Sunday, April 21, 2019

5 Cool Money Banks — Pigs, Elephants and More

bull piggy bank, ceramic, with a stopper for his nose

Do you have spare change taking over various flat surfaces in your home? You could clear some space by putting the coins in a spare coffee mug, a mason jar, etc. But maybe a nice piggy bank would provide some inspiration.

Potter Michèle Hastings Pottery makes cool piggy banks; she has some in stock and many more which are made to order, like the one shown above. (Most of them are actually pigs, not bulls.)


ceramic piggy bank with coin being inserted

Kähler Design has a lovely piggy bank (with a stopper in the bottom) which you can buy from Nordic Nest or Scandinavian Lifestyle. The ears are applied individually by hand, so no two banks will be identical.


two wood piggy banks, with leather ears

If you’d prefer wood to ceramic, you might consider the Miss Monnipenni savings box or the Pink Lady version of the same design. They come from the German company Siebensachen by Adam+Harborth; you can also buy them from Malevich Garage or Trouva (Miss Monnipenni and Pink Lady). There’s a leather plug in the base for getting to the coins.


ceramic owl piggy bank, sitting on shelf next to some books

Moving beyond pigs, I found this delightful owl money box from Hannah Turner. It also has a stopper in the bottom for removing the coins.

three wood piggy banks: a panda, an elephants, and a rabbit

And finally there are the OYOY moneybanks: Panda, Baba, and Ninka. Design Life Kids and Scandibørn currently carry all three; Nordic Nest has Panda and Ninka.

Related Posts:
5 Money Boxes: Piggy Banks and More
A Piggy Bank Menagerie
Beyond the Piggy Bank: Tzedkah Boxes
Today’s Top 10 Piggy Banks
Organizing Products Inspired by Sheep

Sunday, April 14, 2019

Avoiding Hotel Toiletry Clutter



Do you take home unused hotel toiletries? If you do, and you also do one of the following:
  • Use them (almost) right away.
  • Keep a reasonable number just for guests.
  • Give them away to homeless shelters or similar organizations, on a timely basis.
then you don’t have a clutter problem. I took home the ProTerra body wash from a B&B because I really liked it and thought I might want to buy some (in a larger size).

But a lot of people take the bottles home and toss them in a closet — where they join other similar bottles and take up permanent residence.

If this is a habit you’d like to break, you’re going to get some help from two sources.

1. Legislation —at least in California. California is considering a bill to ban those little bottles, for environmental reasons. The city of Santa Cruz has already passed a similar bill; its restrictions will take effect in December 2020.

2. Hotels. Marriott and Intercontinental hotels are moving away from small shampoo and conditioner bottles, replacing them with larger pump bottles. Ash Kaira, a California State Assembly Member, said on Twitter, “By the end of this year, @Marriott will have already switched 1,500 of their North American hotels to dispensers instead of single use plastic bottles.” Lodging reports that Managed by Marriott hotels will be using Paul Mitchell products.