A warm welcome to all the neighbors in Spokane, WA, its neighborhood cities, and KXLY viewers.  Spokane is a great city and we are honored to have the Spokane neighbors connecting online using ToolzDO and to be one of Colleen OBrien’s “Cool Clicks“.

We’ve always thought of ToolzDO as “cool” site and tool.  It is good to have others think the same and that we are not just blowing our horns.

Colleen also put a shout out on KXLY blog to her Latah Valley neighbors to join her on ToolzDO, swap and share tools, and help spread the word.

She is right.  The more neighbors in your neighborhood on ToolzDO the more fun and useful it becomes.

Many thanks to Colleen OBrien for kick starting, as she puts it, the “ToolzDO revolution” in East Washington.

Carline and the ToolzDO team

This is some what old news but definitely one I am excited about.  The April 15th print edition of the Sun-Sentinel Forum Serving Margate and Coconut Creek featured a story about ToolzDO as a platform for online neighborhoods and to connect neighbors.  It covers how ToolzDO came to be and some other interesting bits.

It was then published in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel news paper and online on April 23rd. Read the full story here.

Many, many thanks to Stephen Feller, Janeris Marte (photographer) and the Sun Sentinel team for covering ToolzDO and to the Coconut Creek Multi-Culture Circle friends for their support.

The internet can be a scary place to hang out. But just like the real world, hanging out in the right place and using good old fashion wisdom and common sense, the internet can be quite useful, fun, and safe. Let’s face it; the internet is here to stay.

ToolzDO is not like any other website, social network or web platform.

Foremost, ToolzDO is a replica of your real local neighborhood but online with several key features that discourage and deter criminal intentions and bad behavior.

Some of these features you also find offline in your real neighborhood but best of all, some of them you’ll only find here on ToolzDO. [Read more →]

The November 2009 Pew Internet Report, “Social Isolation and New Technology: How the internet and mobile phones impact American’s social networks,” provides interesting insights into the benefits of belonging to a neighborhoods email lists or discussion forums. [Read more →]

Selling on ToolzDO is easy as 1-2-3 and lots of fun. In the old days the community marketplace was all about trading and people traded what they had, like corn, horse, cow, tools, etc. for what they wanted with members of their community? Oh, including cash! [Read more →]

More often than we’d like, the light comes on through the darkest, most painful moments and tragedies. The Haiti earthquake, on January 12, 2010 and its aftermath, is one such tragedies that has much to teach. But we have to step out of our self-centeredness, soap box and comfort zone to see it.

As we are one month into the new year, many of us have been reflecting [Read more →]

Our site was not accessible earlier this evening. The team got right on it and resolved the minor issue.  All is back and well.

Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

The ToolzDO team

It has been extraordinary, heart warming and hopeful to see the way the world united to rush to the rescue of the Haitian people after the devastating earthquake that shook the island on January 12, 2010.

Today, we also remember Martin Luther King Jr. and his dream [Read more →]

Credit: REUTERS/Christinne Muschi

We are committed to helping our neighbors in Haiti and neighbors in the U.S. who have loved ones in Haiti. Having gone through the turmoil of not having status of my loved ones in Haiti after the earthquake, I understand the anxiety of waiting to hear about the welfare of family and friends. [Read more →]

After a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on January 12, 2010 devastated the capital and several towns in Haiti, people around the world opened theirs heart and wallets, albeit the tough economic times. As people around the world continue to show compassion and responsibility for their neighbors in Haiti, more than ever, it is important that the much needed funds and every penny given go towards the relief and restoration efforts. [Read more →]

What if there was one single rule that could avoid all conflicts between neighbors? A rule once applied would make your neighborhood, community, or workplace a better place all around. A rule that would: [Read more →]

If you wanted a gift that falls under the description of “stuff” and you did not receive it, you can still get it, without spending a dime. What are the chances you received some stuff that you do not want? What are the chances that your neighbor has received unwanted gifts? [Read more →]

The ToolzDO company blog and community blog have been merged. After some careful considerations, having one blog makes it easier to manage the posts, reduces overlapping and make is easier for you to find posts.

Rather than reposting the Community posts here, I’ve provided the titles and the links to them below:

Will a Hurricane Force Us into Community Life Once Again?

Help us Reconnect Neighbors

Texas lawmaker asked Asians to change their names to make them “easier for Americans to deal with.”

ToolzDO was recently covered in PC World Consumer Advice as a new money-saving site  ”to keep an eye on.”  On behalf of the ToolzDO team, we say “hello and welcome” to the PC World readers. The usefulness of ToolzDO is limitless.  Read some of the ways ToolzDO can help simplify your daily life by connecting with neighbors.

We also would like to thank Ginny Mies of PC World for the detailed write up.  Read the full article.

ToolzDO.com was recently covered in a featured article in The Palm Beach Post newspaper and Tech Tonic Blog.  A warm welcome to the readers of The Palm Beach Post, Tech Tonic and the residents Palm Beach County. Start posting your old, new, barely used gadgets today!  Many thanks to Melissa Patterson. Read the full article.

