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Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

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Make Donating to Thrift Stores Easy: Reisenthel Shopper XL Review and GIVEWAY!!!

July 17, 2011 · by Tiffany Merritt · 198 Comments

Raise your hand if you have too much stuff in your house that you don’t need and that brings your precious little joy to hang on to. If you didn’t raise your hand, please consider doing a guest post here on how you live that way. Totally serious.

For the rest of us, we all know that we need to let go of some stuff so that we can make our house feel a bit less junky and a lot more peaceful. For a while I had a pile of donations kept in a basket in our laundry room/office. The problem with that method was that Darah would get into it and take things out and tote them all over the house. So basically, it was pointless! Also, since the pile of stuff I needed continued to take up so much space in my house, it didn’t really feel like I had made much of a difference in terms of de-cluttering.

So I came up with a new method for thrift store donations. Wanna hear my trick?

I put everything in the trunk of my car.

This immediately gets everything out of sight. Which I absolutely LOVE! If I’m ever on the fence about donating something, I can also put it in the trunk and there it will be if I change my mind. Let me tell you, I have put HUNDREDS of things in my trunk at this point, and I have yet to go back in and retrieve anything!

The other great thing about putting your donations in the trunk is that when you are out and about running errands and are going by the place where you donate things, you are always ready to drop some stuff off.

Now, my “put it in the trunk” strategy did have one critical flaw. As my donations grew, the pile became more and more out of control until it became too cumbersome for me to use my trunk for anything else. Boo. I realized that even my donations needed some organization. Here’s my before shot (don’t judge!).


And here’s my after shot. See if you can spy a super duper fabulous bag in the picture!

All of my grocery bags are over to the far right, and everything else but the stroller in the back are things to be donated. I’ve got the Reisenthel XL Shopping Tote which now serves as my donation bag. It is super cute, no? It’s also super big (26.8 ” X 17.9″) and super strong! It is the perfect bag to keep my trunk from getting too crazy. Plus, when it is full (like in the picture), that’s my cue to get my behind over to the thrift store and drop everything off.

This bag is also just the right size for holding sports or swim gear, which are other things that tend to stay in the trunk and make everything look a bit messy.

Reisenthel is a company that has been creating awesome reusable bags, carriers and home decor items for 40 years. That means that they were making reusable bags pretty much before anyone else! Their shoppers and tote are very popular in Europe and are making quite a splash here in the U.S. as well. The shopper I reviewed retails for $29.99 and can be purchased at Touch of Europe.

My BFF can attest to just how beautiful the bags are, as she was visiting when mine arrived. We used it to load up everything we needed for a day trip out with the girls, and after watching it in use, she said, “Are you going to give one of those away? Because they are awesome!”

Why yes, I am!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a Reisenthel XL Shopping Tote (sponsor will choose the pattern). Awesome! The contest will run until July 27th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Check out the super impressive selection of Reisenthel products and tell me about another one that you really love. You are going to flip when you see all the pretty!My answer: I really want a carrybag for trips to the farmer’s market!

Additional entries:
1. Sponsor love: Like Reisenthel on Facebook
2. Blogger love: Subscribe to Stuff Parents Need by email or RSS
Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my site.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary bag for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Filed Under: Giveaways · Tagged: giveaway, reusable bags, reusable shopping bags, reusable tote, reusable tote bags, reusable totes, shopper tote, shopper tote bag, shopping bags, totes

Envirosax Bags for Kids Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

June 24, 2011 · by Tiffany Merritt · 198 Comments

Have you joined the forces of awesome yet and ditched plastic grocery bags? If not, I want to give you a big dose of encouragement to go for it. Come on in…the water’s fine! As with any new habit, it can be tricky in the beginning to remember to bring your bags. One tip I have is for your bags to live in the trunk of your car, NOT inside your house. That means they are one step closer to making it into the stores with you at all times!

There are all sorts of reusable bags on the market today and they are easy to get or buy. It’s common to get a free bag now when you go to conferences. Stores you frequent likely have bags available with their store logos on them for super cheap (around $1.00) and you can definitely find them in thrift stores if you spend a bit of time looking for them.

And one more thing: I have frequently had cashiers hesitate to put heavy items in my reusable bags because they assume that they won’t hold as much as a plastic bag. ON THE CONTRARY!!!! They hold up MUCH better than plastic. I have yet to have a reusable bag bust on me while carrying in my groceries. I can’t say the same for plastic.

If you aren’t so much into having bags with company logos on them, and want something that expresses your personality a bit more, I can’t think of a better company to try than Envirosax. These are reusable totes taken to the next level because they are SO STINKIN’ CUTE!!!

