It’s just a shopping bag!

Everyone knows you are supposed to bring your own cloth bags when you go grocery shopping. When I go into Whole Foods, everyone has brought their own bags, and cloth bags for sale are displayed prominently throughout the store. I think you might actually be subject to a citizen’s arrest if you asked for plastic bags at Whole Foods! And of course this is a good thing—the more people get into the habit of bringing their own cloth bags to the supermarket, the better for all of us.

I have decided to take this idea a step further. Food is not the only thing I buy, and most items are handed over to you by a cashier in a plastic bag. What’s the difference between bringing home food in a plastic bag, and, say, the new pair of jeans I just bought? There isn’t a difference, as far as I can see.

So I am now taking my little cloth bags with my whenever I go shopping. Fortunately, I have these great bags that you can fold up, and when you zip them together, they will actually fit in my pocket (thanks Exhale Spa!). I can easily carry these bags with me when I got shopping.

Earlier this week, I hit CVS, and instead of taking the plastic bag, I put all my items in my cloth bag. Easy! Of course, most people still think this is weird. Cloth bags at the supermarket are one thing, but in a pharmacy? Maybe it’s not manly enough or something.

Yesterday I stopped by Home Deport to pick up some new light bulbs. The following exchange occurred at the cash register:

“Oh, no thanks. I don’t need a plastic bag. I brought my own bag.”

“What do you mean?”

“Uh, well… I brought my own bag, so I don’t have to use a plastic one.”

The cashier then actually tossed the light bulbs at me, which is cool because light bulbs aren’t fragile or anything. I’m not sure why she was annoyed—maybe she owns stock in a plastic company! Or maybe she was just a surly cashier. And obviously she isn’t used to people bringing their own bags to Home Depot.

Well that isn’t going to stop me. I think it makes sense, whenever possible, to avoid plastic bags. So that is what I am doing. I just hope my light bulbs still work!