Hands down, one of the biggest complaints I hear from people about “going green” is that it simply costs too much.   This is one of the reasons why I decided to partner with JCPenney because we’re able to create high-quality, stylish products under our Simply Green designation that do not break the bank.   Everything from green bath towels for just $6.99 to everyday recycled glass tumblers ($19.99 for a set of four), all of my friends are pleasantly surprised to find very green (eco-friendly) goods that don’t cost a lot of green (cash).   And here’s another example: this set of THREE (yes, three) Cooks bamboo cutting boards for just $19.99.  

In a previous post, I talked about bamboo being a great renewable resource because it’s a fast growing grass that can be made into a whole bunch of products, including the softest sheets you’ll ever sleep on.   It can also be extremely durable and tough, like this tough-as-nails cutting board set which can easily become your everyday choice for dicing and chopping right in the kitchen.   The larger cutting board is perfect for serious chopping; the medium one is great for vegetable prep and the small once could be used as a serving platter on the dining room table.  However you use them, you’ll appreciate the fact their eco-friendly and durable.  In my book, that’s a win-win combination.

You know how this works: leave a comment why you need a set of Cooks Bamboo Cutting Boards and I’ll pick a random commenter to win them all.   

Good luck!

-Danny Seo

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.  Congrats to Amanda for winning.  She says:  “These would make great cheese serving platters.”

We used a random number generator to choose the winner.

No need to be too picky when donating clothes to charity. Only about 10 percent of donated clothes ever end up for resale in thrift shops; the rest are sold to textile recyclers. Ripped jeans, way-too-faded t-shirts and other worn-out clothes are recycled into cleaning cloths and other industrial items by these recyclers. They pay charitable organizations like Goodwill and the Salvation Army a fee for the old clothes, which adds up to a significant amount of money for their charitable works. So clear your closets clean and give away.

-Danny Seo

PS- Ever score an amazing find at Goodwill?  Share it here and I just might send you a JCPenney Simply Green tote bag as my way of saying thanks!

If you’re like me, then you know there are some real energy hogs in our home: the heating/cooling system, the refrigerator, the washer/dryer and—without a doubt—the oven.    Heating up a whole oven to just re-heat last night’s mac and cheese is a real waste of energy.   The simple solution is to think compact and small: Like this Cooks Convection & Rotisserie Toaster Oven.   

Baking, roasting and re-heating food in a countertop convection oven is a great eco no-compromise solution: it uses significantly less energy than a standard oven and you still get professional, even results in your cooking.    Plus, you can chow down on your melty, gooey, mac and cheese in no time flat because this convection oven cooks food up to 30% faster.  A built-in fan actually blows air around inside the unit. This ensures more even cooking temperatures and results in excellent cooking quality.

Cooking with a countertop convection oven saves energy and gives you better results.   And to help one of you bake up a batch of homemade cookies, a creamy casserole or buttery biscuits, I’m giving a colorful Cooks Convection and Rotisseries Toaster Oven away to a lucky reader.    To Win: Just leave a comment telling me: what’s the first thing you’d cook in your new convection oven?    I’ll pick one delicious idea to win.   Good luck!

-Danny Seo

PS-Check out the bright colors the oven comes in!   So cool.

UPDATE: Congrats to Kristin on winning the oven.   We used a random number generator to choose the winner.   Kristin’s comment was:  Traditional chocolate chip cookies. There’s nothing like that wonderful smell!

The other day, my Blackberry battery was dying more quickly than usual and it wasn’t holding a charge when I plugged the adapter into it.   That’s when I realized the rechargeable battery needed to be replaced.  My uneventful day became an ordeal to find a new battery, recycle the old battery and then power up the whole  Blackberry again.  That’s when I thought how great it would be to have a solar powered phone that never needed a battery to begin with. 

Well, that imaginative product idea may not exist, but the next best thing does: the Citizen Eco Drive watch.    Citizen, which is the world’s largest watchmaker, created ecologically friendly timekeeping with their Eco-Drive collection, which runs continuously on any kind of light (sunlight or artificial) for a lifetime of use.   Fueled by light, it never needs a battery, which means it has no battery that needs replacing.    And the technology is available in a wide variety of styles for both men and women, meaning you can get a classic, timeless watch embedded with this futuristic technology.

