Hiding my head in an imaginary hole until recently, I finally made an investment. In reusable grocery bags. Four bags for a total of $3.20. What was I waiting for?!
What I love about my new bags:
- They’re strong. No more jars of spaghetti sauce falling through a wimpy plastic bag onto my driveway.
- They’re huge. I cannot get over the amount of goods that fit in each bag!
- They are incredibly easy to carry and load/unload.
- They go where I go (so far so good on this… I know I’ll forget to put them in the van at some point and not have them when I need them) and are a nice back up when I need a, um, bag for something.
- The first time I used them at the store (and each time since), I was paid 5¢ per bag! Where have I been, people?! I get paid to use bigger, stronger grocery bags?! The way I have it figured, I’ll be earning about 60¢ per month. I know that won’t make me rich or anything, but clearly… the bags pay for themselves.
- The endless amounts of plastic bags that clutter up one of my kitchen cabinets until I gather them once a month and dump them in the recycling bin? I won’t have to do that anymore.
So. Go ahead. Tell me. Am I the last earth-friendly-minded shopper to fall in love with reusable shopping bags?
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I LOVE my bags — from baggu.com… they fold up super small and are sturdy and bigger — and yes, at some stores I get paid to use them too. Glad to hear you also are enjoying your bags.
THose look like some great bags. I have 1 reusable one that works great which was given to me. I have been holding out though. Where did you get those ones?
I’ve built up quite a nice supply of them over the last year and I LOVE them! I have about 11 bags now! I’ve gotten a lot better about remembering to take them in places like Target, fabric store, etc. I always remember the grocery store, but sometimes forget the other places.
I think someone should post about how to remember to take ones re-usable bags with them
I love my bags something fierce. I feel naked when I go through the checkout line w/o them. Weird, I know. I think I bought 4 over the last year, but I’ve received several more for free – from stores, from manufacturers, etc. Now, I think I have 8-10 and sometimes I do use them all on a good shopping trip.
Still need to remember them at other stores, though, like clothing stores.
I just received my earth bound bag that I won. It is the first time I have used a reusable grocery bag! I thought when I saw them that people would be more likely to use them if they received a kickback. I don’t know if the grocery stores in our area do, but I hope to find out!
I love that I can carry mine over the shoulder when unloading – helpful when carrying a sad baby who doesn’t like car rides! They’re also great for carting “stuff” around town…
I totally just jumped on board with the reusable bags and I LOVE them! I actually use a lands end BIG canvas bag and it’s great! Its huge and holds so much and it’s easy to carry!
This is especially for Katie- she wanted to know how to remember your reusable bags. Sounds like you’ve got Bagnesia (n): A person’s forgetfulness to grab their reusable bags… Luckily there is a cure- the Bagnesia Reminder Kit. It covers all three areas to help you remember to take them from home to car and into the store. It even comes with it’s own stylish reusable bag that rolls up smaller than cell phone but holds up to 40lbs! How’s that for a solution?
http://www.bagnesia.com
Actually- that last comment was for Sarah- sorry Katie- it looks like you’ve got things covered already!
I don’t know where you live but in the Iowa you can get these 2/$1.00 at Hy Vee this week. I’m up to 6 bags. I use my bags each week and keep track of my savings from using the bags, when I’ve “saved” enough to pay for another bag then I buy another one. Right now I can get all of my groc. in the 6 bags I have but I’d like a couple more for those occasions when I have more groc. than normal. I HATE it when you get some kid that bags groc. in plastic and THEN in the reusable bags. They totally miss the point.
I love mine too – I kept seeing my sister with her harris teeter reusable bags and finally had her buy me a load of them -10 I think – of course the next week I saw them at my local grocery! I’ve never actually used all of them at one store, but when I do my Walmart / grocery combo days I can use every bag. I still get weird looks from the clerks at Walmart especially, and have to remember to bring them in the store (that’s where my 4 year old comes in – its her job to remind me!) but still I love using them and not having to deal with all those plastic bags all over the place.
My grandmaused 3 of them to wrap presents for my kids this last xmas. Now we use the bag more than the presents. And they are cheaper than a gift bag!
Luckily checkout people are getting the hang of using them.
I *love* my reusable bags. It is so much easier and I love thinking of all the plastic bags that we are not using.
I think we have around 12 reusable bags. It’s nice — we have enough to take care of our big monthly shopping trip.
Like Staci mentioned above about her Grandma, I also “wrapped” some of my gifts this year in reusable shopping bags. It was a big hit!
Re-usable bags were on my mind for a long time before I finally got them. I still have trouble always remembering them, but I really do LOVE using them. So much more pleasant and easy to use.
Yes!! Why did it take us so long to bring out own bags??
I love mine…they are colorful fun and big.
TTFN~~Claudia
I bought my first reusable grocery bags 17 years ago at a Navy Exchange! And one of my original bags is still in use! But after all these years, there are still times when I forget to bring my bags.
I love my bags too! I shop at Aldi’s where you have to bag your own, they’re great!
~Liz
I saw the light just 6 months ago…and I too am amazed. I can get all the groceries from the cart to the car to the house in fewer motions. And yes, they don’t tip over! You go girl!
I have 3 bags, no where near enough for a big grocery trip but they do cut down on the plastic ones I need
Yes I love reusable bags too — 2 years ago, my new years resolution was to give up grocery bags — and I’m just amazed at thinking how much garbage and waste this saves!! And once you get into the habit, it’s sooo easy!!
I have a bunch of reusable bags. I love them. They are so much sturdier than plastic bags. There are some really pretty bags out there. My favourite is a pink one I got from IKEA.
Found your post while searching for reusable grocery bags.
What a find! Wish I could convince my DH to use bags like that. I do whenever I go out shopping on my own.
Thanks!
I love my reusable bags, too. We also get paid 5 cents for each bag we use.
I HAD been doing pretty good about remembering to take them… but I have forgotten for the last few times in a row!
Fortunately, our grocery store also recently installed a grocery bag recycling bin. So when I DO forget I can at least easily recycle the plastic bags.
i miss the 5 cent incentive! my local krogers quit giving it when they started selling their own shopping bags.
What do you mean you get paid? Will I get a rebate if I were to take it to my local Safeway? Do tell! I want to do this.
I agree! I think they are so much better than the plastic ones. You can store so much more in them, plus, I can easily carry one or two on my shoulder, rather than have a mass of plastic ones in my two hands.
Wishing I could get paid to use these, but alas, we don’t. But more and more shops are phasing out the plastic ones. It’s a great initiative for our environment!
love these bags as well
If you want to go really green and frugal, get cloth bags at garage sales, the ones from career fairs and continuing education seminars, etc. They’re, sturdy, very inexpensive, it’s reusing something that would be thrown away, and it cuts down on the need to manufacture more of the green bags with cute sayings on them.
@Maria, I don’t get to go to garage sales as often as I want to, but I DID buy a cloth bag the last time I went! Loved adding to my collection with a bag someone else didn’t want.
our local grocery store used to pay .01 for using a reusable bag, but they’ve ceased that, too.
still using those reusable bags though. 