Reusable Bag Organizer & Bags

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Floral Tote Buddy bag organizer

Pros:

• compact storage for your reusable bags
• convenient for storage and transporting
• sturdy materials
• made of 100% recyclable non-woven polypropylene
• works with any reusable bags
• bags are large, sturdy, and easily cleaned
• bags are square-bottomed (this is important to me)
• bags come with a plastic removable bottom to keep them even

Cons:

• slight smell, which wears off with time
• has a logo, if that matters to you

Review:

Most of the things I review are items I received because I went to the NAPO conference.  This is no exception, but this is something I purchased there.  It was a spur of the moment purchase – I was walking around conference with a large box another vendor had given me, and was struggling with having hands – or rather lack of hands.  The Tote Buddy was offering their product – their bag organizer with 3 regular bags and 1 floral bag for $20-.  I found a table nearby, put my armful of things down, took my money out, and went over and bought the set.  I’ll honestly say that I wouldn’t have spent the money if I hadn’t been desperate!

This did not reflect my interest in their product; it was more a reflection of how frugal I can be.  As well, it was something more to worry about getting home after conference. The truth is that I cannot say I’ve been frustrated with my reusable bags, they live in one of the bags, and I often remember to grab them before I head to the store.  I received FlyLady reusable bags a couple of years ago as a gift – they’re the ones I take: 3 lovely purple, square-bottomed bags and 1 black insulated square-bottomed bag for refrigerator/freezer items.  The thing about these is that a couple of them have started to unravel at the edges, but they still work.  Yet now that I have the Tote Buddy, I do really appreciate how much easier it is to grab my bags and carry them.

As with so many new bags, there’s a smell – last year’s bag smell was worse – and as usual, the smell does fade with time. I usually wait to talk about the negatives, but in this case, this is really the only one.  This product is exactly what it proclaims to be – an eco-friendly v to organize your reusable bags, and it’s stylish too.

The Tote Buddy’s bags are larger and have a much sturdier feel to them.  The bags are orange, not my personal favorite color, but are bright and pretty.  I’m also not a big floral person, so I got my bag organizer in black.  This also has a sturdy feel to it.

I didn’t show my husband right away these bags and organizer, but as he was helping me put things away, he noticed.  His comment was pretty much – “Wow, I like these.” I showed him how the organizer worked and he liked that too.  He was pleased with how sturdy they feel.

I also like the idea of using a binder clip to clip my list and any coupons (rarely) to the bag organizer, which sits well in the front basket of the cart.  They say that the bag organizer holds up to 10 reusable bags – although mine seems a little full with 7 bags.  For me, this works fine since I rarely need more than 6 at a time.  I also prone to keeping it clean looking, but not wanting to fill it until it’s bulging.

The other day one of my cats vomited liquid all over the floor, where unbeknownst to me, it was running across the floor – right to where a bag was sitting before it was unloaded.  First, I was shocked at how far it had run, was our floor that uneven? Second, I was a little miffed, kitty vomit on my relatively new bags – but it amazingly wiped off and left no mark – woohoo!  Now that’s a product.  Now, I just need to continue working at getting the bag organizer back into my car, or at least remember to grab it before heading out for shopping.  🙂

Here’s a video they did from YouTube.

Note: All my reviews are done without consideration for the company (sorry!) – as unbiased as possible! I don’t receive anything from any of them and most don’t know I’m even reviewing their products.