Everyone these days is offering fun reusable shopping bags for sale. So what makes one reusable bag different from the next?

For starters:

Colors

Shapes

Sizes

Compactability

Durability

Flat-bottomed
 

In the end, it all comes down to personal choice. For example, the most important features to me are a larger than normal size that also compacts small (or at least perfectly flat). Bonus points if it can stand open on its own, thanks to a flat bottom -- similar to a paper sack. My new favorite is the Walmart reusable shopping bag.
 

GOOD NEWS!  Walmart is hosting a 1Million Reusable Bag Giveaway. That's right, on Saturday, April 19, 2008 Walmart will be giving away one million custom-made reusable shopping bags -- beginning at 8AM Local Time and while supplies last.

 
For the record, in addition to large reusable bags like these, I also like to have a couple of reusable shopping bags that pack up really small -- so they're easy to carry with you. (The larger ones -- like the Walmart bag -- I keep in the car.)

Here are some fun reusable shopping bags and places to find them...

My mom was recently talking about try to sell a few things on eBay. This would be her very first attempt at selling something on eBay.

It's a cinch to buy things on eBay, but selling takes a bit more work. So I started looking for some eBay tips & tools that might make the process easier for her.

The good news: If you're not a wiz on the computer and signing up with a credit card (to use PayPal for handling all of the payments associated with your items) sounds intimidating... you're not alone. My mom wasn't crazy about either of those things. But she decided to get with the times in order to take advantage of all that eBay has to offer -- in terms of helping you sell your unwanted items in a ziffy.

Here are the best tools we found to make selling items easier when using eBay.

Woah!

It's not often that I talk about a new site or idea without having a lot of experience with it.

But this one doesn't require a lot of experience & know-how in order to wow and amaze you.

Check out Retrevo.com.

It's a site that contains reviews, ratings, details, and specs for virtually every product under the sun. Think: online shopping site... on steroids!

I like it best for the reviews & ratings.

For example, have a look at the prices, reviews & ratings for the Nikon D80 digital camera.

If you're anything like me, once you see Retrevo in action, you'll never go back to standard online shopping & review sites!

When Jim and I were on our 2-week RV adventure in July, we took a side-trip to a couple of malls.

Shocker! I dislike malls almost as much as Jim does. But we both felt that it wouldn't have been right to pass both malls on this particular trip and not stop in to see what all the talk is about.

Here are the highlights from my visit to the two largest malls in the world...

Well, Martha Stewart has made my day!

Not only did she and her staff recommend Kiehl's for their generous free sampling program (in the March 2007 issue of Real Simple), but they also recommend Sephora for similar reasons.

Sephora stores offer generous samples from the more than 150 cosmetics lines they carry. Just ask and a salesperson will hand you a packaged sample or fill jars with requested products for free."

Sounds good to me!

I had an interesting conversation with the manufacturer of ChoiceDek and MoistureShield -- which are two of the leading composite deck materials on the market today.

The manufacturer is Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies (AERT).

The rep who answered my phone call got to play "20 Questions" with me. Fortunately, he was a good sport, and he was willing to tackle any question I sent his way -- even when it wasn't specifically related to his product(s).

This guy definitely went above and beyond to be helpful to me in my decision to go with composite decking in our new log home, or not.

One interesting thing that I learned had to do with the differences between buying home improvement supplies at places like Home Depot and Lowe's, compared to buying from local distributors and the manufacturer's own list of suppliers.

Yep, now you can create your very own personalized Kleenex tissue box!

It's oval in shape, and a one-of-a-kind original with all of the colors, photographs, and text chosen by you.

Personalized Kleenex boxes like these would be great for weddings, nurseries, grandparents, pet lovers, vacation pictures, family & class reunions, etc.