Join Early Retirement Today
View Poll Results: Do you usually use your own bags at the grocery store?
Yes 23 33.82%
No 45 66.18%
Voters: 68. You may not vote on this poll

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-02-2007, 10:49 AM   #21
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 160
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

We just recently retired the bags made from old Guatemalan feed sacks that had served us for more than a dozen years, and replaced them with new bags. I couldn't even begin to think of the thousands of plastic bags those old feed sack bags saved. So many that they just plain wore out.

When peak oil comes and passes, some day in the future, if man is still around, archaelogists will marvel that we used such a precious resource as petroleum to make "disposable" products.

When they try to give me a 5 cent credit per bag in the stores, I'm offended, as though they think I have to be bribed to do the right thing. But I know many do need that incentive. A friend has talked to her mother for years about taking her own bags, with little success. Now that her mother's local grocery store is offering a 5 cent credit, the mom is now a "born again" take her own bag person.

such a small thing, but multiplied by billions upon billions of plastic bags, it's something that makes a big difference. Not just for the petroleum used to make the darned things, but for the litter they make everywhere. Here in the desert, we call all those plastic bags caught on cactus and mesquite thorns, "desert roses" and not in a complimentary way.

LooseChickens
loosechickens is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-02-2007, 11:04 AM   #22
Full time employment: Posting here.
Sandy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 854
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

We use the store's plastic.

We use them for lunch bags, to pick up after the dog, as a liner for smaller gargbage cans, and we take back the remainder to the store where they have a bin to recycle them.
__________________
I would not have anyone adopt my mode of living...but I would have each one be very careful to find out and pursue his own way, and not his father's or his mother's or his neighbor's instead. Thoreau, Walden
Sandy is offline   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-02-2007, 11:12 AM   #23
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 207
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

Quote:
Originally Posted by eridanus
Also interesting that this isn't true, considering that plastic bags require a lot of oil to produce, which is part and parcel of the military budget, which is paid for out of income taxes, and makes us beholden to fanatics in the middle east.

But I bet you have a yellow sticker on your car!!
Guess you got me there. All this time I thought the stores had to buy them to "give" them away. So the feds give them to the stores because our taxes paid for them? My bad.

And my whole car is yellow, by the way... for whatever that counts for.
__________________
Can eat with either hand.
Joss is offline   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-02-2007, 12:08 PM   #24
Dryer sheet aficionado
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 47
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

I keep having to educate new baggers not to put
the plastic bags *inside* my canvas bags. :
Ibid is offline   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-02-2007, 03:14 PM   #25
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 2,049
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joss
Guess you got me there. All this time I thought the stores had to buy them to "give" them away. So the feds give them to the stores because our taxes paid for them? My bad.
It's called an externality.
eridanus is offline   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-02-2007, 03:25 PM   #26
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Outtahere's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,677
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

I voted no but only because like others I forget my cloth bags. I do recycle the ones I get, they don't go in the trash.
__________________

Dogs aren't our whole lives, but they make our lives whole. - Roger Caras
Outtahere is offline   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-02-2007, 08:59 PM   #27
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Laurel, MD
Posts: 8,309
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

Quote:
Originally Posted by justin
I don't, but I know Aldi discount stores charge 5 cents or so per bag if you use their bags.
Aldi is the best!! The other corny thing they do is make you pay .25 deposit to use thier carts. They have some new stores here in suburban DC and better selection of products. Im gonna start going there weekly.

Food Lion split thier stores in the area into high line Bloom and low line Bottom Dollar.....Bottom Dollar makes you pay for bags but provides free cardboard boxes, like Sam's Club, so it reduces thier cost to have the stuff hauled away.

I try to keep a bunch of clean used bags in the trunk when I shop at those stores, but also use them all over the house to line waste baskets and such
__________________
...with no reasonable expectation for ER, I'm just here auditing the AP class.Retired 8/1/15.
jazz4cash is online now   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-03-2007, 09:14 AM   #28
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
cube_rat's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,466
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nords
Spouse has heard that a lot of Bay Area stores charge for bags. Is this a Bay Area or a California phenomenon?
It's a San Francisco thing.

The plastic bags makes great garbage liners for our small waste baskets. Sure the grocery plastic bags aren't pretty like the white hefty bags, but they're free!
__________________
fuzzy? cute?
cube_rat is offline   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-03-2007, 09:46 AM   #29
Recycles dryer sheets
pfpelican's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 229
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

My DW keeps an insulated bag in the car trunk for transferring frozen stuff from store bags.
Works especially well if she is store-hopping, as is her wont.

__________________
Old Guys Rule
pfpelican is offline   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-03-2007, 04:38 PM   #30
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
ladelfina's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 2,713
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

Here they charge .05 euro/bag at supermarkets (most other stores free). I save all the free ones and the few we had to pay for when making an unexpected pit stop at the market, and still don't know what to do with them all; they're coming out my ears. They also sell insulated bags near the freezer section (it gets hot here).

In the States I used to take them back to be recycled at the supermarket. Here I think: "I never want to pay for another bag".. and I haven't in at least a year.

I want to get some sturdy flat-bottomed canvas ones, though, so the stuff doesn't slide all around.

No cash-back recycling like in Estonia (more's the pity). That's a GREAT way to keep bottles off the sidewalks and roadsides. Most places around us have recycling dumpsters but few people will walk the extra ten yards or bother separating their trash (no house-to-house trash pickup). We have quite a large amount of space devoted to our FOUR trash containers.

