The Frogbox Frogblog

FROGBOX Leaps Into The #StepUp30day Challenge, Join Us?

Jeremy — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:21:13 +0000

We recently heard about the book "Stepping up for change" by John Izzo. The book is all about how taking personal responsibility can change everything. They're celebrating the launch of the book by sharing the inspiring stories of how people choosing to take responsibility have made a positive impact on their community.

One way we're "stepping up" at FrogBox is by taking advantage of the opportunities we have when we present at trade-shows or events. The picture above is from the "Resolution Run 5k and Polar Dip". FrogBox was a sponsor of the event and as such had a space at the finish line to promote our business. Of course, as a business, part of the reason we sponsor such events is self promotional but we wanted to use this space for more then that. In partnership with Redeeming Soles (A Puget Sound based charity) we used this space (and FrogBoxES) to collect gently used shoes which are in turn distributed locally to those that need them.

Will you join us? What will you do to make a change? Drop us a line in the comments and let us know, we'd love to share.

Interested in learning more? Check out the website "Stepping up for change" or follow the hashtag #StepUp30Day on twitter to learn about how others are Stepping Up for Change!

Don't have a FROGBOX in your area? Ask and ye shall receive

Jeremy — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:34:04 +0000

Had a great exchange with someone on twitter last week and it was too good not to share. Tried the fancy new “embed a tweet” feature but the formatting came out funky so feel free to check out the original tweets or take our word for it.

(from @DarrenFB) @Frogbox Dear Frogbox. I move last weekend of Jan 2012 in#Nanaimo. I need FrogBoxes. Please do not make me give money to Budget again :( (Link)

- (from @Frogbox) @DarrinFB where you moving to? (link)

(from @DarrenFB) @FROGBOX In Nanaimo. Just across town. Still HATE buying boxes from Budget or pillaging from liquor and grocery stores. (link)

At this point, Doug Burgoyne, one of FrogBoxES founders and our current president jumped in on the conversation:

- (From @Doug_Burgoyne) @DarrinFB Darrin... We will make this work :) @FROGBOX (link)

So, if you don’t have a FrogBox in your area and you want one, maybe just ask? Who knows what could come of it.

FrogBox Halifax Helps Collect Food Along with 101.3 The Bounce

F_Halifax — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:31:37 +0000

Halifax

101.3 The Bounce allowed FrogBox Halifax to participate in their annual Food Drive to help Feed Nova Scotia. FrogBox drove around to 5 Schools in Halifax and Sackville, filling approx 40 FrogBox's with food and dropping them off at Mic Mac Mall. The School with the most donations will win a prize. Thank you to Katie Kelly and the rest of the Bounce crew for allowing us to participate. We would love to help out next year, as well.

FrogBox Halifax Helps Collect Toys

F_Halifax — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:28:35 +0000

Halifax

Frogbox Halifax recently participated in the Parade of Lights on November 19th and collected toys, along with Empire Theatres, and dropped them off to the Salvation Army. We filled 138 Frogbox's full of donations!! Thank you to everyone who showed their support by donating toys and thank you to Empire Theatres for allowing us to participate! Many children will have a joyous Christmas from all of these donations. Merry Christmas from Frogbox Halifax

