In honor of Earth Day, I wanted to share something I did on vacation recently that was easy and rewarding: I went bagless.
During Spring Break, my mom and I visited Fort Myers, Florida. We knew we'd be doing some shopping (that's a given), but we also knew how quickly we would generate a ton of bags if we weren't careful. So we decided to bring our own cloth bags which easily stuff inside a suitcase. The results were amazing.
Each time we went grocery shopping, we had the bagger put everything in the cloth bags and also convinced them we didn't need our wine in little brown bags (only our 40's of beer.) Then at clothing stores we used our bags again, and also told the salespeople we didn't need our clothes wrapped in tissue paper. Such a waste! (During my funemployment when I worked at a clothing store and women insisted that I wrap their clothes in tissue, I once replied, "Why, so you can immediately throw it away when you get home?" And who says I'm not good at customer service?) I'm guessing we saved 30-40 bags that week. Can you imagine if everyone did the same thing?
Another big problem on vacation is how many plastic water bottles people use. So instead of doing that, we'd fill up a reusable plastic cup (from my in-laws kitchen) and take it on the road with us.
Here are some other simple steps you can take for the environment..
--Wash your clothes on cold
--Turn off lights when you aren't in a room and don't leave water running when you're brushing your teeth, shaving, etc.
-- Always carry a cloth bag with you. Mine is small and wads up in my purse, so then I'm always prepared if I need to run a quick errand. Also, keep 5-6 in your car so you can use them at the grocery store. (Put them next to you so you don't forget.)
--Use rechargeable batteries. These are so easy and last a very long time! I've used the same four AA batteries for about five years.
--Recycle. I'm amazed by how many people don't do this. Once you get in the habit, it will feel like you're throwing away a baby or puppy when you don't recycle.
--Use cloth napkins at home instead of paper ones.
It's so easy to do a little which turns out to be a lot. Happy Earth Day!
Each time we went grocery shopping, we had the bagger put everything in the cloth bags and also convinced them we didn't need our wine in little brown bags (only our 40's of beer.) Then at clothing stores we used our bags again, and also told the salespeople we didn't need our clothes wrapped in tissue paper. Such a waste! (During my funemployment when I worked at a clothing store and women insisted that I wrap their clothes in tissue, I once replied, "Why, so you can immediately throw it away when you get home?" And who says I'm not good at customer service?) I'm guessing we saved 30-40 bags that week. Can you imagine if everyone did the same thing?
Another big problem on vacation is how many plastic water bottles people use. So instead of doing that, we'd fill up a reusable plastic cup (from my in-laws kitchen) and take it on the road with us.
Here are some other simple steps you can take for the environment..
--Wash your clothes on cold
--Turn off lights when you aren't in a room and don't leave water running when you're brushing your teeth, shaving, etc.
-- Always carry a cloth bag with you. Mine is small and wads up in my purse, so then I'm always prepared if I need to run a quick errand. Also, keep 5-6 in your car so you can use them at the grocery store. (Put them next to you so you don't forget.)
--Use rechargeable batteries. These are so easy and last a very long time! I've used the same four AA batteries for about five years.
--Recycle. I'm amazed by how many people don't do this. Once you get in the habit, it will feel like you're throwing away a baby or puppy when you don't recycle.
--Use cloth napkins at home instead of paper ones.
It's so easy to do a little which turns out to be a lot. Happy Earth Day!
Great story and suggestions! Hope you come back soon.
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