Alrighty folks, my first step to a greener life is....... (drumroll, please)
NO MORE PLASTIC GROCERY BAGS!
I hopped online yesterday and found pretty detailed instructions for making my own bags. Then I realized that, even though I'm a seamstress, I'm just too swamped with work orders to make them, so I bought them online. (Again, I'm just your average suburbanite slob here, making small changes with minimal effort. Afterall, isn't that how the majority of Americans feel? I'm not saying it's right, I'm just tellin' it like it is. Please don't send me angry-grams about how I'm wasting resources on the gas to deliver the product, afterall, resources would also have been wasted on having the fabric delivered) Anyhow, I got six of 'em for $24.99. I'm sure if I searched around I could have found a better price, but I don't have tons of time to comparison shop these days.
NO MORE PLASTIC GROCERY BAGS!
I hopped online yesterday and found pretty detailed instructions for making my own bags. Then I realized that, even though I'm a seamstress, I'm just too swamped with work orders to make them, so I bought them online. (Again, I'm just your average suburbanite slob here, making small changes with minimal effort. Afterall, isn't that how the majority of Americans feel? I'm not saying it's right, I'm just tellin' it like it is. Please don't send me angry-grams about how I'm wasting resources on the gas to deliver the product, afterall, resources would also have been wasted on having the fabric delivered) Anyhow, I got six of 'em for $24.99. I'm sure if I searched around I could have found a better price, but I don't have tons of time to comparison shop these days.
To convince you of the evils of plastic bags and get you to start using cloth bags, here's a nice little article title No Bag, Thanks!
SAVINGS:
So, let's do some math (did I mention I'm a bean-counting geek?). I grocery shop once per week and generally spend about $175 for my family of 4. This leaves me with an average of 12 plastic bags. Add to that the weekly trek to Walgreens or Target and whatnot and we'll round it up to an average of 15 bags per week. I shouldn't have to us ANY from now on. That's a savings of 780 bags per year!!! WOO HOO!
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: 2 out of 5
This is a relatively easy change to make. Even easier for me, since I wussed out and bought the cloth bags, rather than make them. The toughest part will be remembering to bring them to the store. Luckily, my nearly 4-year-old LOVES to be in charge of remembering things so I have enlisted his help! Let me know how this change works for you!
2 comments:
leave the bags in your car. I realized after having purchased them that the only way I remember to bring them is if they are already in the car. After going in to the store 3 times without them and having to load the groceries into my cart after purchasing them, taking the cart to my car, transferring the groceries from the cart to my happily nested in the back of my car bags, that the only way I'll be consistent is if they are already in the vehicle when I leave for the store. Consider it, the apple rarely falls far from the tree, you know.
love,
Uma
I'll echo what Uma said. It took about three visits after getting the bags for it to become a habit. Now I reach for them automatically. Big plus -- the cloth bags hold much more than those flimsy useless plastic bags and don't tear like paper bags -- and they stay pretty upright in the trunk. Good luck!
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