It's getting close to New Year's and, come 2008, our #1 resolution is going to be remembering our reusable grocery bags when we go to the store.
It's not easy -- but there are a few strategies that will make it easier. We're vowing to try them all until we find one that really works.
The list starts after the jump. PLEASE add your own ideas, we can use all the help we can get!
• Keep the bags on a hook near the front door. (We like this one -- it's probably the first we'll try.)
• Purchase a bag that is small enough to hook to our keychain.
• Keep one set of bags in the trunk of our car and one in the apartment, one for walking and one for driving shopping trips. The trick will be remembering to put the car set back in the car.
• Purchase a bag that we can roll up and shove in our purse.
• Get a bag that is so cool we want to take it everywhere (as a fashion statement even).
• Put a big sign on the inside of the front door (or on a bulletin board near the door) as a reminder. "Remember Your Bags!"
Image: Via jennyhurth.com
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keep the totes next to the grocery list. I keep a grocery list on the fridge and rip it off when I go shopping, so having the totes there would make the one step a double whammy: rip off list and grab totes.
Granted, we're going for reducing waste, so keep list on chalkboard or something and then put it into your phone/pda, erase board and grab bags.
I keep all my bags on a carabiner--easier to hang on hooks and to keep the bags together, and the night before I hit the farmers' market, I hook my keys' carabiner onto the bag carabiner ... I guess carabiners are like the recyclers' duct tape!
i keep mine in the car. once i empty the bag i put it right back in the car :) it helps me remember it.
I keep a couple in the car, one in my school backpack and a mess of 'em hanging in the pantry. The ones in the pantry are for grocery shopping and I keep my coupons in them--I never forgot my coupons so it works well.
A silly idea that's slowly working for me: learning the words to Tim Minchin's song "Take your canvas bags to the store" (on YouTube). It gets stuck in my head so that I sing it over and over, and it helps remind me of what I'm trying to achieve :)
I end up keeping two totes always tucked into my grocery cart (which hangs in my closet), and a tiny one rolled up in my laptop bag or purse for when I just need something quick on the way home from work.
I have a million of those green Whole Foods bags and keep them everywhere! In the car, on the hook by the door, in my office...For a while I told myself that every time I forgot my bag I'd have to buy a new one instead of using paper at the store. That kind of worked too. If they charged me $5 for paper bags I'm sure I'd never forget the reusable ones!
stringy -- very funny!
Last year I bought a set of five Envirosax, one for each of my then-housemates to keep in our bags. They're great because they roll up so tiny you barely even notice them in your purse. I keep one in my bag at all times. For grocery shopping trips, I keep my bags in the kitchen so that when I do my inventory to make my list, I remember to grab the bags, too.
I'm a big advocate of leaving one in a drawer at work. Then I can grab it if I decide to hit the farmers' market or the wine store on my lunch hour.
I always put mine back in the trunk after I unpack groceries, but since I shop at Wegmans, if I did forget them, I could buy some new ones at the register. Wegmans reusable shopping bags are only .99!
I use a backpack instead of a purse and keep a small reusable bag in one of the pockets. It's large enough to hold a paper bag full of produce and the rest can fit into my backpack.
When I forget my tote bag, I just put whatever I've bought into my purse and carry the bigger items by hand. It's not like a flimsy plastic bag can really insulate your gallon of milk anyway.
I went for a combination of the "if you forget it you have to buy a new one" rule, and the "put a few in everything" idea, and if those both fail me, I subscribe strongly to the "carry a really big purse and put it all in there" school of thought.
I especially enjoy watching the face of the clerk while I fill my giant purse with groceries.
I absolutely refuse to accept any plastic bags, therefore if I forget my reusable bag, I have to carry my items out without any bag at all. Once you've done this once or twice, you won't forget your reusable bags!
I tried the bags in the trunk method. Of course I still forgot to take the bags into the store. I tried to force myself to leave the full cart in the store, walk out to the car and retrieve my bags. But at the end of a long day and it's raining outside and the car is parked way at the end of the parking lot - I slipped and got the plastic bags (not too bad, as I need them for doggie pickup).
However, I now leave at least one bag on the passenger seat. I know, not so neat, but it's almost impossible to forget the bag and if I know that I'll need more, there are more in the trunk.
I also have a teeny roll up bag in each of my two most used purses.
Well, I guess, this one is only for the ladies. Put your purse in your tote and walk with both on your shoulder!
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http://www.ProjectGreenBag.com
http://www.facebook.com/ProjectGreenBag
http://twitter.com/projectgreenbag