Decide what to buy | the Reevoo.com blog, featuring news on TVs, cameras, laptops, mp3 players & other gadgets, shopping tips and deals, reviews and more

There’s no need to worry about being music-less when you’re on the move again. These solar powered headphones with FM radio will run for up to 20 hours when fully charged. And one hour of sunlight will provide one-three hours listening. There are no wires to get in the way of walking, running, or whatever you fancy doing. Just music. The radio has a powerful internal antenna and extended base so you can keep everyone else entertained at the same time – sure to be popular on trains. And it recharges itself even when you’re listening to it, as long as you’re in the company of sun.

Heads big and small will love these headphones because the adjustable headband will accommodate all sizes. Plus you’re doing your bit for the environment at the same time. You can pick up a pair here for £19.95 with global shipping.

We all love our pets so this week’s Green Piece is concentrating on green products for pets.

First up, the not so nice subject of bagging up your dog’s mess when you’re out walking. Not everyone’s favourite job but you might as well be helping the planet while you do it. These “Dump It Onya” bags are 100% biodegradable and come in a refillable bag made from strong parachute material. There’s even room to keep some dog treats. They’re £8.95 for 100 in the UK or $10.95 for 25 in the US.

We’re also full of cat love here at DWTB, so we’ve found some herbal cat litter that is not only good for your cats, but also for the environment. It’s made from whole kernel corn and claims to have “amazing odour control properties combined with outstanding clumpability” – well what more could you want?! 3kg for £9.99 here in the UK and a close equivalent at $14.99 for 7lbs in the US.

We had to add some toys to the list so we’ve found these great dog toys which are designed to be recyclable and to create virtually no waste during the manufacturing process. Hucks are non-toxic and extremely durable. They also come in lots of different colours, they’re recommended for aggressive chewers, pullers, and fetchers and they’re dishwasher safe. £7.99 over here and $8.50 in the US.

Eco-friendly pet products - check.

We thought it was about time we carried on our rooms on a budget theme. This week, we’re looking at kitchens on a budget.

We’ve looked at everything you’d need for a kitchen – minus the cabinets themselves – and our budget kitchen comes in at £1114.

Obviously everybody’s kitchen will be different colours so we’ve gone for standard, yet sleek, black and stainless steel.

First up are the essentials, sink, oven, hob and fridge-freezer. 

We’ve gone for the attractive Astracast KO10RS sink. It’s £150, 98 cm wide and has a bowl size of 43 x 50 cm.

Everyone knows that if you want the best control over your cooking, the only way to go is gas. We’ve found this great stainless steel hob and oven pack from Baumatic. It’s £200 and has been rated 9.1/10 on Reevoo.

The top rated and best value for money fridge freezer we could find was the Indesit TA5S. It’s £240, has more fridge room than the large American-style fridges and it’s got some great reviews. Lots of owners are very impressed with its capacity, quality and value for money.

Ok, so far we’ve covered the essentials and we’re up to £590. Not bad for a fridge-freezer, oven, hob and sink?

Let’s move on to appliances.

The Breville JK123 kettle is simple to use and great value for money at £16. The matching Breville TT48 toaster is only £19. It has independent controls for each slice and a digital display.

This £51 Kenwood SJSS25 microwave has been rated 8.5/10 by the people who have bought it. Its capacity is 25 litres and it also has a grill function. One review reads “Easy to use, attractive, cost effective, efficient, fast, easy to wipe clean and maintain”.

For a dishwasher, we’ve gone for the Hotpoint FDL570. It’s £215 and it’s only 49 decibels so you won’t annoy the neighbours.

And finally, the washing machine. The A-rated Hotpoint WF321 is £223 and it has a larger than average load capacity of 6kg. Pam  from  Salisbury says “It is easy to use, not too noisy, nice big door and nice looking”.

So there you have it, a stylish kitchen for a little over £1000. Job done.

Today’s Green Piece looks at three products that will keep your house warm, save you energy and provide you with some veggies.

First up - Using your own waste to heat your house? Sound wrong? Well the Logmaker, despite the dodgy name, can be used to compress waste such as wood chippings, tea bags, olive stones and shredded junk mail and turn it all into a log for your fire. The logs will burn for between 10 minutes and an hour, depending on what you put in them. You can also add the remains of scented candles, cinnamon sticks, lavender or a few drops of scented oils to make your logs smell lovely too.

Not a bad use for all the things that normally end up in landfill sites. They’re currently £24.99 +p&p.

Talking of logs, this next product is a grow-your-own-mushroom log. It comes with spores inside it already. All you need to do is keep it moist in a shady spot to magically grow 2-3 harvests a year. Not only do you save money on mushrooms from the supermarket, you’ll also be saving the environment from the extra packaging and possible air miles. At £25, I think it’s a great investment.

