Little Girl and Big Girl went back to school today. Second grade and fifth grade respectively, wow! In honor of kids going back to school everywhere, we are doing a FREEBIE to remind you to be GREEN or GREENER this school year.
How can you go back to school and be GREEN? I'm glad you asked. Re-use as many things as you can from last year.
1) Don't buy a new backpack. My girls use the same backpack from K-3 (small pack) and then 4 on up (big pack for more books). Of course, if it falls apart, we will get a new one. We like this kind for it's durability (we have not had one fall apart yet!).
2) Reuse pencil cases, erasers, pens, etc. that still have life in them.
3) Buy recycled paper, pencils made from recycled newspaper (available at Target), recycled notebooks, pencils boxes made from recycled plastic (also at Target), you get the point.
4) Clothes, use as many hand-me-downs as possible. OR, give clothes that are too small to a friend or family member. We are lucky that uniforms wear well and can be handed down many times.
5) Use the same lunch box as last year. We like these because they are Eco-friendly acrylic-coated cotton, PVC -free, 100% lead-free AND machine washable.
6) Forgo the bottled water and get a great reusable bottle. We like these.
Ok, yes, yes, the FREEBIE. We still want as many people as possible to be toting fabric bags when they go shopping. Not just the grocery store, but ALL shopping, even school shopping. If you already have a Green Bag Lady bag, then please send a friend to the site to leave a comment for a bag. We would love to give them one and spread the message. We have several light ones on hand ready to ship!
SO, if you do not already have a shopping bag, leave a comment AND your EMAIL ADDRESS at this post spelling out DOT and AT in your email so you don't get spam. In your comment, tell us how you are going GREEN this back to school. We would love to hear your ideas. Please tell us if you can add to the above list.
Comments for a FREE SHOPPING BAG will close at midnight Wednesday, August 19, 2009 CST. We are looking forward to hearing from you! You will hear from Bagette Dad who will get your snail mail address and send you a bag ASAP.
Teresa and all the Bagettes
46 comments:
Just found your site and I love it! I am all ready for school. My son has his Sigg water bottle and reusable containers for lunch. We would love a shopping bag! Thanks for spreading the green message! Jessica
JESSFLA19atAOLDOTCOM
Hi,
I just found your site and am very excited to read more. I am new at being green and would love to have a bag. My daughter is starting preschool this year and my environmentally friendly contribution is convincing my preschool to use my cloth diapers (they agreed and said they had never had anyone request before!!)
sechrestreynoldsatgmaildotcom
hi love your site! i am almost ready for school ive just finished sorting the childrens uniforms my younger son now has my older son hand me downs and my daughters that dont fit are headed to the charity shop in the hopes someone else will grab a bargain, ive bought all 3 water bottles and reusable containers for their lunches, and weve had great fun shapening all our pencils and crayons from last year some are getting quite small now but these are great for my younger sons hands!! we would love one of your bags to help us carry on being green! thanks for spreading the great green word and getting us to share our ideas..
akaliquidsnakeatyahoodotcodotuk
Sophie said.
Thank you for the opportunity, its so important that we use reuseable shopping bags, thank to Teresa there will be more available for us. its so important to preserve our Planet EARTH I would like to get that back too, i will send a photo FROM LONDON !! God Bless
I would love to have one of your lovely bags! Color and fabric not important... feel free to pick something nice for me that could be used by a male or female. And thank you for sharing the video on how to make the bags. I don't have a sewing machine, so I can't make my own. Thank you for your generous offer of your time and talents! I promise to use the bag instead of paper or plastic at the supermarket...
Also, I recently found out that my niece is having a baby boy in December and has requested a "green" shower. (no gift wrap, enviornmentally friendly gifts, etc) I will be wrapping her gift in a cloth diaper!
Cheryl Noe
2980 SW 82nd Way
Davie, Florida 33328
cnoe1955ATaolDOTcom
Hello
My kids are ready for school(or at least I am). We have used a lot of items from last school year. I am new to being green,and would love to have one of your bags.