Now, you know what comes next: one lucky reader will get a chance to own a Citizen Eco-Drive watch and I’ve chosen one of my favorites from jcp.com.    It’s a classic men’s style and I think can be worn by a man or a woman.    To win, leave a comment giving one easy tip that helps the environment and is quick to do.    For example, I find stuffing my shoes with newspaper helps detox them really well!    Good luck! 

-Danny Seo

Contest is now closed!  Congrats to JULI for winning.   We used a random number generator to choose the winner. Juli’s eco-tip is:

I pack flatware and a cloth napkin with my lunch. No need for plastic utensils or paper towels.

On laundry day it pays to be lazy. Doing several loads of laundry and then drying them batch after batch saves energy. The residual heat from the first batch will help dry the second one faster. Also, pull heavier items out of the dryer while they’re still damp to air-dry, like towels, jeans and sweaters. Just hang them over chairs or a banister. Your favorite clothes won’t shrink and you’ll save electricity, too.

PS- Do you think line drying your clothes is eco-savvy or an eyesore?  Share it here and I just might send you a JCPenney Simply Green tote bag as my way of saying thanks!

Shag is back, baby.  And I do believe it is here to stay.

One of the perks of working with JCPenney as their Green Living Partner is that I get a sneak peek at all the new merchandise coming out before it hits stores.   I also style and produce our Simply Green look books, which go to magazine editors to preview so they can showcase the products in their magazines.

This last season, I decided to shoot the look book at my new house in Pennsylvania, which I had restored for the past year and thought would be the perfect backdrop for the products.   The process to produce a lookbook is pretty simple: the design teams at JCPenney send me boxes of product, we use it to style rooms, photograph it, and I send it back.   Unfortunately, mistakes happen and one of these Simply Green Shag Rectangular Rugs by Studio, didn’t make it back.    But fortunately for me, the good folks in our Home Office at JCPenney said it was fine to keep it.

And keep it I did and I love it.   

• First, the eco-attributes: each 5×8 rug keeps 200 plastic bottles out of landfills.    Old plastic water bottles are collected from recycling, shredded and respun into nylon fiber and made into these rugs.      They’re durable, cozy, soft and easy to keep clean.

• The color palette is neutral enough to work in any décor: chocolate, cream mist, mocha, red spice, stone and tarragon.   (Chocolate is what I have and I am literally resting my bare feet on it as I type this).

I think it’s important to buy recycled products made out of plastic bottles as much as possible.  Even though many of us are cutting back on our bottled water use, billions of bottles are still manufactured and just a small percentage is actually recycled.   Keeping those bottles out of landfills by recycling them into beautiful rugs like these is one way we can make a difference.   Correction: a cozy difference.

Fortunately for one lucky reader, you don’t have to style a lookbook for JCPenney in the hopes of scoring one: just leave a comment saying which room you’d put this rug in and why it would look eco-fabulous!      I’ll pick one lucky reader to win a 5X8 rug in the color of their choice. 

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.  CONGRATS TO “TAMARA” FOR WINNING.  We used a random number generator to choose the winner. 

Good luck!

-Danny Seo

It’s not often you hear about new innovations when it comes to bath towels.   But these new Linden Street Quick Dry Textured Towels might become the perfect replacement for every damp, disgusting bathroom towel in America.

Now, when I first got my hands on these “quick dry” towels I was a skeptic (and maybe you are, too).   My first thought was if someone was going to design a quick drying towel, you need to sacrifice something, like absorbency.   But after one drying off with the towels, I can now safely join the throngs of people who are raving about these towels:  they are fabulous.

The quick dry towels are 100% cotton (so they’re soft), but feature a special and new low-twist yarn that makes them light weight, yet surprisingly absorbent.  It’s this special low-twist design that helps the towel dry faster either on your towel hook or dryer.    Faster drying means less energy is used.    And for anyone with a large family, drying towels all day long can be a real energy hog.   Over time, the energy savings can really add up.  Plus, the towels are a great value: $9.99 for a bath towel and just $6.99 each if you buy two or more.

But the only way for people to really understand how great these are is to give a full set away to a lucky reader.    To win, leave a comment telling me which Linden Street Quick Dry Towel color is your favorite.   (You’ll need to click on the link to see the colors).    I’ll pick one lucky reader and will announce it on Thursday, July 2nd.   Good luck!

