:: Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change - Week 2 Update ::

Photo from Mylot Photos

It has been a great week of attacking my SMART goal of using only reusable bags at places such as the grocery store, Wal-Mart or Target. This past week, I made trips to Wal-Mart on four different occasions. Each time I went, I purchased at a minimum two reusable bags so that I would have a plethora of them, which will come in especially handy when it comes to trips to the grocery store. I am up to 6-8 black reusable bags similar to the one shown in the photo to the right.

I did not use ONE plastic bag this past week. It is so refreshing to not have plastic bags cluttering the drawers in the kitchen.

Not that I am far into this goal, but two challenges I have run into is remembering to grab the bags out of the truck before heading into the store and then remembering to put them back into the truck after I have put the groceries away. My solutions for these two problems was

• Go back to the truck to get them before going into the store (if I remember before entering the store).
• Purchasing more bags when I've forgotten to bring some in (I can see needing a bunch of bags anyway).

As far as making sure they get put back into the truck, I'm learning to put them in a visible spot in the kitchen so that as I'm running out the door for another adventure, I can grab them.

Each time I have gone into Wal-Mart, I have used the self-check. This makes it less of a hassle for me. Instead of dealing with the check-out person, I can pack my own bag(s). I'm not even sure what the protocol is for Wal-Mart employess. Are they allowed to pack items into someone's reusable bags or are they required to place items in plastic bags. This is something I will have to look into during the next week or so.

They say it takes at least three weeks to get into a habit. Hopefully as this goes on, it becomes second nature to just grab the bags out of the truck before heading into the store.