I Am Trying to Make the Switch to Canvas Shopping Bags

Part of this is about helping the environment. But, a larger part of it relates to my New Year's resolution to declutter. Plastic shopping bags take up a surprisingly large amount of space, even with us attempting to reuse them as liners for our various garbage cans. I think reducing the amount of those being brought into the house will go a long way.

There's also a small financial incentive involved. I know at least one of our local stores gives you 3 cents off your purchase every time you bring your own bag and I'm sure, if I did the research, I'll find others that offer something similar. I know it's not a significant amount of money, but it's something.

The biggest challenge, of course, is remembering to take the bags with me when I do go to the store. I have plenty of them. In fact, I think there's about four in the trunk of my car, but they don't do me much good if I leave them behind.

I'm trying to help this situation by keeping a canvas bag in my car on the passenger seat. It won't help me much when my wife is sitting there. However, I do the majority of my grocery shopping early in the morning, when I'm by myself, so I'm hoping having a bag where I can see it will help me remember to grab it. So far at least, that strategy seems to be working. It's just a matter of whether or not I can sustain that over the long term.