Zipcar and Their "Joy Drive" Toy Drive

mathieson — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:42:31 +0000

If you’re reading this, then you’re probably familiar with the FrogBox concept: we rent moving boxes. Plastic boxes are something that are very useful, but we don’t need them every day, so now you can rent them when you need them. And if you like what we do, then you’ll probably like this other business that allows you to rent something you don’t need to own: Zipcar. City living affords a more compact lifestyle where walking, biking, transit and taxis can account for most of our travel. But a car can be very useful and Zipcar makes renting simple and precise. Zipcar offers members access to cars at hourly rates that include mileage, fuel and insurance. Cars are parked strategically in small groups all over town and you can reserve online in a few seconds from your home or phone. (How are they different from existing rentals? forget about being tied to 24hr rental periods, standing in lines, and going way across town to pick it up.) When you consider the footprint of owning a vehicle and the expense of maintenance, insurance, parking and fuel against the amount of times you actually use your vehicle each month, Zipcar could easily be your best option. It can work for the daily commuter as their only option (pricing comes in a small variety of plans: drive more, pay less), and even for families outgrowing their workhorse a membership might be a better choice than buying a second vehicle. All members have access to a variety of vehicles too from the common compact to the trusty truck. Zipcar is popping up all over and we’re happy to be partnering with them on events and projects in cities we both serve. Here in Vancouver, Zipcar is running their first annual holiday “Joy Drive” tomorrow, Saturday, December 10. They’ll be parked at the TD Plaza at Georgia and Granville from 10am-4pm to accept toy donations for BC Children’s Hospital Foundation. We’re proud to say they’ve got a stack of FrogBoxes for receiving and transporting those toys. We encourage FrogBoxers and Zipsters alike to participate. Happy holidays!

FROGBOX Seattle offers an extra box for your extra stuff!

Jeremy — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:17:00 +0000

Seattle

Jeremy here from FrogBox Seattle, we've got some great stuff coming up that I wanted to share with you! For the month of December we're launching a new initiative in partnership with Redeeming Soles and the Clare Beckett Guild to help give back to the Puget Sound area.

How it works:

In our experience, everyone finds extra stuff that they are wanting to get rid of during their move, so for the month of December we'll be adding an extra FrogBox to every order that we deliver. All we ask is that in the process of your move when you find extra items, you place them in the extra FrogBox and we'll pass them on to the right people. If you don't have any of the listed items, no problem, enjoy the extra FrogBox and it's business as usual.

Here is what we are looking for:

Shoes - New or gently used: Men, Women, & Children shoes ... athletic, running, dress, heels, pumps, sandals, work boots, cleats, dance, flip flops, just as long as they are new or gently worn. (For a complete list view the .PDF from Redeeming Soles here)

New Un-Wrapped Items/Toys - Toys, Gift Cards, Bath Supplies, Sport Team Items, Electronic Games, DVD Movies (G-PG13), Board Games, Stuffed Animals/Dolls, Teething Rings, Busy Boxes, Cars/Trucks, Mirrors, Washable Squeeze Toys (For a complete list go here)

If you'd like to donate but don't plan on moving anytime soon please check out the websites for Redeeming Soles and Clare Beckett Guild for public drop-off locations or find us at the "Give Like You Give a Damn Holiday Fair" sponsored by Seattle Green Drinks on December 13th!

Come visit FROGBOX Winnipeg at "Christmas on Carpathia" this weekend and get 15% off your next order!

Jeremy — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 09:38:09 +0000

Winnipeg

FrogBox Winnipeg will be joining The Lady of Bath for an open house this weekend. Look for the stack of FrogBoxES and you'll be able to sign up for 15% any FrogBox orders placed through February 2012.

Location of the Open House:

185 Carpathia Road. Winnipeg

Nov 25: 6 to 10 pm

Nov 26: 11-7pm

Nov 27: 12- 5 pm

Tell your friends, come out, and say hi. We'll see you there!

8 Moving Tips from a Professional Organizer

mathieson — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:28:08 +0000

Moving? Don’t start packing yet! Here are a few steps that will save you time and lots of money...

Manage your time properly - Start organizing and packing at least one month before the moving day. Start with things that you don’t use daily. Your ski suit, snow boots, winter clothes, most of the books, CD’s and computer games and other things you can do without for a few weeks. Start slowly and dedicate an hour or two every day for packing. The most important step is to go through your stuff and sort it.

Be sure to have recycling bins and donation bags and garbage bags – Before you start packing, you need to get rid of things that you don’t need. A good example are clothes that you haven’t worn for the last two years and that are taking up space you could use for new clothing. This applies to books, toys and home decorations. Find out here where/how to recycle a certain material: http://rcbc.bc.ca/ Recycling BC can help you find a donation centre by your house.