Envirosax will outfit you beautifully for any shopping trip. But they go beyond helping the moms and dads out there look smashing while shopping. They’ve got bags for the kiddos, too! We have been using the robot bag, and we are so in love with it! These bags have SO many uses. Darah has pretty much outgrown needing a diaper bag since she is potty trained. But that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have various supplies that we need to take with us if we are going on a big outing. I love that Envirosax are so versatile. They can hold up to 44 pounds of stuff (!!!), they fold up nice and tiny, they weigh pretty much nothing on their own and they stand out in a crowd. On a recent trip, we used this bag to hold all of Darah’s snacks for the drive and all her toys and books. When Darah gets older and can be my big helper when out grocery shopping, we’ll bring this bag along so that she will have something to carry that is all hers.

Buy it!: Envirosax start at $8.95 and are worth every penny and then some. You MUST check out all their print options…you’ll be blown away by the beauty!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a kids tote in your choice of print! The contest will run until July 4th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit on entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Tell me the kids tote you will choose if you win. Choose wisely, as the winner will get what s/he selects for this entry!

Additional entries:
1. Sponsor love: Like Envirosax on Facebook
2. Blogger love: Like Stuff Parents Need on Facebook

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways found on the sidebar of my homepage.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Filed Under: Giveaways · Tagged: bags reusable, canvas bags, cloth bags, custom bags, envirosax, giveaway, green bags, grocery bag, grocery bags, grocery shopping bags, recycle bags, reusable bag, reusable bags, reuse, shopping bags

Flip & Tumble Shopping Tote: Reusable Bags You Will Actually Use

July 27, 2010 · by Tiffany Merritt · 161 Comments

I’ll admit it, I feel a little bit smug every week when I go to the grocery store, because I’ve made it a habit to bring my reusable grocery bags with me. It has taken a while for it to become a habit, but now, stopping at my trunk and pulling out bags is pretty much automatic for me after I pull in to the grocery store parking lot.

For some reason, though, this habit only works at the grocery store. I don’t remember to grab bags when I’m headed inside to Target, or TJ Maxx, or to any of the other stores that I frequent. Weird, huh? Maybe part of the reason, at least when I go into some stores, is that I’m not 100% certain that I’ll be buying anything.

I once tried to put a reusable bag inside my purse. Uh, yeah, that lasted for about 1 minute before I threw it back out. The handles were getting caught on stuff and the bag took up a surprising amount of room!

But hear ye! Hear ye! There’s a bag out there that is absolutely PERFECT for those “what if” moments that I have when being out and about. Check out the Flip & Tumble 24-7 bags. Not only are the colors bold and beautiful, but the bag is SO user-friendly. It has an elastic pouch design that enables you to turn the bag into a small ball (roughly the size of a tennis ball) in about 8 seconds. I’m the type of person who can’t fold a map to save her life, but getting this bag into the pouch was very intuitive, even for me, and it really was super fast.

Because it can become such a small object, it can actually go in your purse or your diaper bag. I’ve been carrying mine around with me for about 2 weeks, now, and it has been used repeatedly! And I can tell you that had I not had this bag, I would have used plastic bags in those moments, because I wasn’t remembering to bring in my canvas bags. Flip & Tumble saves the day!

I also like how lightweight the fabric is. This means that it isn’t adding much weight, at all, to my purse. Just because it is lightweight, though, doesn’t mean it can’t carry some weight! At one point, I turned the bag into a makeshift diaper bag for Darah, and it held clothes, toys, food and diapers with no problems.

flip tumble shopping tote Win it!: I have a Flip & Tumble bag with your name on it! (Well, at least for one of you). That’s right, one lucky Stuff Parents Need Reader is going to get the Pea Green bag, and you are going to love it!!! The contest will run until August 6th at 7:59pm CST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will be contacted and will have 48 hours to claim the prize before it is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Limit one entrant per household, please. Open to residents of the United States.

Mandatory entry: Two things. First, you must subscribe to my blog via email, RSS or Google Friend connect (and let me know which way you subscribe). Second, tell me your favorite color bag!

Additional entries:
1. Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter
2. “Like” Flip & Tumble on Facebook
3. “Like” Stuff Parents Need on Facebook
4. If you are a blogger (posted something in the past 3 months) put my button on your blog and leave a url so that I can find it.
5. Tell me if you currently use reusable bags, and if you don’t, why not?

Be sure to check out all the other current giveaways, listed on the sidebar of my main page!

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own. This post may contain affiliate links at no cost to you. 

Filed Under: Giveaways · Tagged: flip & tumble, flip and tumble bags, flip and tumble produce bags, flip and tumble review, flip tumble bag, flip tumble bags, flip tumble reusable bag, flip tumble reusable produce bags, flip tumble shopping tote, giveaway, grocery bags, reusable bag, reusable bags, reusable grocery bags, reusable shopping bag, reusable shopping bags, review, shopping bag, shopping bags

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Welcome!


Grab your beverage of choice (mine is iced coffee) and let's hang out for a spell! I'm Tiffany, and I've rambunctious little girls and a fierce desire to share any tip and trick I can find to make lives with little ones a bit less hectic and a lot more fun. [Read more...]

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