Happy 4th of July!

Don’t forget to join our e-mailing list to get in on our major sale on this patriotic holiday!

May I begin by saying that I LOVE FIREWORKS! With that out of the way here are a few tips to making your Independence Day a little bit more green!

When it comes to using disposable utensils for your party try getting biodegradable ones or be rid with that all together and just stick with your daily plates, silverware, cups and cutlery

Get outside! Turn off your electronics and enjoy nature: go for a walk, hike, bike ride or just enjoy the backyard with friends and family.

Watch the fireworks don’t buy them! Instead of setting off your own fireworks leaving you with the cleanup just go to a local fireworks display. There’s sure to be a July 4th festival near you!

Whenever you buy anything that’s retro, used, second-hand, vintage – whatever you’d like to call it – you’re everyone a favor.   You’re keeping things out of our landfills, reducing your personal carbon footprint, saving yourself some cash, and even making your apartment that much more chic.  Who doesn’t like knowing they have the only set of purple 1970′s West Virginia iced tea glasses on the block?  ;)

Also, you should know that things created before the phrase “planned obsolescense” was invented were better made! When you buy furniture from an era where everyone had a tool kit for repairs, you know it was built to last. So next time you need something, from a set of end tables to a new shelf, look around for what’s already here. Go find something a little funky, a little fun, and help out Sweet Ol’ Mother Nature in the process.

Check out 10 tips for buying vintage furniture for more details!

Did you know that letting your car idle for more than 10 seconds wastes more gas than you need to start it up? Overall, Americans idle away 2.9 billion gallons of gas a year, worth around $78.2 billion! So if you’re waiting for a passing train, some drive-thru coffee, or a carpooling co-worker, go ahead and shut your engine off while you wait. Thanks to The Daily Green for this and many other Eco-tips!

Housework is something you do that nobody notices untill you don’t do it! Do you have a pile of things you’ll never use again? Lets get to it and declutter that house this spring before the great adventures of summer begins.

Here’s a helpful website with tips on how to donate cloths and … well…everything. You can even donate your old eyeglasses! Just click the link  below to head over to The Green Planet and learn how.

Where to donate your old stuff!

Summer Break is just around the corner so here are a few tips to make it Eco-friendly. If you stay at a hotel look for one with a Green Seal. Green Seal is a non-profit organization that certifies products that are greener and healthier. Also, during your stay you can also reuse your towels instead of having the maids replace them daily. And lastly, enjoy the local foods! You’ll get a good taste for the region and promote a healthier environment if you select foods that didn’t have to be shipped in on fuel-inefficient trucks or airplanes!

Ingredients for the perfect Cinco De Mayo:

1. Sombrero

2. Margarita

3. BBQ

Who doesn’t love a great BBQ? This Cinco De Mayo lets make it not just great for us but the environment as well! Propane burns much cleaner than either wood or charcoal briquettes. But if you can’t resist charcoal, try a natural product like those produced by Cowboy Charcoal, much cleaner than your traditional briquettes. Of course, when you’re done grilling, use natural cleaning products such as SoyClean organic grill cleaner to keep your summer as chemical-free as possible. Tests show it’s just as tough on grime as traditional cleaners, but won’t leave that chemical residue behind to leach into your next burger or grilled tomato.

If you don’t know by now this Sunday is Mother’s Day! Did you know that Mother’s Day is the second biggest floral holiday in the United States – because over 70% of the gifts given Mom are fresh-cut flowers?

However, most flowers that we get are flown in from Colombia and other South American countries. Some are even brought in from as far away as Australia and Thailand – often on private jets.

Why not make this Mother’s Day a green one?  Surprise her with one of our beautiful (and long-lasting) Rebagz gift sets – or, if you’re determined to send flowers, try a living arrangement that will bloom long past May.

