the structure of the bag. Plain or beautiful, modern floral designs. From $11.99 to $19.99. Pretty Green.
5. Wide-mouthed Canvas – Tired of tiny bags? Try the wide-mouthed Skeeda bags that hold 2-3 times the amount of a plastic grocery bag. Made of cotton-canvas with long straps, the bags are available in a wide variety of dots, paisley and stripes. One bag for $15 or three bags for $40. Skeeda.
6. Nylon - I’m not a big fan of the nylon bags, personally, but Envirosax makes some that are so beautifully mod, I had to add them to the list. These bags come in over 50 different designs, each one better than the last. Many are masculine enough for the uncommonly stylish man in your life. Each bag is only $8.50. They are also sold in 5-in-1 pouches for $37.95, a real bargain and compact to boot. Envirosax Pouch
7. Nautical - Ah, the joy of the open ocean and beautiful boats. Even if you are landlocked, you can share a piece of sailing tradition with the Green Grocery Market Bag from Ella Vickers. These bags are made from recycled sailcloth. Think of the many exciting voyages and adventures your sail had before it got to you. Now 40% off the normal price of $79. Ella Vickers Green Grocery Bag
8. Handcrafted - Beautiful, individually applied flowers go on the bags at The Craft Pantry at Etsy.com. How can you get more individual or special? Check out the pink daisy branches and white branches on blue, printed on 100% recycled cotton bags, each for only only $18. Note that these should be dry cleaned. The Craft Pantry at Etsy.
I love to support designers who make it more stylish to be green. Anyone else have a great shopping tote that I missed?
“I’m thinking balls are to men what purses are to women. It’s just a little bag, but we feel naked in public without it.” - Carrie Bradshaw from “Sex and the City”
Don’t we all need our purses when we go out? However, we want both style and organization in a purse. Enter the Butler Bag.
It’s a revolutionary purse with built-in rectangular compartments that fit all of your goodies like a wallet, cell phone, agenda and lipstick. It solves the problem of a bottomless purse that leaves you constantly digging around to find anything.
The Butler Bag comes in many different styles and leathers. For such a practical bag that had an unusual inside, I found them surprisingly stylish and externally looked comparable to equally priced bags. The classic bag retails for $125 and bags made of rare lambskin can be as high as $1,400.
In addition, this bag was invented by Jen Groover, a female entrepreneur who had to break into the male-dominated handbag industry that wanted nothing to do with a new concept in purses. I always feel inspired by stories about women making it in business. And I think this purse is a grand idea – organized, practical and stylish.
Yeah, me neither. Not sure that anyone can tell when their computer is about to crash. Nothing as fun as a trip to a computer service store where you are told that nothing can be recovered from your computer. I bought a laptop a year ago and have had a constant, niggling fear about a crash because I had no backup system. I had purchased an external backup drive for my old desktop, but that was full. A new one would be expensive and never seemed practical because I used my old backup about as frequently as I organized my sock drawer. Not very often. I wasn’t sure what other solutions were out there for backing up my laptop, so I put getting a backup system in place into the “someday” file.
Recently I heard about Carbonite, a completely automatic online backup system for only $55/year. Automatic? Yes, it’s a small application that sits on your computer and works in the background to backup any new or altered files. Only $55/year? Yep, that’s it for peace of mind. With Carbonite, you can easily restore your files with a few clicks. Storage is online, so your backup is in a different site than your computer which helps in case of a disaster.
Since installing this backup system, I’m free of the “What if my computer crashes?” fear and have one more item crossed-off my mental “someday” list. It’s a beautiful thing.
Do you dread the time just before dinner when you have to decide what to make? Is it too much trouble to go to the computer and try to hunt up a new recipe? Introducing the Demy, a kitchen safe digital recipe reader. With a splash-resistant design, this attractive, compact recipe device sits right on your counter. You sync it by plugging into the USB port on your computer with your account at keyingredient.com. It can hold up to 2500 recipes, more than you can probably ever use in one lifetime.
Other cool features are a built-in timer, measurement conversion tool, and a list of suggested substitutes for common ingredients. Now the hard part – the price is $300. Does the convenience of such a cool device outweigh that much money leaving your wallet? The Demy available at Amazon.
