BYOB[ags]

This is a post I've been meaning to write for almost a year.

With sheer exuberance, I'd like to announce that canvas bags for grocery shopping are the BEST. Sure, I've been bringing my own bag to farmers' markets for years - but grocery stores? I am ashamed to admit it, but I've only been doing it for a year and a half. What was I thinking?! I even have good friends who have been doing it for years [LSJF fo' sho']. But me? A year and a half. Ridiculous.

There's a lot of [important] yadda yadda about reducing waste, which is one of the big reasons why I started making the initial switch. It is obvious: why use something disposable, even if it can be re-used for, say, a garbage liner, if you can use something else over and over and over and over and over again? Furthermore, I'm sure everyone else has seen the plastic bags stuck on trees and bushes and rocks and fences. Enough said. It ain't good. I'm glad that grocery stores are providing recycling receptacles for plastic bags, but I think we, as a nation, should take it a step further. BYOB - that is, Bring Your Own Bags.

[Paper isn't much better because though it biodegradable, a whole lotta energy went into making it. And, I don't know if anyone else has noticed - but grocery stores seem to be pushing the plastic. I suspect it is because plastic is less expensive.]

But the beauty of making the switch is that I've discovered a heap of benefits that are above and beyond the mantra of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Really!

First off, you can pack more into each bag, which means: less to bring in the house. Secondly, the bags are significantly easier to carry. You can sling 2-4 over your shoulders and bring them into the house like a pack-horse, cutting out nasty things like getting the circulation cut off from your fingers or the inability to open doors. All the weight is on your shoulders, with your arms free to use as need be. This has been the most significant perk for me: I can actually bring groceries, inside, by myself, with two children, in the winter. Amazing!!

I have been converted and I am never, ever going back. When I think about all those years with Squeeze, struggling to bring groceries in - especially when we were living in the top floor of our duplex, or the third floor of our first apartment - I just think to myself, "Doh!!!" What a waste. It could have been so much easier.

Additionally, most grocery stores take off anywhere from 5-10 cents for each bag that you bring in and use. They don't seem to advertise this, and it isn't much - but whatevs. I'm not doing it for the cost savings from my bill. I've got bigger things to worry about. Like, hauling in groceries while contending with two small children. Or what to make for dinner tonight. Besides, it is the cost savings from the bigger picture that I concerns me, not the potential of 70-80 cents.

Grocery stores are selling their branded reusable bags, which work fine - but I have a better idea. Instead of paying two dollars for the synthetic bags that the mainstream grocery stores are offering, get them from thrift stores for 25 cents. I've been picking them up here and there for a couple of years now, both canvas and synthetic: they are from all sorts of conventions and company meetings and even a few from hobby groups. I have collected a whole fleet, that can handle big and small trips. They are wonderful. WONDERFUL. I keep them right by my seat in the, ahem, minivan. Squeeze has a few in his car, too. And I found a little hand-made purple one with a clown patch on it that I keep in my, ahem, diaper bag at all times for little in-and-out trips.

Finally, there is something very satisfying in re-using the same bags. I've gotten to know them and have opinions about what they are each used best for. Some of them are adorable, while others fit over my shoulder just right. My personal favorite extols the carrier as the "Number One Grandma". They are fabulous. Wonderful. Labor-reducing. Cost-effective. Fun. Cozy.

BYOB