Friday Find: Style Outside The Box

I love design of all types: fashion, decor, even Web and print design, so when I heard* about Style Outside The Box, I had to go take a look. I am glad I did. Style Outside The Box is a Web site devoted to giving independent designers a place to showcase their quality goods. Think of it as Etsy with the iffy stuff filtered out.

From their Web site:

Style Outside the Box is the first shopping site where an elite style council juries and selects every product to meet Style Outside the Box’s standards, so customers never have to worry about the quality as well as the uniqueness of every product. We are a website solely for exclusive independent designers who stand behind every one-of-a-kind product made and sold.

They sell everything: home decor; clothing and accessories for women, men and babies/kids; jewelry and gifts. My favorites are the home decor items, many of which are made with sustainable, eco-friendly materials. Prices run the gamut, from a selection of gifts under $30, to some pricier jewelry and dresses, although the prices aren’t unreasonable considering that each piece is one-of-a-kind.

It’s a wonderful feeling to get something beautiful that no one else has… it’s especially wonderful when you can give your BFF a great gift that’s as unique and gorgeous as she is. In fact, I have my eye on a nice item for a special someone who has a birthday coming up. I’m not telling who because she reads this blog (at least she better).

Beyond the great merchandise and the wonderful venue for up-and-coming independent artists and designers, Style Outside The Box is a woman-powered business, just like Buy-Her. I love the idea of being able to support companies run by women, especially when they’ve got stuff I actually want.

Go there now and see what they’ve got—through the month of December 2011 they’re offering 10% off your purchase when you use code lovesotb.

*I feel compelled to mention that I learned about this site from my mother because her BFF’s daughter works for Style Outside The Box. While that’s what got me to the site, I recommend it because I love their offerings and wanted to share them.

REALLY Last Minute Gift Idea

Have you ever googled “last minute gift ideas” and found suggestions that included the words “shipping and handling”?  Whenever that happens to me, I think that those people obviously do not understand procrastination.

Last minute gift ideas, to me, means I’m on my way to their house and am hoping to pick something up along the way.

And I’m running late.

Obviously you are much better prepared than I am and you would never desperately scan the shelves of a drugstore in order to find something, anything!, to toss into a gift bag for a holiday gathering or birthday party.  So this really last minute gift idea is purely for your entertainment.

And my survival.

REALLY Last Minute Gift Idea: The Recipe Gift Bag

1. Grab an index card and write down your favorite recipe.
2. Stop at the grocery store and purchase a gift card to cover the cost of the ingredients.
3. Check out the kitchen items aisle and buy a tool used in the recipe.  Cookie cutters, zesters, flour sifter, silicone muffin pans – something cheap but slightly “specialized” for your recipe so it looks like you put some thought into this!
4. Buy a reusable grocery bag – you can get them at the cashier – and put it all inside. Eco-friendly and creative!

The best part about this idea is that you can easily adjust it to fit any budget and personalize it to be used over and over again.

And that’s how you do procrastination right.

Photo credit.

Ecover Limescale Remover: A GREAT Green Cleaner

Ecover Limescale Remover – you have saved my lazy butt!  As you may recall from my last post on the ionator HOM, I am a disgusting, filthy woman. Because of my refusal to clean, we eventually got a green cleaning service. Alas, even their powers couldn’t remove the nasty hard water stains and limescale build-up in our glass shower in the master bath. After two years, I viewed the stains as an unintended privacy shield on the clear glass.  But, even I know when I’m making excuses for being gross.

I asked my green guru girlfriend and she suggested Borax mixed with some soap and elbow grease.  In the ionator HOM post, Sheila recommended microfiber cloths, water and elbow grease.  You may notice that both of these have something in common – elbow grease. Yeah, this is the reason why I don’t clean in the first place.  I do not like expending all of that energy on cleaning. Especially on that stupid bathroom. I know I sound like a spoiled brat. I get it. But I. Hate. Cleaning.

As I was strolling through Sunflower Market, I spotted Ecover Limescale Remover.

On the label it said that I could let it sit on the limescale, and then wipe off. Not one word about elbow grease. Sold.

To show you how well this product works, I have to bring great shame to my mother. Mom, I’m sorry that I am so gross.

Here is a photo of my shower, taken from the inside.

I know.  I know.

Next, I sprayed the Ecover Limescale Remover onto the glass.  No elbow grease was used by me. Just some trigger action with the finger. Then I sat there and watched it drip.

Now, look, you can see that there is stuff out there in the background. At this point, I was dancing with glee.

