It’s not always easy being green, but you can look chic doing it. With companies like Ikea and Whole Foods Market going plastic bag-free, it pays to invest in a reusable shopping tote. Uncommon Goods offers two unique options: The Recycled Newspaper market bag ($52) is made from recycled sections of The New York Times. Each bag is handmade and coated in water-resistant laminate. The Waste Not Want Not tote ($24) is made from 80 percent post-industrial recycled cotton and 20 percent post-consumer recycled plastic and features an original illustration by designer R. Nichols. Fredflare.com’s Go Green totes are made of natural canvas and printed with water-based inks, and a portion of the sales goes to the World Wildlife Fund. Delight.com’s Think Green organic Kermit tote ($38.95) is made of organic cotton and comes with three detachable green-themed buttons. Buy a tote emblazoned with “My Bag Cares” and be in your face with your environmental consciousness. For each $20 bag purchased, the Arbor Day Foundation will plant a tree in your name in the U.S. Fashionistas can trot out a Marc by Marc Jacobs canvas tote with logo lettering on the front ($148) or Juicy Couture’s Go Green tote featuring a heart-shaped recycling graphic ($75). Shoe company Nine West has partnered with Project Green to create reusable canvas bags ($20) featuring the slogans “Green Girls Are Sexy” and “Fashion Cares, Green Is Chic.” Seeking a one-stop-shop for reusable bags? Try ReusableBags.com, a comprehensive site showcasing all sizes and shapes of shopping bags, reusable bottles and lunch bags.

I can think of a few reasons why buying a pre-selected set of 1,500 tools is a sketchy idea: It costs a fortune; it likely includes quite a few items you’ll never use; and, like those mega-DVD collections often trotted out during the holidays, chances are good that someone interested in getting such a set has already bought many of the included items individually. Still, my salivary glands are fired up by this collection of Craftsman tools recently offered by Sears. The 1,470-piece set is actually a grouping of smaller collections that are available separately — a good thing, since (a) it’s doubtful many individuals really need items from all the categories here, and (b) at $8,600, the whole shebang costs more than everything in my current workshop put together, plus my car. When it comes down to it, the only reason I’m even lingering at this page of the Sears Web site is the photography: With each set of items fanned out by increments in size, curves of sockets weaving around rainbows of screwdrivers, I can’t help fantasizing about having all that gear readily available. Whoever took those photos — I suspect it wasn’t the same person in charge of pix like this from the catalog’s clothing section — deserves a big bonus.

We recently took a look at folks with possibly unhealthy (certainly unusual) attachments to their chosen brands of pocket notebooks. But after you’ve settled on the perfect pad, what do you use to jot down all those impromptu thoughts? Enter the pocket-sized pen, which can be surprisingly hard to find, at least in a version that writes with a pleasing flow. It’s pretty extreme, for example, to pay $32 for what looks like a toilet-roll holder, even if it does claim to write at any angle and on wet paper — and don’t get me started on this pendulum-shaped thingie that costs around $300. Getting closer to a human price range is the $15 Inka Travel Pen, which is designed to fit on a key chain, but there’s a bit of screwing and unscrewing involved if you want to transform it from mini- to full-sized mode. Less work is required with the cutely designed FoldzFlat, which does just what its name suggests and seems intended mostly as a promotional item (you print your business name and phone number on it and give ‘em away); it’s also available in a sturdier metal-and-leather version, but neither is exactly what you’d call a tactile pleasure to use. By far the best option I’ve tried, both in terms of usability and of reasonable price, is the Zebra F-301 Compact (pictured). Its design allows the finger-sized tube to expand to the length of a normal pen without undue hassle; its fine-point tip writes smoothly; it has a hole for easy keychain or lanyard attachment; and — hello, eco-conscious note takers — it even takes ink refills. The only downside is that they’re hard to find in stores; online, though, you can find them for under $2 each.

Bulletin boards are for those who agree that out of sight is out of mind. The items they hold make effective visual reminders of everything from the Tuesday special at the dry cleaners to the next dental appointment. There’s just one thing: Who declared that they had to be so unattractive? Not the people at Shareboards. These bulletin boards are framed in solid wood with a wide range of available finishes, and not only can you attach notes and messages to them with push pins, but they also hold all manner of other things — cell phones, pens, keys — adorned with Velcro. Proud to be “the ultimate low-tech organizational tool” for home or office, each board is custom assembled by hand to your exact specifications. You pick the frame style (wood, metal, color or “unusual” finish), Veltex color (nylon loop material from the makers of Velcro) and size. Or you can skip the Velcro element and get a Corpboard, which is covered in a custom printed poplin fabric for use with push pins only. Over at Etsy you’ll find Little Pretty Studio’s Hoop.dee.do bulletin boards. These are round, handmade boards covered in bright, bold fabrics in sizes from 6 to 14 inches, but custom orders are welcome ($12.50 to $22). The Container Store also sells a circular model, the Blossom Message Board, constructed from 100 percent recycled, self-healing rubber in pink/orange or blue/green ($20, pictured). Check out the store’s many other attractive bulletin boards, such as the 15-inch square Wire Leaf Linen Bulletin Board features a solid wood frame and self-healing linen surface ($35). Best of all, it’s great looking so you won’t forget to peek at it now and then.

Although it isn’t easy to find online at the moment, handymen and outdoorsy types have been reporting brick-and-mortar sightings of the latest incarnation of that ubiquitous implement, the multi-tool. Leatherman, the company that popularized the multi-tool — which is like a Swiss Army knife but with a sturdy set of pliers built in — in the ’80s and ’90s, recently got down to basics with two versions of a wicked-looking item called the Skeletool ($60 to $80). The case has been pared down to its structural necessities, making it weigh a very backpacker-friendly five ounces, compared to up to 12.5 ounces for other models — though those versions do have many more features than the just-the-necessities Skeletool. Naysayers who feel the good-ol’ multi-tool needs no further innovation might change their tune after seeing Leatherman’s recent direction, blending multi-purpose gear into a line of garden shears. Though pricey — retailing for around $100, though you can find better deals — they’re undeniably clever: the handle of the new Genus contains both Phillips and flat screwdrivers, a saw and file, and (just the thing for yard work) a sprinkler-head adjustment key. The best feature of all, after a hard day trimming hedges and sawing stray limbs? The built-in bottle opener.

Big-ticket hardware temptations are everywhere for the first-time homeowner; the tendency for a guy to believe some gear will make him an overnight handyman is well documented in sitcoms and big-screen comedies about renovations gone wrong. But I don’t regret one of the first splurges I made upon moving into my house four years ago: A $300-plus ladder called the Little Giant. Prominently featured on TV advertisements, the Little Giant isn’t a normal ladder: It uses a smart scheme of sliding, interlocking pieces to function as a stepladder; as the long extension ladder needed to climb up on your roof; and as a tricky staircase or “90 degree” ladder letting you reach spots where normal ladders can’t go. The adjustable legs make the height variable (the model I got can go from 6 to 11 feet in the A-frame configuration), and they can even be disassembled to form two trestles — slap a sturdy piece of lumber across them, and you have a temporary scaffold. There are drawbacks to the Little Giant beyond the price, though: The largest models are heavy enough you won’t want to whip them out just to change a light bulb, for instance (I keep an inexpensive step stool for that), and it’s absolutely crucial that you pay attention while sliding the pieces into place, lest their weight crush your fingers. But for anyone with a broad agenda of do-it-yourself plans looming in the future, it’s worth considering buying something that is to ladders what the multi-function Swiss Army knife is to cutlery.