CONSUMERS : An Electronic Rolodex Doesn’t Forget Its Roots

Rolodex, the company that changed information filing methods with its card file system 50 years ago, has gone high-tech. Its Personal Planner combines an electronic system with a paper organizer.

About the size of a checkbook (6-by-3 1/8 inches), Personal Planner contains a calculator with a typewriter-style keyboard and a clock. The computer’s memory holds 400 names, numbers and addresses, and notes can be retrieved by date, numerically or alphabetically. You can learn to program it in about 15 minutes.

The six-ring binder organizer includes a daily calendar with spaces to jot down notes. Rolodex Personal Planner ($129) is available at the Staples chain and selected stationery stores. For a store in your area, call Rolodex’s toll-free number (800) 727-ROLO.

Give Old Plastic Bags a Second Chance

For the more than 75 million households using plastic sandwich or food-storage bags, there’s Bag Again, a compact drying rack for plastic bags. You’ll save money on bags by reusing them and help the environment by putting less plastic into landfills.

Developed by Jim Hefner, president of Green Ideas in La Verne, Calif., the Bag Again is a small device with two sets of arms that can accommodate small sandwich and large storage bags. The washed bags stay open and separated so they dry quickly. Made of 25% post-consumer recycled plastic, the device takes up very little space on a kitchen counter. When folded, it is about the size of a kitchen spatula.

Bag Again ($3.99 plus $1.10 shipping and handling) can be ordered from Green Ideas, 2286 Sloan Drive, La Verne, Calif. 91750; (714) 596-0047.

New World Order for Errant Earrings

If you’re tired of searching through dresser drawers or jewelry boxes for the mate to an earring, consider Earring Hang-Up, a holder that lets you see your pierced earring collection at a glance.

Earring Hang-Up’s black fiberglass screening--27 inches long, 10 inches wide--is attached to a sturdy acrylic hanger. Two pockets at the bottom can hold extra earring backs, small necklaces or a polishing cloth. Alice Broude, a Los Angeles waitress and earring collector who tested the holder, says “it’s fabulous and will hold any kind of pierced earring.” You can place about 70 pairs of earrings on it.

To order Earring Hang-Up ($9.95 plus $3.50 shipping and handling), contact Motek Inc., 1849 N. 53rd St., Seattle, Wash. 98103; (206) 632-7795.