Throw out the fridge – or at least a lot of it – Food and vitamins are not like good wine. They don’t get better with age! Go through your pantry, medicine cabinet and vitamins; throw away anything that has expired.

The “Maybe Box” – Sometimes it’s hard to let go. If you feel conflicted, put it in a “MAYBE box” that you have prepared especially for tough decisions. After a few days, go check in with your “maybe box”. Your clarity will increase and you may see things differently.

Use existing containers, suitcases, etc for packing – Take a look at your home. You probably have some plastic containers, suitcases and camping bags that can be used for packing. Sometimes these bags are stored in the attic and they are full of dust; clean them and use them for your move

Rent Plastic Moving Boxes – If you are going to unpack most of the boxes in your new home (i.e., not store them indefinitely), I would highly recommend renting plastic moving boxes (like FrogBoxes!). They are easy to work with. Your belongings won’t get wet while loading/unloading in the rain. They are not only eco-friendly, they are family friendly too- if you by accident have packed your child’s most important stuffed toy... all you have to do is open the lid, take it out and close it back up. (You'd be surprised how often this happens.)

Soft Items – Do not pack all your towels in one big box. Use the towels to pad the bottom of each box when packing dishes and other fragile items. Use another towel on top and seal the box.

Label Every Box – Don’t label the top – always on the side, so when you stack them on each other you can tell what’s inside.

Thanks to Limor Friedman at Vancouver In The Box. Contact her at 778.228.6976 or info@vancouverinthebox.com

FREE - reusable drinking bottle with every new order - Durham Region

F_Durham — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 16:57:00 +0000

Durham Region

Did you know that each year, Canadians consume almost 1 billion bottles of drinking water. And that it takes almost 1.5 million barrels of oil to produce those water bottles each year (not including the fuel used to transport it). Each PET plastic water bottle manufactured generates almost four times its weight in greenhouse gases and releases at least two carcinogens in the process. Most bottles don't even make it to the recycling step. Hundreds of millions of PET beverage bottles end up in Canadian landfills each year. There are some scary facts if you search for info about plastic water bottles.

At FrogBox, we love our planet and want to do anything we can to reduce our carbon footprint. In an effort to help reduce the hundreds of millions of plastic water bottles that get used every year by consumers, Durham FrogBox is delighted to offer every customer a free reusable aluminum drinking bottle with every order placed. You can choose between a black or silver bottle. Use it for work, or play and save a few hundred plastic bottles from the landfill this year. This offer is available to the next 100 customers, so place your order before they are all gone.

Vancouver's Bloggingfrog and Our Social Fabric

mathieson — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:59:23 +0000

Howdy Vancouver FrogBoxers. As we’ve grown over the last year, our corporate frogblog has had to expand its scope to share the spotlight across all our locations. And that’s awesome, but we wanted to reinstate a local voice focused on sharing the local stuff. We'll highlight some of our local partnerships with some guest blogging in the coming months. Here we go, Vancouver’s bloggingfrog at your service...

Our Social Fabric (OSF) is a local non-profit initiative dedicated to reusing and recycling textiles. Last month we struck a deal with OSF to help them house their large stock of new and secondhand fabrics. OSF’s mission is very simple: to divert textiles from going into landfills. They receive donations of all sorts of textiles, some from companies like MEC and Lululemon, and hold monthly (or so) sales to get that fabric into the hands of creative folks who can reuse it. They’ve got fabrics of all kinds and colours: shiny, woolly, flowery, stretchy, sheer, comfy, durable, smooth, rough you name it! FrogBox is sharing some space with OSF that will allow them to hold their sales and store their goods in the same place, upstairs at our office/warehouse at 1631 Powell St. Their old spot in a storage unit made that kind of difficult and all we had to do was reorganize some moving boxes. The next sale is tentatively set for Saturday, November 19 but follow them on the facebook or find them at http://www.oursocialfabric.org/ to be sure.