I Love Reusable Bags & They Love Me {Giveaway}

By now you all know of my absolute love of reusable bags and how I think they are the one green thing that everyone can most definitely do, so I promise not to go all crazy soap box lady in my review of the latest fantastic bags I’ve found.

Being the lover of reusable bags that I am and constantly writing about them like I do, tends to catch the eye of people who make reusable bags. And the eye that it catches tends to belong to moms funnily enough. Maybe it’s because they know I’m a mom and that being green means more to me then just “let’s save the planet” but “let’s save the planet for our kids”. Well whatever it is it means I get to try out lots of different types of bags which just makes me ridiculously happy.

My latest reusable bag trial is for super sturdy bags made out of jute from Haute Market Bags. According to Haute Market Bags, jute is a SUSTAINABLE, NATURAL material that is 100% biodegradable and recyclable. It is a rain-fed crop with little need for fertilizers or pesticides. And it takes just 4-6 months for a jute plant to grow to maturity.

Haute Market Bags came to be when creator Jackie saw an Earth Day special about all the plastic bags that we go through in a year. She has this phrase that goes, “ If you take all the land on earth and divide it by all the people on earth, each of us personally has 4 acres….what are you going to leave behind on your 4 acres?” I don't know about you but I love that!

So now about the (free) bags that I got to try out. I love that they are really sturdy and can stand up on their own. I found that this meant that the bags didn’t fall over and spill groceries out which happens with some of my others. Plus they're huge ((H)13"x(W)14"x(D)8") so they can hold a lot.



The bags have super cute designs on them and even have a zipper pocket on the inside which I could see coming in very handy if you took these bags to the beach or pool in the summer. I'm just a sucker for pockets.



Because the bags are so sturdy they are a bit heavier (but definitely still light) than other bags and they also don’t fold down as small as others do. I certainly wouldn’t say either of those things is a con, just something I wanted to let you know.

Update: Not only are Haute Market Bags doing a great giveaway (more in a sec.), they’re also offering a great promo code. For the next 2 weeks (until June 1st) they are offering 50% every purchase when you enter the discount code 'EasyEcoToGo' during checkout.

I’m pretty excited about this giveaway because not only is it for a 3 pack of Haute Market Bags, but there will be 2 winners! Yep, 2 Easy Eco To Go readers will each receive a 3 pack of Haute Market Bags! And because there are 2 winners this giveaway will last 2 weeks.

For the main entry go to Haute Market Bags and leave a comment here telling me what your favorite pattern is. This one must be done for all other entries to count.

As always there are additional ways you can enter:

• Tell me something you learned about "why not plastic" (1 entry)
  
• Follow @easyecotogo on Twitter and leave your @name (1 entry)
  
• Tell me something you learned about one-time use bags from this post. (1 entry)
  
• Write a blog about the contest or email 3 friends & cc me on the email easyecotogo at gmail.com (3 entries, please leave 3 comments)
  
• Tweet about the contest (Win a set a 3 reusable bags from @easyecotogo http://bit.ly/9UQwGC #giveaway) (1 entry, can be done once a day. Please leave a comment for each tweet)
  
• Leave a comment with your best tip for remembering to take your reusable bags with you.
  
• Follow my blog in Google Friend (1 entry)
  
• Subscribe by email or RSS to Easy Eco To Go (2 entries, leave 2 comments)
  
• Add my button to your blog (leave your site with your comment so I can stop by and say hi!) (2 entries, please leave 2 comments)
  
• Add my blog to your blogroll (1 entry)

Separate comments must be left here for each additional entry!

Also, please include your email with comments or if you’d rather, after you leave your main entry comment, email me at easyecotogo(at)gmail(dot)com so I will have a way of contacting you if you win. You will have 48 hours after I contact you to send me your info or else I will choose another winner.

This contest is only open to US residents.

The contest will run from Tuesday May 18th, 2010 thru Monday May 31st , 2010 at 11:59 pm PST.

And as always the boys will help me pick a winner which will be announced Tuesday June 1st.