Thank You
Kathy Marcum
840 Morgan Trail
Virginia Beach,VA 23464
I love your site, I now have it saved so that I can refer back to it. My kids are no longer in school, but I do have a husband who needs lunch for work. We put all of his food in reusable containers, no more sandwich bags. We now refill our water bottles, no more buying bottled water. I cleaned out my closets last week, it is amazing what you can find. I have many notebooks, pens and pencils left over from my kids. My sister-in- law is a teacher, so I send them to school with her to use.
thank you for your site
We are going to school this year with reusable containers and bottles for milk and water. I already have a couple of your bags from the Fido event, and love them! I have some fabric to donate and forgot to get your contact information - can you email me at jenniferschmits@comcast.net or call me at 406-6097 to make arrangements? Thank you! P.S. - love the birds!
I really love your idea and it inspires me to do my share as well. I love making homemade gifts and it does use less new resources and it's a great opportunity to reuse containers and boxes to package the gifts in. I reuse everything from coffee cans to sause jars to package my homemade gifts. I decorate it and the people usually love it. They in turn use it as vases and such.
This year I am not going to buy juiceboxes, I am sending my son drinks to school in reusable bottles and thanks to your idea, he'll use the same backpack. Thank you for doing your part and helping us do ours.
Victoria Sanchez
vsanchez33@comcast.net
OOOOH i am so excited!!! I would love one of your bags. I'm a school teacher and plan on doing a number of green lessons with my kids. I've bought a small mini fridge for my classroom and I'm going to encourage parents to send reusable bottles filled with milk for their kids lunches. I'll put them in the little fridge and that way kids don't end up buying and throwing away all those milk cartons each day. My address is honeyblossom3ATyahooDOTcom
ps I love patterns with pastels and flowers!
LOVE your blog! I'm just starting to build up my stash of reusable bags for the grocery. I'd LOVE one of yours to add to the mix! :-)
heatherDOTmccarlATgmailDOTcom
Your bags are such a great idea. We bought smaller reusable bags for our kids school lunches and are doing the water bottle idea as well. A bunch of people in the neighbor are talking about doing a back to school clothes swap to recycle all the clothes our kids have outgrown.
Our whole kitchen is themed with lemons and blueberries so if you have a bag in either pattern that would be great, but it's not like my groceries have to match my kitchen so I'll gladly take whatever you have!
My email address is rec1116ATyahooDOTcom
Luv your site, u bringing glam & style to green living! me & my bf been drinking with SIGG bottles, also grocery shoppin with reuseable grocery bags...but u know how those bags look >.<
Now I'm extremely excited to receive your design shopping bag & will definitely make good use of it, thx~*
ooopz, forgot about my email address, here you go:
dayc11@hotmail.com
I Just found your website about 20 minutes ago. This is amazing. I have been looking for reuseable bags. They only kind we have are georgia football. No thanks. So normally when I go to the store, I have them just load it up back in my cart. They look at me like i'm crazy. Is there any chance I could get one of these? Please email me at meganellis01atyahoodotcom. I would love it very much. Thank you.
Megan Belvin
Love your site! We organized a school clothing and uniform swap for our friends and neighbors. We also gathered up re-usable backpacks, lunchboxes, water bottles, and school supplies and let the kids go "shopping" for new ones.
Hello! What a great project you do!! Those are great ideas for back to school too! I'm a teacher and I just finished up summer school. I have collected all of the students assignment binders and am going to use them with my next class. Also I always find notebooks that are only 1/2 full and I rip out the used portion and have the kids use the rest. Also I swear by double sided worksheets when ever I copy. It saves trees and helps little backs not get soar. Thanks again-Danielle
danielleltracyAThotmailDOTcom
I have been going around and buying as many green products for my grandson to use at school. I don't like to pollute the environment anymore then we need to. I myself only use green bags when I go out shopping for anything.. I live in a smaller town and some people have asked me where i have gotten the larger bags and I tell them all online.
