Free Bag from Target

You can get a free reusable bag from Target here.

Real post coming tomorrow and I'll need your input!

Fabkins

School is about to start here and we have been gearing up and getting all of our supplies ready. It occurred to me as I was making my lists for school shopping that I may have to start buying paper napkins again to use in lunch boxes for the kids. I don't have enough of a supply of cloth built up yet at home to let them take those. Plus, all of our home ones would be rather large for a lunch box.

Luckily, I found Fabkins! These are the most adorable cloth napkins in just the right size for a child's lunch box! I was so excited about these that I let my kids pick out which they wanted and went to order right away. Unfortunately, the ones Sister chose were out of stock. I emailed the company to find out when they'd be in and I got an almost immediate response from co-founder Paige Rodgers. She explained that the ones we wanted were out of stock until October. Sister picked out her second favorite and we had an email saying they were shipped in less than 24 hours. How's that for customer service? I'm beyond impressed.

I'll let you know how they work out when we start using them. For now, I'm just glad that I don't have to buy paper napkins again!

Paper Towels and Me

It's time for a confession. I suspect that there will be a lot of those as we take this journey together. I have an abiding love of paper towels. It's one of those things that I struggle with on the green journey.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a "roll a week" girl or anything. We don't use them for drying our hands or for spills, usually. So, what in the world is it that makes me hold on so tightly to them?

Almost every job they do around the house can be replaced with something better for the environment and more economical yet I still have them sitting on my counter....just. in. case.

The one job that kept me stocking my supply of paper towels was cleaning mirrors and glass around the house. Nothing else worked to get the streaks off and I hate streaks with a Windex blue passion. While I was in Heaven Target last week, I picked up this product by Method. I was skeptical but I trust Method so I figured I'd at least give it a shot.

I cracked open my microfiber cloth on mirror/window cleaning day and it really didn't look like I thought it would. From the look of the box, I expected it to be more like a sponge. Instead, it's a rather unassuming little cloth that's shiny on one side. I was sure it wouldn't work after taking a look at it. I assumed it would just smear the liquid cleaner around on the glass like a pair of pantyhose.

I was wrong. This little thing is awesome! I used it for my mirrors and the french doors in our living room. The same doors that my kids insist on using as licking/looking/hand wiping glass. They were clean an streak free. I even used it to shine my faucets in the bathrooms after I cleaned the mirrors. These are things I'd have used paper towels for before that day. Also, I have to use less cleaner with the cloth. It's reusable and washable. In a word, it's awesome.

All that to say that I'm trying to kick the paper towel habit. I am. I don't think I'll ever be without paper towels in my house but I can tell you that our uses for them have diminished and we are finding other options for most jobs.

What about you? Paper towel addict or paper towel free? Have you tried other things to take the place of them?

Bag it Up!

One of the easiest things I've done in the process of going green is switching to reusable bags for my grocery shopping. Several months back, the commissary (grocery store for military folks) started offering the reusable bags for less than $1 each. I had been looking around at some cute ones online that were way more expensive but had been hesitant to pay close to $10 each for them since I'd likely need several to fit all of my groceries. When I saw the ones in the commissary, I snatched them up, deciding that price was more important than beauty. After all, they are holding things like raw chicken and string cheese, not competing in a beauty pageant.

I decided to keep the bags in my car to be sure to have them on each shopping trip. I had such good intentions. You know what they say about good intentions, right? Inevitably, I would get into the grocery store and halfway through my shopping I'd realize that my bags were still safely locked in the back of my car.

You don't actually think I'd leave my cart full of food there and go back for them do you?

Good, because I didn't. At least not for the first four trips or so. I'd chalk it up to a mistake and promise myself next time I'd remember.

Finally one day, I got serious. I have been taking my bags on every trip since. Recently, at Trader Joe's, I forgot to bring them in and I actually parked my cart near the front and ran out to get them. It's become more important to me as I realize just how many plastic bags our family used to go through in a week.

From the grocery store alone, I'd have an average of 10 plastic bags per trip. Sure, I'd save them to use for something around the house but even so, they'd get one more use at the most before sitting in a landfill somewhere.

Then, there's my trips to Target. Oh, Target. How do I love thee? Let me count the bags. I'm not yet as disciplined at Target but I have taken my reusable bags into Target a couple of times with me recently and the cashier hasn't batted an eye packing them with my purchases.

Sure, not loading landfills and oceans with the plastic bags is good enough reason to use reusable bags but I have a better (albeit more selfish) reason that can motivate me on the laziest of days. When I walk out of the grocery store with my cute kind of ugly green bags, I feel good about it. I feel like I'm actually helping and doing my part. As a matter of fact, I can't think of a good reason not to use them. Can you?

Another reason I love reusable bags? Convenience. They have a handle that fits easily on my shoulder. It's so nice to have free hands to open doors for myself and hold my kids' hands as we cross the parking lot. They also hold a lot more stuff so there's less bulk to carry into the house when I'm unloading the car.

My next step is to get a few mesh bags to put my fresh fruits and vegetables in so that I can stop using those annoying plastic bags that always rip right as my cucumbers nestle into the bottom.

Do you use reusable bags yet? Have you gotten the mesh produce bags? If so, share what kinds of bags you use and how you like them.

Here is an article with 10 good reasons to use reusable bags rather than plastic.