Do you still have more gifts to buy, it’s December 25th and the 7-11 convenience store won’t do?

Well, there are still great gifts you can get right now without going to the mall or even wrapping, that will make the recipient and you feel great. [Read more →]

The South Florida Living Green Fair Dinner on Us contest was won by Irene Rubin of Deerfield Beach, Florida.

Irene won $50 Visa gift card.

Congratulations Irene!

Many more contests coming in 2010, so stay tuned.

ToolzDo was put on display at the South Florida Living Green Fair last month. We had great response, received lots of praises and the locals were excited about being able to see all reusable goods (rentals, swaps, free stuff) and people near you by distance from one site. The neighborly and community building features brought even more excitement. Some attendees even got more [Read more →]

Today we’re announcing our participation in the South Florida Living Green Fair. We are excited to be part of this great community event. For more details, here is the full press release.

ToolzDo will showcase its unique platform that combines community building features with renting, swapping and gifting of stuff and services, all in one place.

ToolzDo, a web platform that combines social features with an advanced localized search and the flexible choice of renting, swapping, and gifting to provide access to resources in your own backyard, today announces it will be an exhibitor at the South Florida Living Green Fair. The fair is taking place November 14th and 15th in Dania Beach.

The fair is the largest Green themed event in the South Florida Region, with over 10,000 attendees in two days expected. It brings educational resources to average families and business owners on how to live a greener, healthier and more environmentally sustainable lifestyle. The themes include how easy it is to purchase better products, create less waste, eat deliciously, and save money. ToolzDo’s service is well fitted amongst the many innovative solutions by the many well known companies attending and that are thought leaders in the green movement.

“Reduce and reuse makes life more simple, a simple life is less stressful and more fun,” stated Carline Lubin, founder of ToolzDo. “With more education like this fair brings and increased awareness of tools to facilitate a greener life like ToolzDo.com, more environmentally conscious decisions will be made at a community level. Our family took the Water Pledge and I encourage everyone to take the pledge in their city.”

About ToolzDo

ToolzDo is the online service that connects neighbors in practical ways using the stuff or services they possess, their common activities or projects, shared interests and ideas. Connect to get the most out of your stuff by renting, swapping, giving and getting free stuff in a trusted local environment. Connect to get tips and maybe a helping hand by sharing your projects with your local community. The service highlights project coincidences nearest to you, for example, showing you that two other people are doing it too and three others have done it as well as related discussions, stuff and services nearest to you that may be of help. ToolzDo is owned by EtoolBay, Inc., a Florida Corporation and headquartered in Coconut Creek, Florida. For more information, visit www.toolzdo.com.

Contact:

Carline Lubin

EtoolBay, Inc.

Phone: 954-247-1896

Email: carline@toolzdo.com

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It is indeed that time of the year - autumn and Halloween or harvest season. Although walking into the stores, I am not sure if I should check out the costumes or Christmas ornaments.
If you are like me, you still have the old costumes in a dark corner of the closet collecting dust or in a box under the bed and have totally forgotten about them. Or maybe you are very much aware of your possessions but it’s a NO, NO to wear the same costume this year. If you are a mom with young children, your’re thinking new costumes are a must as the kids grow like weeds and you are still waiting for that money tree to grow in the backyard. The good news is, costumes do not go out of style.
Thanks to ToolzDo.com, you now have very wise options for what to do with the unused costumes that will help you make easy cash or save you lots of money while helping neighbors and the environment at the same time - all from one site. So here they are:

1. Rent them out to make easy cash

Rent out your unused costumes from over the years. If you are not using them but still want to hold on to them for some possible occasion in the future or just want to make some cash, offer them for rent to individual and professional members of your local community.  Your costumes may be exactly what the local production or theatrical companies are looking for.  Clean, adult and pricier costumes make the best rentals. Children costumes also makes sense if they are in good shape. Why buy and spend more on a costume that will only be used once?

2. Swap, barter, trade them for new costume and spend nothing

Do you know others in your community who have costumes? Get together and swap, barter or trade costumes and get a new (to you) costume without spending a penny.  Post them on ToolzDo or have a neighborhood costume swap party or both. This is an extremely wise way to save money, especially for kids’ costumes. You can even swap your costumes for something else you may want.

3. Donate them - the quickest and “Good” way to declutter

Give your unwanted costumes to family members, friends, charity or others in your community. It is a great way to declutter. As more community members post free stuff on ToolzDo for the grabs, you may just get another costume or something else new to you, free.   This is what you call paying forward. The law of the universe is that giving is usually reciprocated by receiving in time of need.  But remember the absolute truth: More blessings come from giving than receiving.

All these options are great ways to help neighbors keep more cash and go green with reduce and reuse. This Halloween or harvest season is yet another opportunity to save and be environmentally conscious of our acquisition choices.

So post your unused costumes on ToolzDo today and invite your friends and neighbors to check them out using our simple invite tool.  Only 21 days until Halloween so there isn’t much time left! The best way to describe your costume is with a picture of someone wearing it. If you are having a swap party, still bring the picture. So pull out the pix from last year and add your costumes for rent, swap or just donate them now - all from one site.