This year marks Earth Day’s 41st anniversary.  It all started back 1970 when Senator Gaylord Nelson asked the nation to come together to protect our world and environment. Since that first Earth Day the level of awareness about the environment has risen dramatically.  Even Hollywood has taken it to heart – in 2010 one million trees were planted to celebrate the DVD release of the box office hit “Avatar.”

But it’s really the small things each of us can do that have the potential to make every day Earth Day.  Going green is simple!  Next time you’re out shopping, just pick the eco-friendly products. There’s so many of them to choose from now, from organic nail polishes to natural sandals and towels. These are all simple choices you can make today that will create a better tomorrow.

Earth Day 2011 – let’s change the world together!

Going green doesn’t mean you have to spend tons of money on energy efficient upgrades or modifications (although you can get great tax cuts from them). Just opting for paperless bills and bank statements can eliminate an average of 228 paper pages from your life annually.

If half the US households went paperless, we’d save nearly 13 billion pieces of paper a year! And that means saving all the trees, water, and energy that go into making all of it.

Check out Ways to Go Green for the whole story and tuck your shredder back in the closet!

A funny thing happened on the way to our stint on “The Today Show.” In the midst of coordinating things with the show’s producer, our publicists at Dell et Ruhs and my team at Rebagz, both here and abroad, I got all nostalgic.

Why? Because our Messenger Bags were being featured on a “Back-to-School” segment, and it made me remember all the book bags that traveled with me through my school years.

There was the red plastic briefcase that was bigger than I was in third grade that snapped closed. There were the oversized totes I used through high school, and then the backpacks that took me through the winters at Cornell. I used them all until they fell apart because they became the vessels for all I learned as I was growing up.

Galaxy Messenger Bag

That’s why one of the first bags I ever designed was our Messenger Bag. The ones scheduled for “The Today Show” include our Galaxy Messenger Bag, our Honeybee Messenger Bag and our pink Sazi Messenger Bag. When I first sketched its design 3 years or so ago, I thought about all the things I needed when I was in school and where I should put them. So I decided our bag needed pen holders, zippered pockets and, frankly, pockets anywhere I could put them – because there was nothing worse than digging around for a fresh pencil in the middle of a timed exam.

So not only has this “Today Show” segment got me thinking about my school days back in Buffalo, but it also has me remembering the beginnings of my business, how Rebagz was born. I remember setting up our recycling network in the Philippines, where all our bags are made, and making sure Rebagz were (and continue to be) made under fair labor conditions.

In the beginning, I was the crazy American woman who wanted to buy the emptied sacks of rice, not the full ones. That made no sense! But I was willing to buy the used sacks, so they gave them to me. And, honestly, we were lucky if we collected ten at a time. I started to think those rice sellers were right – that I was crazy.

Over time, though, we got to know many rice sellers and grocers and such and, within a few months, we’d put together quite a network. Now we get thousands of sacks at a time to recycle. And they all have those vivid graphics printed on them. Who could throw those beauties out? That’s why they became my fabric.

Honeybee Messenger Bag

I remember looking back over my years of high school when I graduated, marveling at how I’d survived all that drama, all that teasing for being “the brain.” (I was still a teenager, even at the end of it.) I cried as I left college, grateful to have met so many people, thankful for all I’d learned and yet terrified to be “staring into the great abyss of my future,” as I called it then. I was so used to being a good student! The thought of leaving the safety of schoolwork and grades made my insides all a-jumble.

With Rebagz, my fear arrived sooner rather than later because, to be completely honest, I had absolutely no experience in manufacturing or in running a company. I probably had no business starting a business – but I did it anyway. I’ve always been a little headstrong that way. Fortunately, I discovered that all those years spent carrying those books around taught me I can learn how to do just about anything when I have to.

In so many ways, I’m still a student. And I’m grateful to all the people I learn from now, be they friends, colleagues, customers or TV producers. The difference is my books and papers now travel in my Cinchy Tote or my Large Tie Tote. Although, now that I think of it, those pen holders in our Messenger Bags would come in awfully handy. Hmmm…

Sazi Messenger Bag