Top 5 Reasons Why I Dig My Reuseable Shopping Bags

I’ve been using my reuseable shopping bags for about 7 years now and I really dig them.  I started out by buying five or so and got some free and sort of accidently stole a few from my mom.  Yeah, I’m pretty sure everytime the girls spend the night at my mom’s house their stuff comes back in a Trader Joe’s bag.

(I’ll give them back mom…)

Without further ado – here are the Top 5 Reasons Why I Dig My Reuseable Shopping Bags

1.  They Hold A-LOT of Stuff

This was actually the main reason why I took the plunge into buying myself my first 5 reuseable bags.  I remember walking in from my house carrying 3-4 plastic bags in each hand, noting that each bag only had a few items in it.  I wanted something beefier, that could hold some more items.  I wanted to carry… one grocery bag per hand.

2.  They Stack-Up Real Nice

I like the satisfying way they line right up next to eachother solidly in my car.  They behave themselves and sit nice and upright on my counter too (on my floor actually but the counter was cleaner so it won the photo op).

3.  I Use Them For Everything

Well, not eeeeverything but I use them as beach bags, overnight at grandma bags, pick-up toys around the house and transport them to the playroom bags.  I also use them as “uh oh, houseguest in 20 minutes, need to stash all the junk on the coffee table in the closet” bags.

4. Reuseable Bags Are Good to Mother Earth

Newsflash!  Just kidding, I know you know this is the most obvious one.  Plastic bags mainly end up taking up space in landfills and are easily airborn so they end up as litter and harm wildlife.  Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they just break down into smaller and smaller bits of plastic polluting water and land.

Seriously, they even wrote a song about it:

5.  This Bag

Seriously… is This the Cutest Grocery Bag You’ve Ever Seen?

Instead of Hannaford it should say ‘Kate Spade’ or something.  I want to buy a whole set of these in all of the patterns and colors but… alas I already have as many as I need (except for maybe when I give my mom hers back…)

That bag is actually made in New England too which is a bonus.  I think it is made in nearby Lowell too which wins double bonus points in my book.

How To’s of Reuseable Shopping Bags

So, using these bags for 7 years has taught me some good tips for using the reuseable shopping bags:

• Use one bag to hold all of your other bags neatly.
• Keep them in a handy place where you can just grab them and go.  I keep mine handy under the kitchen sink.
• Don’t Worry if you forget your bags, just remember next time.  I forgot to bring mine the first few times and eventually I did remember.  Now it is just a habit and I instinctively go for the bags before I leave the house.
• It’s OK if you don’t have enough bags for your entire cart worth of stuff.  I just have the ‘overflow’ go to plastic or paper bags.
• You might feel a little insecure the first few times you use the bags, but eventually it starts to feel natural.  Also, it made me feel more at ease that the baggers are used to packing the reuseable bags and don’t seem to pause one bit when they are handed a bunch of them.

Please share your thoughts with me on reuseable grocery bags.  Are you using them now?  Do you think  you might want to try them?  How do you remind yourself to bring them to the grocery store?  Do you use your reuseable bags for anything else?