Cocoa Instead of Paper Scratch Pads

As a blogger I get all sorts of free gear to review. The positive side of this is that I can offer readers opinions on products that may help them out. The con is that being a green advocate, I’m not a fan of having too much stuff around. Minimal living is green living in my opinion so I’m always having to find folks to give my freebies too. Long story short I don’t keep many of the free things I get (ok, I do keep the eco-lip glosses!).

That said, one product I did keep was the Jot-It Desktop Writeboard from Cocoa. I got one to review back in October 2007 and I’m still using it (daily) and loving it. The desktop writing systems offered at Cocoa are an awesome way to green up your office at home or work because it eliminates paper use.

Cocoa makes whiteboards (among other products) which yeah, sounds boring. How many whiteboards are out there? BUT Cocoa boards have perks that other ones I’ve tried haven’t had. Perks of the Cocoa Writeboard:

• Good amount of surface space for jotting down notes with the larger boards.

• The boards come with interchangeable templates (beneath the writing surface – see image above). You can configure the template to meet your needs. For example, you can use a calender template, to-do template, a blank template, and more. Additional templates can be downloaded to be printed on blank templates. (Tip – print them onto recycled paper.)
• Comes with the world’s best pens. I love the EXPO Ultra-fine tip markers they send with their boards. The pens are formulated with low-odor dry erase ink, certified nontoxic, and last forever (not literally forever, but I swear I used mine daily for like a year).

I’m not a fan of how the products are made of a plastic material but on the flip side, they’re well made and last a LONG time. My son and me have accidentally knocked my writeboard around plenty and it’s still going strong. I even tossed mine in the dishwasher once and it was fine. Also, Cocoa has a set eco-mission:

• “Design products that help you better care for the earth;
• Use sustainably produced and/or appropriately recycled raw materials to manufacture our products;
• Live the 3 R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.”

Another pro of this company is that they either listen to consumers or they’re just naturally smart. Example: I noted in my first Cocoa review that the board was too large for a smaller desk and that I wished extra pens were available at their website. A little while later Cocoa, low-and-behold has pens at their website and a cool slimmer version of their writeboard. Nice right!? They also have a new mobile slate version of their writeboard which rocks because one of my past cons of this product was that it’s not easy to carry around – the original board is best used in a permanant place.

You can use Cocoa boards instead of new paper for grocery lists, to-do lists, workplace meetings, notes, school schedules, calendars, and so much more. This writeboard is likely my most used review product in the history of my blogging career, so I’d check it out and see if you find it just as useful.

Visit Cocoa to learn more.

[images via Cocoa]