I am not the person ANYONE would describe as "green", however, I am trying to get there. I've started with small changes like recycling plastic and paper trash, using reusable cloth bags to haul groceries home and observing Earth Day by shutting off all my lights and electronics that use electricity... all to help this planet. And while I'm not as amazing as the couple that reduced their trash to nothing for one full year, the small changes that I have made a part of day to day life gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling that I'm doing my part! :)So, recycling wasn't too terribly difficult to create into a habit since the city I live in provides me with a recycling dumpster to fill that gets picked up once a week. Had that not been the case, that "green" change might have taken me a little longer to perfect.
Earth Day: Just a super fun hour of peace, quiet and candle light!
The cloth bags have been another animal all together. I found the most AMAZING reusable bags to use when lugging my groceries home. I actually found them on a home shopping channel and thought they were the greatest invention to cut back on plastic usage. However, it took time to answer, "I have my own" when asked, "paper or plastic?" Part of the reason this particular change took me so long is that, at the time, not many people were utilizing reusable bags for their grocery shopping. I was embarrassed that it might take the cashier a little longer to bag my items because I brought my own bag and the others in line behind me would get irritated. To my surprise, the first time I used my handy, dandy, cooler-than-any-other-bag, bags at the grocery store, it actually DID take me much longer in line. But not because supplying my own reusable bags slowed the cashier or the bagger's processes... it was because EVERYONE loved my bags and stopped to ask me where I got them. Well, I'm blogging today to fill everyone in on where you can get them for yourself and why you need to. These bags really are all that... AND a bag of chips!!!! First of all they fold up and secure with Velcro so that you can easily carry them in your purse. The plastic handle has a super nifty quarter holder for use at the grocery stores that require a 25 cent deposit to use the shopping carts (which is a GENIUS idea to ensure that your shopping carts get returned to the proper locations). These totally tubular (what?!? I'm a child of the 80's) bag handles also clip to the side of your shopping cart for easy loading and unloading. And finally, each of the bags holds approximately the equivalent of four of the grocer’s plastic bags (and I believe the manufacturer actually says that each bag holds up to 40 pounds). I love, love, love my shopping bags. I love that I'm one step closer to "green", and I certainly love all the attention I get because of these beauties. The handles on my reusable bags make carrying my groceries into my house WAY more comfortable since the plastic bags tend to painfully cut off the circulation to my fingers while trying to take in all my groceries with just one trip... you know you do it too! And I love never having to worry about bags ripping because the material the bags are made with almost feels like canvas.
These reusable shopping bags get a super high five from me... not just because of the amazingly smart design of these bags, but because they increase my popularity while at the same time get me a little closer to "green". Oh, and P.S., now that everyone is using reusable grocery bags, my local market gives me a 5 cent credit for each bag! Just another bonus. You can find these "high five" wonders on sale.... here!
Comments