Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Bag it in style

Hi everyone! Fancy here!


One of the first big green changes I made was to stop using plastic shopping bags. When I was doing spring cleaning almost a year ago, I realized that plastic bags were taking over my home. They were stuffed in every corner of every closet, sand even though I did use them for garbage and kitty litter, I still had a huge overflow. I ended up throwing out t big black bags full of them, as I did not know where to recycle them. I decided then and there that I would never bring another plastic bag into my home and I haven't.

I went to Supermarket that day and picked up a pile of Green grocery bags. I started using them for groceries, the fruit market, the library and the mall. If I forgot them or ran out, I bought more or did not buy what I had planned to. That got me out of the habit of forgetting them really quickly, and I gave away my surplus!

Since then, I have bought different bags for different purposes. I have some tiny foldable ones I can keep in my purse at all times, as well as some bigger totes that are really cute, and look much nicer when I am walking the malls or streets than a grocery bag would. I still use my original grocery bags for groceries though. I always hang them on the front door right after emptying them, and then take them out to my car the next time I leave the house.

I want to devote this post to showing you some stylin' shopping bags that will not only reduce your plastic and help you do good for the environment (and free up some room under the sink!), but also look great on your arm:

The Anya Hindmarch Shopping Tote, these sold out of stores in the UK and North America faster than you could say "I've got my own bag", and for good reason. They are so cute, not to mention huge and sturdy. Some might say the message is smug, but I say who cares? Real ones can go for about $200 on Ebay. I would not spend that, but I did get mine on Ebay for $30. Now, I am not positive it is real, but I can say that I have looked at some guides to identifying fakes, and mine certainly seems to be real, so I guess I just got lucky. Either way, it is a cute and functional bag that I reach for again and again when I hit the mall.




The rest of these aren't bags I actually own, but ones I'd like to, and you could if you click on the pictures!



3 comments:

Daisy said...

I bought my bags from a mutual friend of ours, and I'll never go back to plastic. They hold more, they're stylish, and, like you said, they don't overtake my house. I still keep Target bags for diapers (though that will be over soon!) and kitty litter. But now, I've even gone to recycling the plastic bags my newspaper comes in every morning.

My next step is to give up trash bags, using only paper. I also want to compost, but that's another blog!

Fancy said...

Hey Daisy, I was gonna post our friend's bags...but as far as I know she still doesn't sell them online to strangers!!! I do love her bags though...I should pop by and find out!

Unknown said...

Hey, Fancy! Those bags are super cute! We've also switched to 'green' shopping bags. I love them! I've got about a dozen in different styles. They're fun and kinda funky.

I was thrilled (and surprised) at how many people were using green grocery bags the other day when I did my groceries! More than half of the people in the store were using reusable bags! I was so excited to see that a lot of people here are thinking along the same wavelength!