Down at the coffee shop this morning, I conducted an informal poll. Folks sitting at the tables there are accustomed to me dropping by and asking stupid questions and, thankfully, they put up with me. I asked ten people, “What is the easiest baby step that a person can take to ‘go green’?”
Surprisingly to me, nine out of ten people replied, “Take your own bags to the grocery store.” The tenth person said, “Use less gasoline,” as he hopped into his Hummer (which was idling at the curb so he could keep the air conditioner running!).
OK, maybe I embroidered that a bit.
And, maybe I tainted the poll a little bit because I was lugging one of these grocery bags over my arms.
Let me tell you that I was as tickled as a possum in a plum tree when I found these babies down at the Walgreens drug store. They were at the check out stand and only cost a dollar! They fold into a neat little rectangle that actually fits in your purse … if you carry a big purse.
And what self-respecting woman doesn’t carry a big purse? You never know when you might need a pair of “footies” to try on those cute shoes, or an extra pair of glasses, or a makeup touch-up, or a handy wipe, or a tablet and pencil, or a tiny hammer that transforms into three different screwdrivers, or your grocery list from last week. Now you can carry a grocery bag, too! You’ll never have the excuse that you forgot your grocery bags when you go to the store.
They are so handy! See, they have a zipper, so you can unzip them and open them out to carry your groceries and after you put your groceries away, you can re-fold them and zip them back into that tiny little rectangle.
Theoretically.
In truth, they are a little bit like those plastic rain bonnets that fold into a tiny square. If you use that rain bonnet one time, there is no way in Thunder that you will ever fold it back like it was — so you may as well throw the danged thing away.
Folding them back is not the point. You just want to carry one, so that when you are rummaging through your purse for that hammer people will see the bag. They will know that you are an environmentally conscious human being and very well organized.
Or insane.
Besides, if you don’t have your rain bonnet, you can always stick that bag over your head and you are good to go.
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Seriously, I love you. Your dry humor is my favorite kind.
. I love these bags and think I might have to get one to add to the multicolored collection always in the trunk of my car (just in case I do a spur of the moment grocery trip). You should see me come out of the grocery store w my red target bag, my green dollar tree one, my blue local grocery store one…I think a purple walgreens one would round things off well, no?
Seriously, I love you back. I think you need a purple bag. EVERYBODY should have a purple bag (because purple is the color of royalty and we all want to rule!
I have few of those – only I bought them at Target – they are bright red with very pretty designs of trees and birds! I enjoyed your post – looked around and turned off the light that I don’t really need!
I’d love pretty ones, but I want function! Uh oh, did I make you conscious of being green?
I have three bags but that is not enough. I need like 10 for when I go to the grocery store or more! We try to get everything at one time to last at least a week. I have thought of sewing my own but have not done that yet. Also wondering how different stores feel about using other stores bags? Like say you bought the walmart reuse bags and shopped at say Target?(-: Just a thought(-:
cindee´s last blog ..Homemade Peach Pie
You tickle me, Cindee
. Target doesn’t care if you use Wal Mart bags when you are buying a couple hundred dollars worth of groceries! And who cares? I carry about 10 bags in my car at all times, but I don’t really carry ones like this (except for going into a place where I will only get a few items).
You could make your own bags, but unless you are an excellent seamstress with a lot of strong fabric, you are better off buying bags. Mine have a reinforced square bottom (like the old paper sacks–making them easy to pack) and are lined with silver insulating material (so cold foods stay cold). They also have a zipper across the top, so no more escaped cantaloupes rolling on the car floor! I think I paid about $5 each for them. If I had tried to make them, it would have taken me hours. They are worth it.
What a great product. I never have my bags with me and I have plenty! I also have every darn plastic bag I take from the grocery store. It’s a mess under my sink. I do take them to Wally Mart to recycle when it gets out of control!
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We use the reusable bags that our grocery store sells — Leon does the shopping and most of the time if we have forgotten to put them back in the car, he buys more — I told him if we get too many, we will donate them to someone who can’t afford to buy even those.
We have one that is insulated with a zipper for frozen foods….
We also bought a huge plasticized? reusable bag at IKEA and put all the throw rugs and cleaning rags in it and then just haul it to the laundry.
All those came in handy making a short distance move, easy for me to carry in and out of the condos rather than boxes too large for me to get my arms around.
Cindee, just paint over the logo…. but the store is probably happy to know you left the other store to come to them…
I keep saying I’m going to get those big insulated ones every time I see them at Sam’s… I really need to do that!
Barb – WillThink4Wine´s last blog ..new roof going on
I also have a little fold up bag in my purse. Here in Ontario all stores must charge 5 cents for a bag, any bag, even the ones with handles from the most expensive stores. Problem is this, I still need plastic bags for garbage and buying them costs more than 5 cents a piece. So now and again I pay for grocery bags to use for garbage. When I do though, the dirty looks I get from people in line is insane. Makes me wonder what they do with their garbage…ciao
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I keep a bunch of reusable bags in the trunk of my car so that they’re always handy
.
Robin´s last blog ..From a distance, the world looks blue and green
I do that, too, Robin. Although I often have to walk back out to the car in the scorching heat to retrieve them. Maybe I need to tie one to my arm when I get in the car?
This is one thing I do. Once I got into the habit it has been easy.
Last year.I bought reusable bags and put my Christmas gifts in them as a hint to my friends and family.
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Excellent idea for a Christmas gift (and saves a lot of wrapping paper, too). I have a friend who gave the more expensive bags as the actual gift, and I thought that was pretty cool. It’s a good way to make Christmas “green,” eh?
Can you tell me where I could order about 100 of the zipper reusable bags like at Walgreens? We want to sell them as a fund raiser at our silent auction to raise money for college scholarships.
Thanks,
Sally
Sally, what an excellent idea for a fund raiser! Unfortunately, I don’t have an inside track with Walgreens, but if I were in your shoes I would approach the manager of my local store. Tell him just what you told me and ask if he can get you the bags at his cost. Be sure to point out to him that it is excellent advertising for his store and that you will list Walgreens as a “partner” in your promotion to the newspaper. If he has any smarts, he will jump on that free advertising like a duck on a June bug! Good luck, and let me know if it works for you. I’ll brag about Walgreens charitable bent on the blog.
Nothing ever goes back into it’s own storage bag as easily as it came out! LOL I have some similar sized bags from a local produce store and I got some much larger ones from Aldi. I used to forget to bring them with me all the time and now I just keep them in my car. It’s now become a habit to just put them right by the front door after I unpack and right back in my car on the next trip outside. Based on what I’m buying, I just bring in however many bags I think I will need. I haven’t noticed these at my Walgreens yet, but I’m going to look for the purple ones
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