-Danny Seo

PS-My favorite color is Signature Gray.

THANK YOU for all your comments!  Contest is now closed and winner will be announced here shortly. 

UPDATE: Congrats to Napapon for winning.  We’ll be sending a set of “light mahogany” towels soon. We used a random number generator to choose the winner. Congrats!

I think anytime you have a chance to buy recycled products, do it.   If you’re like me, you put out your empty glass jars and bottles, aluminum and tin cans, recyclable plastics and newspaper out for recycling.    But do you ever wonder where it goes?  Well, recycling is just the first step in a 3-step process.   The next step is to find companies willing to buy the recyclable trash and turn it into a new, recycled product.   Then, the final step is that we—the consumer—buy recycled products to help the process going.

There are many everyday recycled items you may be buying that are recycled.  There are countless recycled paper products out there, ranging from copy paper to toilet paper to even your Starbucks coffee cup.    And JCPenney sells lots of recycled PET plastic products (plastic water bottles) that are made into cushy bed pillows, throw rugs and even fleece jackets.   

But when I saw these Recycled Glass Decorative Rod Sets by Studio coming out, I had to stop and stare.   They are just a lovely product that could work in just about any home and blue-greenish recycled glass finials are just ethereally beautiful.

I think we need to share the recycled love by giving a set of these recycled glass rods away.  The winner will have a choice of 28-48”, 48-86” or 86-120” pair of curtain rods.  To win, all you have to do is leave a comment saying which room you’d use these in and anything else you feel like adding.  I’ll pick one lucky reader to win.  Good luck!   Winner will be announced Friday, June 26th.

-Danny Seo

UPDATE: Congrats to LENA for winning. We used a random number generator to choose the winner.  Lena says: We are in the process of redoing my daughter’s room and this might be the nice finishing touch. Very cute!

If you need to water the lawn or outdoor plants, do it at sundown. Watering the plants at night is the most ecological method, since there is no sun to evaporate the water immediately. If you have automatic sprinklers, set the timer to water the lawn at night. Not only does this save water, but the plants and lawn will get a proper soaking, too, and will thrive.

-Danny Seo

PS-Got a tip on how to get your green thumb growing better?   Share it here and I just might send you a JCPenney Simply Green tote bag as my way of saying thanks!

Lots of chances to win here, folks.    And it’s an everyday prize that I use all the time and I think you will, too.

Many retailers are now selling reusable bags since going green is something we’re all trying to do since using disposable plastic bags has become so passé.      Last year, JCPenney created one of the best reusable tote bags around, which features a reinforced bottom, wide-mouth opening and extra long handles; it’s strong and durable, easy to carry on your shoulder and it can hold A LOT of stuff.    And for just $1.99, it was easy to see why they sold out in stores all over the country.

This year, we decided to produce the same bag but do something different with the design by hosting a contest with fashion and design students around the country.   And here are the winning totes: I think they’re whimsical, fun and colorful designs that I anyone would love to carry around.   And the best part?   All proceeds from the sale of the totes goes to the JCPenney After School Fund, which provides children in need with access to life-enriching afterschool programs that foster their academic, physical and social development.

Since I have a nice stash of Simply Green tote bags here, I’ve decided to give (10) of you a free tote bag.    All you have to do is a leave a comment where you’ll use the bag.    Ten randomly chosen people who leave comments will win!   It’s that easy!  Good luck!  Winners will be announced Friday, June 19th.

-Danny Seo

PS-Check out this pic of actress Kerry Washington and me shopping at JCPenney with our Simply Green totes over at oprah.com.

CONGRATS TO THE FOLLOWING:   “HANNAH” “CASEY” “REBA” “MYFLOATINGWORLD” “JANET” “CAROL”"AMY ARCE” “BEC” “RYAN SULIVAN” and “JOSEPHINE” FOR WINNING.  WE USED A RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR TO CHOOSE THE WINNERS AND ALL WINNERS HAVE BEEN EMAILED DIRECTLY WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO CLAIM THEIR TOTE BAG.

CONGRATS TO ALL!   STAY TUNED FOR MANY MORE CONTESTS HERE AT SIMPLYGREEN.COM!