Eco Friendly Back to School Stuff

"Don't be a dunce," the folks at Eco Paper say, use their tree free papers and help to save the 644 trees worth of paper that gets tossed away in the trash every year at each school.  That's a ton of trees. 

Check out these banana paper notebooks, yep, made from banana fibers and recycled materials.  They're made in Costa Rica from agricultural waste that would have otherwise been thrown away.  How cool is this?  They're chlorine free, acid free, and tree free.

Itzy Ritzy Snack Bags are cute, come in lots of colors and patterns and are a great replacement for those endless plastic baggies.  Just wash and re-use over and over. 

Chacos makes some great eco friendly shoes for kids.   Check out these adorable Eco Tread slip on sandal shoe called Paradox.  It's non marking, easy to adjust, and made with recycled content. 

The Paradox is machine washable and tough enough to last through a couple of kids via hand- me-downs.  I love the cute little skull graphics and pretty shades of gray.  

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Product Review: Flip and Tumble Reusable Shopping Bags

I use a variety of reusable shopping bags, but the one that has been perpetually in my backpack for the last two years is the handy (rather unfashionable) black Acme Workhorse. It stuffs into a little ball and it's functional, but it's not exactly pleasing to the eye.

I've just discovered Flip and Tumble shopping bags and I'm in love. Bye bye basic black and hello beautiful bright happy color! They stuff up into a ball, just like the others, but have a new feature, one I haven't seen yet in a reusable shopping bag. These hang on your shoulder. You can still carry them in your hands, but the handle is long enough, and padded, so that you have both options.

You have to go to the Flip & Tumble website and check these out. They are not your average shopping bag. I love the modern design and wide range color palate. The self-stuffing feature works much better than what I'm used to and looks cooler, while bright colors are easier to spot in the bottom of your backpack. The stuff mechanism even makes it's own little pocket inside the bag for loose things and the patch of felt padding on the shoulder helps keep the bag from slipping off.

They're called 24-7 bags and I think that's a perfect name, the idea being that you keep them with you all the time. I think they'd be great while traveling, at the Farmer's Market, the beach non-food related shopping trips, laundry day....any time you need a bag.

I took mine on a test run last night to get some basic groceries and found them to be comfortable and easy to use. Highly recommended!

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