Let's Talk Bags, Baby!

Reusable shopping bags, what else? After all the comments left on my Bissell giveaway last week, you guys are really savvy when it comes to 'going green' so I know you have some!

I have some......some from here, some from there, this store, that store, different colors, different store logos. Never enough, though, from just the one store to handle my whole shopping load (Walmart anyone?), so I used to conveniently forget them at home.

Reality check from my husband: "Why are you spending money on those things when you don't even use them?" Hmmm....good question. I feel smart for owning them? Not good enough!

Yes, I have hangups, even with reusable shopping bags! I felt like if I didn't have enough for the whole shopping trip, then what's the point? And, (here's the part of me with the 'hangup') I felt like I should only use each bag at it's coordinating store, i.e., don't use a Walmart bag at a Sprout's store, and vice versa, for example. Hey, I've seen the dirty looks shoppers get from the cashiers when they bring in a competitor's reusable bag! And I didn't want to buy more bags from each of the stores because, overall, I had plenty. I'm just weird about that, OK?!

So here's the solution: When I go to Walmart, of course I proudly sport my Walmart reusable shopping bags for all to see. My competitor's bags are....hidden underneath......no, not really! Well, they are, technically, but I turn them inside out so you can't see the logo. Problem solved. Well, my problem anyway! And when I go to the 'other' stores, I take my Walmart bags there, too, inside out of course, but use the 'other' stores' bags with their logos proudly displayed. The great thing about my 'bag method' besides saving my own sanity? It keeps them cleaned out by regularly flipping them inside out.

And just for the sake of saying so, we always take our plastic bags back to the store for recycling. I usually save some for home, but we always recycle the rest.

It's a new way of shopping for a lot of us. Anyone remember back in the day when only 'brown paper' was the bag of choice? Then plastic became the more convenient way to transport your purchases. What were we thinking, anyway? It usually turns out that convenience doesn't pay off in the end, but persistance does. Persistance to make the changes we need now to ensure a better future for us all. Reusable shopping bags are the way to go!