I have a girlfriend who holds a swap at her house all summer long and until the first blizzard here and she lets people get clothes. I have gotten my grandson lots of his school clothes from there. He is only 6 so he has no idea about this yet. Denise yooperladydeniseatattdotnet
I would love to have one of your bags. I am really trying to be better to the environment and use much less plastic.
hraluvhaiti at gmail dot com
Hi, I just found your site and as a teacher I am getting ready for a "Green Year" with my students. I teach fifth grade and I plan to start a Green Club, encouraging my students to use Sigg water bottles and to not use baggies, but pack lunches in reusable containers. However, most important to spread the word to friends and family to Go Green. Thanks, Shirley
Shirlan17ataoldotcom
Hi! This site is such a great inspiration to go green yourself as well as encourage others to go green. One of my first steps in the goal of going green has been converting my lunchbox, usually filled with plastic sandwich bags and a bottled water, to a lunchbox with nothing but reuseable containers and a refillable water container. This will cut down on 1300 plastic baggies in one year just from me!! In addition, I have lobbied my office to cut out their use of plastic baggies and bottled water by encouraging management to bring in water coolers with filtered water instead of the office supply of bottled water. Not only is it better for your health, but also for the enviornment. Thanks! Jaime
JaimeFLatAOLDOTCOM
I just found your site and I love it!! My son will be reusing his backpack this year and he has for the last couple of years. He is also wearing gently used clothes instead of brand new. My youngest son wears cloth diapers and g diapers to help with the environment and help to save money!! Thanks so much!!
suzannegoekenatyahoodotcom
Would love to own one of your bags! Your suggestions for being green in regards to going back to school are wonderful! Can't think of anything else to add to your great list!
vivlyndesignsatgmaildotcom
I would love to receive one of your bags. I find it inspirational how your idea has grown 1 bag at at time. I'm being green by using a cart at the farmer's market and placing all my purchases inside 1 large bag. I also use cloth bags at the grocery store. I'm glad to see that so many people are pitching in to help the environment.
Felicita01atHOTMAILDOTCOM
Awesome suggestions! I've made pencil case, gone through old clothes, will definitely be adding to my list!
azcats95_60532atyahoodotcom
Wow. On the food side....ok, so we are pretty much dispensing with plastic altogether here. We use wax paper for sandwiches, small drawstring fabric 'bags' for dry snacks, and a larger fabric lunch size bag (actually an old 10 kg rice bag) for the whole lunch. Our water bottles are (reuseable of course!) metal. And we use proper cloth napkins. these add a certain classiness to the most mundane of lunches! YUM!
What a great idea! I'd love to have a bag! thanks!
karin_newmanATshawDOTca
Hey Green Bag Lady,
I just stumbled upon this site and what you are doing is great! I am currently taking a summer college course that covers the environment, human impacts on it, and sustainablity for now and the future. Therefore, this site is perfect! I am currently a high school student, and school starts in less than a month. I plan to reuse my binders, folders, pens/pencils that still work, and clothes for gym that I've been using for the last two years of high school. I would love to have one of your bags, and I will spread the word to my friends at school! Thank you so much!
~ meiqun4AThotmailDOTcom
We used an old mesh bag and personalized it for my daughter with ribbons and paints. This kept the old bag out of the trash and made a really cool one of a kind pencil bag! I would love to have one of your bags to use. Thanks for all you do to spread the green word.
melmoore1@bulloch.net
Melanie Garcia
203 south cromley rd
Brooklet, GA 30415
I am just starting to become more involved in being green and am starting by using reusable bags for my shopping. I want to get a few bags since I will be leaving to college. I also just bought a reusable water bottle and want to get a filter for my tap so I can avoid buying water bottles constantly.
meangreenspeedatgmaildotcom
Brilliant site! I am always re-using my bags for lunch and re-using take away boxes for my food.
It is very good to know that there are many people out there spreading the word about how to save our planet. Naomi
naomizammitathotmaildotcodotuk
A friend of mine told me about your site and I can't wait to get one of your bags! We just had a clothing exchange with a group of friends-- all of us brought bins of clothes our kids had outgrown and we swapped. Most of the clothes look brand new-- and we have now have very little school shopping to do!
Thanks,
reena102 at mail dot com
Hi there!