Next, I wiped it with a rag.

Now, there are still some spots in this photo, but it took me a few minutes to realize that they were on the outside. This is seriously the same spot as the first photo. The glass in this shower hasn’t been this clean in years.

I am in sweet, sweet love with Ecover limescale remover. It works and it required almost no effort on my part. That is the kind of cleaning that I can handle.

To find the closest Ecover retailer to you, you can use this handy tool on their website.  I believe that this was about $4.

Feature photo by: epSos.de

Save money with low flow shower heads. And, er, the environment.

I’ve been meaning to invest in a low flow shower head forever.

I live in Florida where water is expensive as hell and, sadly, used in massive amounts.  You see, we don’t get near as much rain here as we do sun and so the only way to avoid nasty letters from our HOA is to utilize a sprinkler system on our lawn.  We minimize that as much as possible, but our water bill is still out of this world – especially during hot, dry months.

I can’t change the weather.  But I can make small changes inside to conserve how much water we’re using.

Thus my need for a more eco-friendly shower head.  Because while my water pressure is outstanding and the fancy shower heads that came with our house are to die for – paying over $100 a month to the water company is really starting to get on my nerves.

Oh.  And I care about the environment and stuff.  Really.

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Mother’s Day Eco-Friendly Gift Ideas – Gifts To Help Mom Go Green

I have called my mother a hippie on more than one occasion. (And once I accidentally called her hippy, which is apparently not the same at all and slightly more insulting.  The more you know…)

My mom was eco-friendly before going green was all the rage.

We had a compost heap in our backyard before you could pick up composters at the grocery store.  We reused and recycled back when only those weirdos in communes were talking about global warming.

So, it is in honor of my eco-friendly and environmentally aware mother that I talk today about top holiday gift ideas for women who are trying to go green.

Biodegradable Home Kitchen Compost Pack
$21.95

Where were these babies when I was growing up?  Do you know how not stinky it is to put your food garbage in something with a lid?

This makes the process of taking your garbage from the kitchen to the outdoor compost pile much more convenient – and much more likely that the rest of the household will play along.

Organic shopping Set – 5 pack
$39.95

I’m a huge fan of my reusable shopping bags.  This set comes with 5 reusable shopping bags (each old about 35 lbs.) and 3 reusable produce bags – which I do not have.  A great gift idea for women who have yet to hop on the reusable bag wagon.

Eco Sandwich Wrap
$6.95

Does your eco-friendly mom pack a lunch?  These reusable sandwich wraps replace the little sandwich baggies that usually get thrown away after one use.

In my house, we’ve been trying to wash out the baggies – which is kind of a pain because they don’t really get dry on the inside.  These wraps lay flat, making them easier to wipe down and reuse.

Refresh’n Dryer Towels
$9.95

OK – so part of me thinks this is kind of like giving your wife a vacuum cleaner as a birthday gift.  BUT – part of me also thinks that this is a neat idea that I might not spend the money on initially to try out.

They are described as dryer towels  that can “be reused up to 25 times, save on water and electricity, lessen time in the laundry, prolong the life of your clothes, and is 100% natural.”  Basically, instead of washing your clothes every time you wear them – you throw them in the dryer with one of these.

It is an eco-friendly gift idea.

Sun Oven
$249.00

No one said environmental responsibility was cheap.  But damn.  Apparently this cooks at temperatures between 350-400 degrees.

This is a really thoughtful gift idea for a woman who camps or picnics a lot.

Rain Barrel and Diverter
$149.00

What would your mom (or wife) want with a barrel of rain water?  There’s a lot of uses for collected rain water that are good for the environment and her water bill.  Water the lawn or garden, wash the car, um… ok.  There are at least two awesome things she could do with reclaimed rain water.

To be honest, eco-friendly gifts for moms aren’t always the most fun things to buy for her.  BUT – they can be really thoughtful, especially if going green is something she’s expressed an interest in.

And the most important thing to remember about buying a gift for someone else is that it’s about them, and not you.

Going Green With Reusable Shopping Bags

I am always one of the last people to pick up on the latest “going green” trends.  It’s not that I don’t love the earth or want to be more eco-friendly.

It’s that I’m lazy and cheap and like my stuff.

I tend to be suspicious of green products because there’s a lot of overpriced, yuppy crap out there being marketed as “eco-friendly” and therefore “worth this exorbent price tag”.  Thanks, but no thanks.  The Earth and I had a talk and we’ve agreed neither of us wants me to be poor or a pretentious asshole.

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