Jul
17
Especially in a small town! There is no recycling here at all, nothing curbside and no where to take papers or bottles and such. It’s hard to find ways to do things that might help out. We’ll never be featured for our innovative programs! When my w*lmart store had some reusable shopping bags for sale I decided to snag those as one small thing I could do. I bought 5 of them for 99 cents each and that seemed like a pretty good deal to me. I asked the checker if she could put my stuff in them and use them right then and she said, “sure”! That seemed way too easy, and sure enough it was. The next time I took them in, the girl checking me out looked at me with a total blank look when I told her I wanted to use those instead of plastic bags! She didn’t really know what to do with them. So I had to put all my groceries up on the belt to get checked out and bag everything myself, hoping that the many people in line behind me weren’t getting too frustrated. When I got home, I didn’t remember to put them back in my car; so for the last 5+ times I’ve been to the store I came out with plastic bags, argh!
But hooray, this week I actually got to the store with a list AND the shopping bags………and even better, the cashier didn’t give me a funny look and my bags held everything! Hopefully I’ve turned a corner and this new habit will get a little bit easier.
July 17th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I have bags from Kroger, Publix, and Walmart. I keep them in the trunk of my car and make myself use them whenever I go in to the stores. At least Kroger and Publix – I usually forget about Walmart unless I’m doing grocery shopping there.
They’re great and they hold a lot. They’re so much easier to carry into the house, and they stand up better in the back of the car. The ones from Kroger and Publix have a hard piece in the bottom that makes them more rigid.
The checkers at the stores are getting more used to using them. Though I had an incident at Krogers a while ago. I had taken in 4 bags, and when they were filled there were still a few things left over. The bagger just started putting them into the cart unbagged. I asked him what he was doing, and he said that he had run out of bags. I had to remind him that he could still put the rest of the order into the plastic bags!
July 17th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Yeah, good for you! I still get odd looks sometime here too. Mostly I see them grimacing and make a comment about how I’m trying to use these instead of plastic bags, which then allows them to gripe about how much more trouble these are, how heavy they are, yada yada yada. Oh well, I still take mine and I still like them. They hold a lot. And they stay upright in my car better. Plus, I’m still having a good time trying to just get what I need and not get extra bags. Fun game 🙂
P.S. Now I have Kermit in my head, thanks to your title 🙂
July 17th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
The clerks at our walmart hate to see me coming and hate my black bags. But I love them. I get upset when I forget to bring them. Which lately is not often.
I got amanda a new digital camera, memory card, case for the camera and blank cdrs. I am also giving her a monogrammed backpack from pottery barn teen and a laptop stand … and we’re going for a new outfit to wear on the big birthday … Hopefully she won’t see this comment 🙂
July 18th, 2008 at 10:48 am
A few of our grocery stores have the reusable bags for sale but they are ridiculously expensive and they are small. Smaller than a regular plastic shopping bag. So there’s not much incentive there for me to go that route. I do reuse the plastic bags as garbage bags so I feel better about that.
July 18th, 2008 at 11:15 am
I love those bags and they’re becoming very popular. They’re perfect for a last minute run to the store, but when I go grocery shopping it’s just a big no no, there’s no way I can fit all my stuff in there LOL
July 18th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
We have a recycling area here…I actually tore our trash compactor out and recycled it…and made $40. We recycle our cans….our newspaper will take the papers back too…I have never seen these bags but would love to have them….
July 20th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Great job, Gail… I feel the same way. It’s hard to teach an old dog (ME) new tricks! haha! I have two great big ones form IKEA (we don’t have an IKEA but I got them when I visited my sister in Michigan) and I use it for all of my shopping. I keep it in my car trunk and just carry everything out in the buggy… then place them in my bags. I guess if we each do a little… it will help.
July 24th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Way to go!