Bagging the plastic habit

I pledged to bag the plastic bag habit for July. In truth, it's a lot harder than it looks.

One week into my experiment, I've still acquired four shopping bags and rescued a newspaper bag from work (thinking it's just right for dirty diapers on the run).

Lack of planning was the culprit in each instance. I'd run into the store thinking I'd just grab one thing and come out with several cloaked in plastic.

The latest time was the result of great intentions. I darted into Goodwill after work, hoping to pick up a serving dish or two that I could carry meals to a flood victim at our church later this week. It was that or buy disposable, and I reasoned that if the couple couldn't use these temporarily, the clients at their homeless organization might.

So I saved some dishes but at the price of bags. But at least Goodwill does #2 recyclable.

I do realize that my small effort has paid off somewhat in our cleaning closet, which typically showers us with a sea of yellow, white, brown and purple bags.

Still, I have plenty to reuse or recycle. If you're like me, here are just a few things you can do with your shopping bag supply:

• Use it as packing material. There's a wierd satisfaction in shipping them off to be my mother-in-law's problem!
• Use it for diaper (or dog waste) disposal. Far better than those wastes of space and bags, the Diaper Genies. We even reuse or bread and newspaper bags for this.
• Take your lunch. It's not exciting, but who cares?
• Use it for a trash bag in your vehicle.
• Line your trash can. I haven't bought a can liner for my bathroom trash can in years. Sure, it's not scented like flowers. I can deal with that.
• Hang it on the door knob of a room for a fast place to store your recyclables as you clean up.
• Leave a few in the back of your car for those unexpected filthy shoes or clothes that inevitably happen with your children (no matter how old they are).
• Bring them back to the store - whether to house a return or to reuse again.
• For the good planner, save them up and return them to the store for recycling. Locally, our Kroger and Wal-mart are now accepting plastic bags and packaging.

Green karma and other Monday thoughts

It's Monday morning. Our work e-mail has been cut off from the outside world. It's a perfect excuse to get online and share a few quick thoughts:

• Is there a such thing as green karma? I've taken to drafting posts on paper while my kids are playing, so I can reduce my screen time. However, several of my torn-out pages have gone missing! Payback for paper waste?
• There are things I never thought I would say as a parent. Like, "Pick up your mess, or no farmers market today." But the best? "Honey, don't wash the garlic in the bathroom."
• I committed this month to reduce my plastic bag usage. So far, my count is at two. My lesson learned? Even if you think you're going in for one item, bring a bag just in case.
• I'm still surprised that with the number of stores selling reusable bags that so few people are using them. The checkout boy at Kroger this weeked was utterly confused - and even tried to double-bag them.
• My cousin, who visited from Arizona this weekend, was appalled by the lack of convenient recycling here in Indiana. I've lamented the lack of services here, but my aunt has it worse - there is no curbside recycling in her town, and she has to travel to recycle papers. I've toyed with the idea of hording my #5 plastic stuff so it can be recycled later, but it comes down to a space, time and gas issue. So my question is this: Given gas costs, how far would you drive to recycle?

Possibly the coolest green bag ever

Reusable shopping bags are everywhere these days. It seems like every store is trying to make a buck with bags with their branding on it.

Generally, I try to avoid paying for other people's advertising, but I have really become interested in using reusable grocery bags as part of my daily living.

I recently found my exception to the rule. Trader Joe's offers fun surfer-themed reusable grocery bags that I just had to snatch up! And for only $1.

The only downside is that these bags take more space than the cloth ones I've found at the local grocery stores, and they don't compact as well. But they are fun and eye-catching, and remembering they're there is the first step to using them and eliminating just a few plastic bags.