custom bags to keep you moving

Sometimes all you need is the right equipment to keep you active and on the go. The right custom bags are some of those tools that every person needs to have on hand. When you have the right custom bag, you have a companion to take with you on your travels. From packing groceries at the local farmer’s market, to toting your towel and sunscreen to the beach or even packing your dirty gym clothes for this morning’s work-out session, the right custom bag is always a welcome accessory.

The same logic can be applied to your favorite pair of shoes. Whether they’re your power heels or your comfy cozy flats, having the right shoe options in your arsenal is a necessity. When your closet is stocked with custom bags - perfect for any and all scenarios – you are fully prepared to keep on moving no matter what life throws at you.

Imagine you are driving home from work. Inspiration strikes and you have to get to the local craft store STAT. Of course your favorite shop is completely eco-friendly and doesn’t provide disposable plastic bags. Should you struggle to carry each individual sticker and stamp out by hand? Of course not! You have your custom bag in your car, just waiting for situations like this. The next day you’re out on an all day shopping extravaganza. You hit all the hot spots. Shoes. Music. Jeans. All your favorites. Do you come home with an armload of bags that you’ll wastefully throw away? Or course not. You brought your reusable bags with you.

stylish yet simple custom bags

To be trendy in today’s ever-changing world of fashion, keeping your closet stocked with the latest and greatest fashion trends is a must for fashionistas across America. From the hottest new pumps and the skinniest denim jeans to light and bright scarves and fun, chunky accessories, keeping your fashion current is a must for trendsetters. One of the most popular and still rapidly growing trends is the usage of custom bags. Custom bags are a great solution to your everyday needs. They help you store miscellaneous supplies, tote groceries and store retail purchases, all while keeping you up to date with the newest fashion trends. Whether you’re a soccer mom, teenager, teacher or runway model, using a custom bag is always as smart and savvy way to shop, school or travel.

With so many trendy new designs and materials to choose from, it is easy to find the custom bag that fits your needs. Whether you need a large, roomy and sturdy bag to take grocery shopping or just need one big enough to store the necessities of life (toothbrush, body spray, hair brush, clean undies, etc.), an environmentally-friendly reusable bag is the way to go. Whether you purchase your bag at the grocery store, find it lying ownerless on the street, buy it for a steal at a thrift store or even give imprinted custom bags out to your employees, you’ll be getting a versatile piece that you can and will use over and over again. Stay trendy!

warm up your home with custom bags

Apartment Therapy has a great post today (as they often do) about using fabrics to warm up your home. Collect textiles in custom bags: rugs, throws, cozy pillows. Take custom bags everywhere, whether estate sales or the mall or small boutiques, and stock up on these items when you find a good deal. A home can always use more textiles; even if that rug doesn't match your living room right now you'll certainly find a use for it down the road. And inexpensive rugs are hard to come by.

Custom bags will help you store extras as well while you're figuring out how to use them.

pack shoes in custom bags

Have you settled into post-holiday malaise yet? I have. And I'm already planning my next vacation. A post on Apartment Therapy about slushy shoes got me thinking. Packing shoes in your suitcase is always a problem; they are big and bulky and very dirty. Lately I've been using custom bags to carry shoes on car trips. A wide shopping bag is easy to toss onto the floorboard of your car, and durable enough to hold your shoes. Just make sure you don't take the same custom bags grocery shopping. Ew.

I suppose you could use custom bags to hold shoes inside your suitcase as well, the same way you would plastic grocery bags. They'd look a little nicer and you could take them out when you reach your hotel/hostel/friend's couch. Let me know if you try this.

paint your shelves with custom bags

If things are looking a bit drab around your living room, consider using custom bags to help paint the interior of bookshelves and cabinets.

Take everything off the shelves first, using custom bags for each shelf to keep your stuff organized while you paint. You can also use custom bags to store your materials when finished (paint brushes, paint, tarp). Having everything for one project in one place will keep you organized so you know where to look next time you paint.

custom bags help upholster a folding chair

Apartment Therapy has a great post today about how to upholster your own folding chair. Use a custom bag to collect the tools you need: glue gun, pliers to remove staples, spray adhesive, scissors, stapler and staples, and double welt cord. Then take custom bags to a fabric store and pick out your favorites. Get creative with mixing and matching. (I am currently wearing two different plaids, so I certainly won't judge you.) You can even use custom bags after shopping to lay down as tarp.

You'll also need some foam, folding chairs and dacron, but Apartment Therapy estimates you can complete the project for only $20 and in 1 hour.

Take your custom bags to Ikea

If you've never been to Ikea, I suggest you get on the internet and track down the closest location, gather your custom bags, and head there first thing in the morning. Take off work if you have to because, despite the warm sunshine and butterfly feelings that colorful Swedish furniture and nefariously low prices instill in every heart, the warehouse can become as crowded and miserable as Wal-Mart on Christmas Eve.

Pros: beautifully designed, extremely low priced products for every room of the house; pretty showrooms
Cons: an enormous warehouse with few exits; absence of salespeople; you bag everything yourself

To avoid having to purchase custom bags from Ikea, bring your own custom bags and save a few cents.

Purge for 2010 with custom bags

Think back over the past year. How much stuff have you bought, inherited, received and collected? How much more stuff is in your house or apartment now than a year ago? Maybe it's time to say goodbye to some of that stuff.

Use custom bags to sort through old stuff, starting with your desk. If you're like me, you'll find church programs, used envelopes, birthday cards and tons of other papers you don't need any more. Toss them into a custom bag to recycle. The more quickly you go about this process the better; act on intuition before allowing yourself to rationalize keeping something you really don't need. It's unlikely you'll actually regret throwing anything away.

How else can custom bags help you purge for 2010?

Custom bags at the farmer's market

The blog GOOD.is posted this chart yesterday as a guide to when fruits and vegetables are in season. During winter here in Georgia, for example, we've got strawberries, apples, carrots and greens in season that you can pick up for cheap at the farmer's market.

An Atlanta resident, I take my custom bags to Your Dekalb County Farmer's Market in Decatur -- a mecca where people across both cities migrate for inexpensive and fresh produce, fish, meat, cheeses, bread, spices, wine, olive oil, and imported canned foods. My roommate returned from the farmer's market yesterday with a custom bag full of bell peppers, zucchini and onions and a price tag reading $2.

Now that I know what's in season I'll have to fill my custom bags with leafy greens and carrots.

Custom bags named Fad of 2008 by New York Times

'Twas a week of year-end lists, and the New York Times showed up in full form, presenting their graphical representation of the last decade. A newly released chart highlights the Fad of 2008: custom bags. Along with Moms on Facebook, Foreclosures, and Obama, custom bags were one of the most memorable icons of 2008. Perhaps we needed a recession to make us thrifty -- not only with money but with natural resources. With good designs and snarky logos, manufacturers made it cool to shop with reusable custom bags.

Hopefully, two years later, this fad hasn't expired. From what I can see all signs point to thrift becoming a lasting trend, and to yet more innovation in how we preserve our resources.