Do you use a ton a plastic sandwich bags and feel guilty each time, but use them because they’re so darned convenient? Try these cute, reusable sandwich wraps from NapaStyle. They have a nice picnic pattern, are have a thick polyethylene liner to keep sandwiches dry and fresh. A Velcro tab ensures a good wrap. Try this solution for your kids lunchboxes. Not as bulky as plastic boxes nor as wasteful as Ziplocs. They even fold out to a nice clean eating surface for your kid’s sandwich in the lunchroom. Reusable sandwich wraps – NapaStyle
Truly Mom Planners
Okay, I know people usually buy new calendar’s just before the New Year, but I say June is a great time, too. We’re at the halfway point. Your old system may not be working and you get sale prices! I’ve taken a look at the agenda’s geared towards moms and families. I’ve used very strict standards. Only those that are stylish, innovative and practical made the list. Take a look and you may find your new best friend.
1. Levenger Circa Multitask Organizer & Foldover Cover: If you haven’t discovered the Levenger company’s products yet, you are in for a treat. When the catalog arrives at our house, my husband and I squabble over who gets to read it first. This agenda is undated, so you can easily start whenever you want and not waste pages. You keep track of your own appointments with the main part of the pages and then there are three spaces at the bottom of the page for adding additional people or projects. Being Levenger, the paper is quality and a joy to write on. This agenda features the unique Levenger Circa system, a cross between a ring binder and a spiral notebook. A series of small rings go up the side and give the notebook a small silhouette, and the pages are easy to remove and reinsert. I highly recommend this one. Levenger
2. Filofax Family Organizer Pack Personal Organizer - Ah, Filofax. Owning a Filofax was the ultimate status symbol when I was in college. Here’s an agenda for the family phase of life. It contains a week on two pages planner and lots of extra goodies like babysitter info, party planner, chore organizer, sport team info, home maintenance contracts section and budget planning. Someone really thought this one out. And being Filofax, you choose which cover to buy, so you can always find one to suit your taste. Filofax Calendar Refills Family Organizer Pack - 2009
3. BusyBodyBook - I found this agenda to be high on style and innovation. It’s a grid format, with the days of the week down the side and five columns across the top for tracking family member schedules. On the left side there’s space for a to-do list and other notes. Their website also suggests other innovative ways to use the columns for your own projects. You can keep track of things like your diet, your exercise or other goals. The planners come in modern, feminine designs and elegant colors. The are definitely worth a look. 2009 BusyBodyBook
4. momAgenda Day Planner - momAgenda was one of the first companies to come out with a planner that helps schedule a whole family’s various activities. Each page contains a week view with room at the bottom for the schedule of 4 kids. These agendas are beautifully bound like a book with a ribbon bookmark. The covers come in bright colors and may be personalized. This agenda, made by a mom for moms, meets all of our requirements for stylish, innovative and practical. momAgenda Desktop Planner (2008-2009)
5. TrulyMom - These agendas have a unique trifold design and adorable preppy styling. They come with a plethora of items such as a weekly calendar, day-planner pad, post-it notes, address book, pocket and pen. They are rather thick, but you’ll never be without a writing instrument or pad. Truly Mom Planner
6. Frankilin Covey Classic Simplicity for Moms Planner - Franklin Covey is always practical, stylish and on the cutting edge for innovation in planning. Check out their Classic Simplicity for Mom’s line with their basic planner and extra lines at the bottom for keeping track of kids’ schedules. Feminine styling and Franklin’s signature inpirational quote at the top of each page. You may also want to check out their “Her P.O.V.” and “Julie Morgenstern” lines of agendas, both of which come spiral bound or ready to put in a Franklin Covey binder. Classic Simplicity for Moms Wire-bound Weekly Planner
7. WhoMi Clarity Agenda - WhoMi turns planning on its head with a landscape oriented design. Two sizes, checkbook or the larger original are available, and come with a durable vinyl cover and minimalist designs. The spiral binding allows you to open the agenda flat and contains a page view with your schedule on top and your kids’ color-coded schedules. This agenda receives points for its innovative landscape design that makes it very purse-portable. WhoMi
These are my favorites that I found. Any other great ones out there that you’ve tried?