Me, the ecobag lady

I’m happy to report that I’ve gotten a lot greener since the no-plastic bag day campaign started. I’m a regular user of eco-friendly bags now and so proud of myself. I have amassed quite an impressive collection of recyclable bags over time, all of them free, and now I have a stash of them handy in my car, one in my huge tote bag and several that my kids use for school stuff.

Before, I used to leave them at home and forget to bring them out with me when I went shopping. Not that that’s a very big crime though since most stores dish out biodegradable plastic bags now anyways. Although I do recycle them as garbage bags, they still take up space.

So I much prefer using eco-friendly bags since many of them are quite pretty now, not bland and boring like they used to be when they first became popular. When they get dirty, I just wash them out with soapy water, hang them out to dry and they’re good to go again. How about you? Have you started becoming more environmentally friendly?

Tags: eco-friendly, ecobags, environmentally friendly, recyclable bags, recycling plastic bags

a bunch of free eco-bags

Got a pleasant surprise when I saw a man distributing free recyclable bags outside the grocery store. Saturday is “no plastic bag” day so we have to bring our own bags. Woohoo, how cool is that? Always love a freebie. Fact is you can never own too many eco-bags. I like to leave a few here and there – like in my car, by the front door, a small one in my handbag – just in case I forget to bring them along.

no more forgetting!

Woo-hoo, I’ve finally got the hang of bringing my recyclable bags with me when I go groceries. I may have mentioned this before. Many stores now have a no-plastic bag day when you have to bring your own eco-bag or suffer the consequences or pay for your plastic bags.

Before this campaign was implemented, I used to forget and I would tell myself, never mind, I’ll remember next time. And then forget again. Now there’s no more excuses for not bringing my bags along. In fact, I have them in the trunk of my car. There’s no way I would pay for my plastic bags !

re-gifting is not a bad thing

I’m not sure why some people feel so bad about regifting. I absolutely support the idea. I mean, if you get a gift you can’t use, what’s wrong with passing it along to someone who might have a better use for it? Provided the gift isn’t used, of course.

Considering the state of the economy and how tight budgets are the rule rather than the exception these days, I think people should understand it’s a means of debt consolidation also. Nothing wrong with that.

In fact, it makes perfect sense too especially since we’re talking about going green and finding ways to save the environment. Why throw a perfectly good thing away or just leave it to rot?

Recently I got a coffee maker from a friend as a thank-you gift. She’s so sweet and frankly I love the coffee maker. It’s just that I hardly ever make coffee. I prefer instant, lazy bones that I am.

So I re-wrapped the coffee maker and gave it to another friend for Christmas. Coffee freak that she is, she was thrilled at my thoughtfulness. See, it’s okay as long as the article hasn’t been used. With good friends, even if the article has been lightly used, it’s still okay.

natural baby products all in one place

A cousin of mine has just had a new baby and when I visited them, I notice they’ve set up a themed baby room with lovely coordinated crib bedding. How lucky some babies are these days!

Back when my kids were babies, we did manage to get a few coordinated items but there certainly weren’t the choices available now. I mean, look at this, everything’s coordinated right down to the lampshade. How cool is that!

If you go to Baby Earth, you’ll find that a large selection of their products are made from natural products, and therefore safe for baby as well as the environment. Ah, now we’re talkin’!

Although my kids aren’t babies any more, I still had a great time browsing Baby Earth’s online store. There’s so many cute things I wish had been available to us when we needed them.

shopping with eco-bags

The other day, I tried to play my small part in being eco-friendly. So when I went grocery shopping, I brought along these few recyclable bags so I wouldn’t have to use the plastic ones that the store gives out.

The thing with eco-bags are that they are quite a bit bigger than your regular plastic bag. So they can hold a lot more stuff. Yes, and that’s exactly what I did. I tried to cram all of my shopping into those 3 or 4 eco-bags that I’d brought.

Came time to lift them from the shopping cart into my car boot, I swore even if I’d swallowed a handful horse supplements, I couldn’t have lifted those bags up. You’ll be surprised how heavy a few bottles of milk and drinks can be!!

Whoa!! I honestly couldn’t have gotten all my groceries into the car if my son weren’t with me that day. So much for trying to do my part for the environment!