who knew twill-weave cotton could be so exciting?

On Earth Day this year, I made a committment to myself to switch to reusable canvas shopping bags.

Today I began the process with the purchase of my first two canvas bags!  I'll pick up a couple more bags each time I go shopping, and in a few weeks, I'll have enough to do my entire grocery run.

There are a few totally rad facts about these bags that I feel the need to point out.

1.  They are  GINORMOUS!!  You can easily fit the contents of TWO (maybe THREE) full plastic shopping bags into ONE of these suckers!  This is a plus for me because it reduces my trips back and forth to the car to unload, which means less trips up and down the stairs to my second floor apartment, which means less opportunities for me to kill myself falling down the stairs, which I did last week.  True story.

2. They're totally appealing to my aesthetic side.  Something about the canvas, I think.  I can't explain it really, aside from to tell you that I am a very tactile person, and I have an incredible urge to touch them.

3. They make less noise than the plastic bags, and by less I actually mean NONE.  My cats appreciate this fact GREATLY, as they've got somewhat of an inexplainable fear of all things loud and crinkly. 

See?  These bags are definitely kitty-approved!!

4.  Last but certainly not least...  A few weeks of an extra $6 purchase = doing something good for this place we call home, and also a good teaching/learning opportunity for my kids too. 

I'm just one little person, but I can make a difference...  And so can you!

Happy Tuesday!

Comments

[Stacy]

I have the ones where you can fold them up after with a nifty little snap at the top...keeps them all organized and small in my trunk. Gotta love 'em!

[april]

heck, just the less trips to the car thing would be reason enough for me. the only thing that has me totally flummoxed (love that word!) is how do you canvas bag people deal with produce? is each kind of produce still in one of those sinful little bags or is all the produce mixed up in one canvas bag?

[lynn]

ya know what?? You can add #5 to that list... because you posted this, you've inspired me to make this change as well. I'm off to the store as we speak!

[jenn shurkus]

ive started this too.. granted i go food shopping umm....... once a month, maybe :)
and all my aveda addiction is good for the earth too.... i'm just sayin.

[Kim]

You rock for doing this! And you're right, there is something very appealing about those bags. :)
P.S. I'm still on MySpace so I'm not totally disappearing. And 4 weeks or so and I'll be up there!! EEEEE!

[Amanda]

Being a recycling nut and canvas bag user I loved this post!! But you forgot to mention that when you bring your own bags to the store they give you money back for each bag you use and I think it's around 5 cents for each fabric bag. Eventually they will pay for themselves!! Also, if you have those crinkly plastic bags laying around you can bring them to the store too and usually in the front of the store there is a bin to recycle them :)