Ever since I watched an episode of We Bare Bears where they proudly showed off their totes, I was
patiently waiting for my time to come to excitedly tell ANYONE about the tote life. During the episode, the bears decided to enjoy green living - or some call it - the hippie lifestyle. They really enjoyed owning a tote....and then they realized how much they loved it when their cave ended up floor to ceiling covered with totes in an effort to be more environmentally friendly. Kinda like my situation.....because "when in Rome...."
The good thing about totes is that they're versatile! You can use them for storing clothes, groceries - you name it! But my favorite is for saving space and using it to store toys, which sadly, are no longer played with because the kids are growing up. Excuse me while I ugly cry. R.I.P majestic dinos....
Even though totes are multi-use and often made of recycled fabric - not all can be recycled. Some studies say it takes 100 uses of 1 tote to offset the energy it takes to make them vs a regular plastic bag. That's still a good thing because it is better than a plastic bag winding up in the ocean. So, what do you do? You use those amazing totes like it's this years biggest fashion accessory! Remember, the more you use them = the more you actually help the environment!
What happens when a beloved tote is no longer totes-adorbs? A cool company named Chicobag MAKES reusable totes (like what I've been excitedly telling y'all about; in part because I've had too much caffeine). If your bag is still in good condition, they'll re-home them and give them to fixed or low income families that can't afford reusable bags as part of a Pay It Forward program. If the bags have seen better days, they'll be sent to an artist, crafter or non profit organization to turn them into something new!
Look forward to another tote-ally rad blog post about this in the next couple of months!
Written By: Robin Dziondziak
I just bought a set of 2 Chicobags for all the ladies in my family for Christmas...they're huge & AMAZINGLY actually fit really easily back into that cute pouch they initially arrive in! (i find this to be the best part of them, since I figured it would be impossible to get it all back in there!) I brought mine to the farmer's market a few weeks back & my bff was like "whoa....you really came prepared for this!"