I just happened upon your site and I LOVE your bags. I am really new to the green thing but with 3 kids I have always done the hand-me-down thing with my daughters and reusable water bottles and lunch containers have always been a staple for us. Your site has a lot of great ideas that I am eager to implement in our family. I would love to have one of your bags and I will use it everywhere I go. Thanks for this wonderfully inspiring site!
stephaniekiddatgmaildotcom
Hi Theresa! One of the readers of my blog sent me the link to your blog and I'm so glad that she did! What a great philanthropy you have!!
I work in education, so I am getting ready to go back to school myself. One of the things that I think makes a big difference is taking the bus. I ride a shuttle to the university where I work. But kids riding the bus to school everyday is good for the environment, too! Less cars, less traffic, less fuel, and MORE FUN!!!
I love your site. The bird mobile is very cute. I started being green a few months back and still trying to kick my old non-green habits. bullfroggieloverATyahooDOTcom
I have been wanting to get some reusable shopping bags for my many trips to the store (I have five kids). I don't need all those plastic bags I keep coming home with. My kids are ready for school with their reusable sandwich containers and water bottles. mommyt121atyahoodotcom
Hola,
I found your site and all i can say is wow, you guys have a lot going here. I can't wait to get a bag i need to get my mom too. She love these kind of bags. She is the one who had shown me to go green, and do they ever help. I also wanted to say the pictures that Teresa had put up on the vacations they have gone to are beautiful pictures. Especially that banana slug, never seen one before until now. My e-mail is chamorrodanielaAThotmailDOTcom. I wish all the best in making more bags to come!
Chau
Our middle school is going green by producing its newsletters, ptsa info in electronic form. I've signed up!
My basket guild looking for a "green" goodie bag; might be able to use your pattern. Looking forward to using your bag...
FOSHAatCOMCASTdotNET
Hello,
I came across your website and love what you do. I'd love to have one of your bags for groceries, and to inspire me to try and make one of my own. I work for a fabric company and occasionally we have extra yardage to give away, would you be interested?
-Caitlin
caitlinwhitneyathotmaildotcom
Thank you so much!
derrettdavisatgmaildotcom
Hi Green Bag Lady,
I think what you're doing is wonderful & would love one of your bags. My current bag has been used & abused & it's about ready to be retired. I've used it for everything from groceries, carrying school books to weekend trips. I would love a new bag to replace the one I currently have!
aklitaataoldotcom
Hi,
A friend told me about this site & I'm requesting one for my mom to add to her ever expanding collection. Thanks for what you do!
rstythompsonataoldotcom
this year, my son is using the same backpack, it's still in great condition, though he thought he should have another one! I made backpacks for the two younger ones in preschool from fabric that I have had for a long time. I am also making "coffee cosies" to use instead of the cardboard ones on a disposable coffee cup like Starbucks. Thanks for your generous offer! brquilter at gmail dot com.
I just found your websight while researching some other amazing reusable bags that I've been purchasing(www.NatureBag.ORG) I really enjoyed watching some of your videos and I'd love a bag of my own to use! Thanks so much for paying green forward!
REINADERIGOatHOTMAILdotCOM
Hi Teresa!
I love seeing your little ones and you too online now! Thank you so much for the handmade burpie for Caleb. You're so crafty and creative! I love that you went green. I'm trying my hardest to do the same. I'm going to follow your bag video! Hope you don't mind, I posted your video on my new blog. www.gabandfab.blogspot.com Do you have a facebook page too? I have one under Cindy Chang Chun. Glad to see you again online!!! LOL... take care!
I LOVE YOUR site!! You am a resident in anesthesia and many of us wear patterns from Amy for scrub hats... It would be soo green to have a lunch bag or even a nice shopping/backpack bag!! Wat a way to go green using-re-usable lunch bags that match our scrub hats... Not necessarily back to school, but OH BACK TO THE busy OR's.. Great work
poralloATufl.edu
I am a Special Education Teacher and am always in need of a bag to carry my books, assignments, from school to home as I need to work on things. This would be a wonderful addition to my school day. I would love one of your bags so that I can show it off to the other teachers in school too. I also teach Environmental Education to students and other teachers.
Thanks. Fran
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