I'm glad SF is banning them: it's nasty to see them floating around the countryside and in the trees.. they end up in the water and animals choke on them, etc.

Ikea has a nice cabinet-door-mount trash container that is designed to take plastic shopping bags.
ladelfina is offline   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-04-2007, 03:17 AM   #31
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Near Atlantic Ocean
Posts: 184
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

Al-

Can you please add an additional response choice:

What is a grocery store?

Have a great day!

Jane
__________________
Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most!
Jane_Doe is offline   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-04-2007, 03:56 AM   #32
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
audreyh1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 38,008
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

Yes, we've been doing this for well over a decade!

We had some nice heavy cloth bags that lasted for years. I think I finally washed them after 10 years, and they looked brand new! When our car was broken into, these were grabbed - huh?

So we bought some of those green recycled plastic grocery bags from Whole Foods and those are good.

It's great having these bags - we avoid a lot of plastic. And you can pack so much more per bag too. They are really strong.

But we still usually have to explain at checkout that yes, we DO want the groceries packed in these bags! (Unless we're at Whole Foods Market, of course - where we get a 5 cent per bad discount and they always thank us.).

I remember in Al Gore being asked "Paper or Plastic" and answering "no idea". I was yelling at the TV - "Bring your own bags!!!".

Audrey

P.S. We don't forget our bags because they always go back in the car after we unload groceries.
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
audreyh1 is online now   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-04-2007, 06:05 AM   #33
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 17,203
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

Very interesting topic.... I voted NO because I don't anymore...

But, when I was in London I did. Some places charged you for bags... or at least the bigger ones with handles that you would want since you were walking....

I have a soft sided 'briefcase' that expanded... I could fit a good amount of stuff in it (that is good for the UK where you don't buy a lot at any one time)... I could throw it over my shoulder and walk home without getting sore arms...

Yes, it would be a good thing to bring your own... maybe I will start to do it again... but probably won't...
Texas Proud is offline   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-04-2007, 06:40 AM   #34
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: nyc
Posts: 100
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

it depends. I use a bag (usually Whole Foods bag) to carry my books, food, etc, to work every day. So if I stop somewhere & just buy a few things, I put everything in the bag I'm already carrying.

We also use our bags for garbage bags, and for kitty litter clean-up, so I'd never entirely stop getting them.

However, we do have quite a stockpile right now, so I'm looking into buying canvas bags to use, until we have less plastic.

this site: http://www.reusablebags.com/store/sh...FR1BggodHVhKaw

looks like a good possibility to buy from.
Celany is offline   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-04-2007, 08:54 AM   #35
Gone but not forgotten
Khan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 6,924
Send a message via AIM to Khan
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

Local grocery store (Kroger) sells canvas bags with their logo.
__________________
"Knowin' no one nowhere's gonna miss us when we're gone..."
Khan is offline   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-04-2007, 02:57 PM   #36
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 17,203
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

Almost forgot about those little old ladies in NY that have that wheeled basket they drag around behind them... fits a LOT of stuff from the store..
Texas Proud is offline   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-04-2007, 03:44 PM   #37
Dryer sheet wannabe
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 24
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

I bought 4 canvas bags with handles more than 10 years ago. My husband packs the groceries (which bemuses some of the baggers) and we find that, since the bags have handles, that it's easier to transport the groceries from the car to the house. Also, the bags never tear and if they get wet, nothing falls out of them.

We've had many favorable remarks over the years from the cashiers and the baggers.

Sheboyganite
__________________
I would live all my life in nonchalance and insouciance...Where it not for making a living, which is rather a nouciance. - Odgen Nash
sheboyganite is offline   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-04-2007, 04:15 PM   #38
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 4,005
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Texas Proud
Almost forgot about those little old ladies in NY that have that wheeled basket they drag around behind them... fits a LOT of stuff from the store..
Umm, hate to break the news, but that is the entire extent of their wordly possessions. They are homeless!
justin is offline   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-04-2007, 09:42 PM   #39
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 17,203
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

Quote:
Originally Posted by justin
Umm, hate to break the news, but that is the entire extent of their wordly possessions. They are homeless!
No no... I saw a number of them at the grocery store... and since it was the upper west side... the homeless are not in that store...

But, you are right that at other places... that is their whole life's possessions..
Texas Proud is offline   Reply With Quote
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?
Old 05-04-2007, 09:54 PM   #40
Gone but not forgotten
Khan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 6,924
Send a message via AIM to Khan
Re: Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Texas Proud
Almost forgot about those little old ladies in NY that have that wheeled basket they drag around behind them... fits a LOT of stuff from the store..
A lot of them at the local farmer's market, a block or two from the over 55 housing, a whole parade of little old ladies with pullcarts.
__________________
"Knowin' no one nowhere's gonna miss us when we're gone..."
Khan is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Anyone try Amazon.com Grocery? ERD50 FIRE and Money 16 05-16-2007 07:39 AM
Wine at the Dollar Store TromboneAl Other topics 15 07-26-2006 08:46 AM
Slicing Your Grocery Bill Tommy_Dolitte Young Dreamers 1 09-09-2004 08:06 AM
Is personal residence a store of value? oldcrowcall FIRE and Money 12 06-13-2004 04:50 PM
The Grocery Game bongo2 FIRE and Money 3 11-28-2003 06:37 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:23 PM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.