Finally, there’s the Leaf Lamp. It’s made from 95% recyclable and 37% recycled materials and has a 100,000 hour life-span – that’s 100 times longer than normal lights. It also claims to use only 40% of the energy used with energy saving bulbs.

But this light doesn’t just save energy. It’s touch sensitive so you can touch it on and off and set and memorise your own intensity and warmth of light settings. Although this lamp is cool in more ways than one – the LEDs stay cool to allow further adjustment – it is £349. Bit steep for a lamp but when you way up life-span and energy-saving, it might just make it worth it.

This Green Piece is made up of three totally different products to help you on your way to green living.

A couple of weeks ago, we gave you the stapleless stapler and today we’ve got something else for the office - recycled paper biros. They’re 59p from Ecotopia and made from de-inked consumer waste paper.

Next up is a product that will save you money on detergent and machine repairs. The Anti-Lime Scale Ball is a multi-field magnetic ball that prevents the deposition and precipitation of calcium carbonate (lime scale) in your washing machine or dishwasher. According to The Green Store, lime scale “leaves clothes tacky and dishes less than shiny” and we all know that it “clogs up the heating coils in your machines”, so you could save some serious money by investing £4.99 in one of these balls. By using less detergents, you’re also cutting down on the amount of chemicals you use and the amount of plastic packaging.

Finally, we’ve got something to green-up your bike. Green Oil Chain Lube is great for your bike and much better for the environment as it doesn’t contain any solids like wax, graphite, plastic or Teflon. That means it’s non-irritant and non-hazardous. Bikegoo says that it’s “Super green, super effective. Really good stuff”. It’s £5.20 from the Green Oil Shop.

There’s a real treat in this week’s Green Piece. You may have heard about it already but I thought it still needed a mention. Wind-up radio king Trevor Baylis has upped the ante to bring us a wind-up media player. We had an interesting stat about batteries in a previous Green Piece - just to recap, according to WRAP, around 600 million UK household batteries (22,000 tonnes) – the equivalent weight of 110 Jumbo Jets – are sent to landfill unnecessarily every year. So anything that we can do to alleviate the environment of that burden would be a good thing. That’s why this media player is so great. For one minute of winding, you get 40 minutes of audio play. When fully charged, which you can also do through the USB port on your computer, you’ll get around 20 hours of constant music, or around 10 hours of video play.

It only has a 2GB memory but you can use SD cards and it’s got a 1.8 inch, full colour screen. OK, so it’s not the biggest of screens but if you’re all for helping the environment, it’s not too much of a sacrifice.

Back onto the positives – It’s got a FM radio, it can act as an audio and voice recorder and it can even charge your mobile phone. If that wasn’t enough, it also has an awesome torch!

I think this is a great green gadget that will solve the endless MP3 charging saga in the evenings. Just think of all the batteries and hassle you’ll be saving. They’re £129.95 at the Ethical Superstore.

This week’s Green Piece sees three handy gadgets that will save you money on heating, electricity and batteries and will help the environment too.

First up is the wind-up remote control. It spells the end for those awkward sized batteries that nobody ever stocks and for that crucial moment when you go to use your remote and discover that the aforementioned batteries have run out.

According to WRAP, around 600 million UK household batteries (22,000 tonnes) – the equivalent weight of 110 Jumbo Jets – are sent to landfill unnecessarily every year, so this remote is definitely something to take seriously. It needs 30 ‘winds’ which will then last for seven days, which is pretty good going. It’s £24.95 but if you think about how many batteries you would go through, it’s not so bad.

The next product is something you can use in every room in your house to save you money on heating. It’s called a Radiator Booster and was once on Dragon’s Den. It sits on top of your radiators and takes all of the heat that gets released at the back of the radiator and uses clever fans to redirect it back into your room. It means that your house gets heated faster and that the heating can be switched off sooner.

At the moment, they’re £14.99 over at Nigel’s Eco Store and best of all, running costs are only about 30p a year.

Last is the waterproof torch that is charged up by shaking it. You shake it on down for 45 seconds and then you get five whole minutes of light…it does seem like a lot of work for five minutes but I guess it’s all part of the fun…and the energy saving, of course.

If you’re into science, the torch works with the help of a magnet. As you shake the torch, the magnet moves back and forth and generates an electric current. This current is then held in a holding cell so that you can still use the torch even if you haven’t wiggled it for a while. It’s a bargain at £5.99 and it has some good reviews too.

So there we have it, three great ways to help the environment and your wallets, especially useful now that energy costs are on the rise.