Leave Bag and Baggage

This morning I'll depart for my annual girl's weekend getaway with my dear old friend(not old in age, old in time spent together)Erica, Melanie (former owner of the bunk-y-beds), and several other friends. We'll spend the day shopping around here and then in Freeport before settling into a modest pub crawl in the Old Port and then crashing in hotel rooms, slumber party style. It is always quite a fun filled few days with tons of laughing, a bit of shopping, and a break away from all of our mommy responsibilities.

I felt it apropos to purge my stash of shopping bags for this occasion. I sorted through the reusable shopping bags, the paper handled bags, the embarrassing amount of plastic grocery bags, and the fancy striped Victoria's Secret bags with tissue enclosed. All of these sacks have been living in the bottom of my coat closet for an extended time. In a lame effort to be green, perhaps out of guilt, I stow the bags in hopes of an occasion to reuse them. Sadly, my accrual of bags outpaces my reuse and so I have a mounting problem.

My sorting resulted in a large amount of bags heading to the blue bin for next week's recycling day. I saved a manageable amount of grocery bags and placed them in the dispenser sleeve that hangs in the mud room. Let's face it, we all need a plastic bag for something once in a while.

The unintended product of my pre-shopping day purge was a renewed pledge to use those reusable bags that have been marketed so well. Let's face it, taking along a bag to the store - especially for those quick trips for a few things - requires extra forethought and effort. But, after again reading online about the toll all of those plastic bags have on our environment I have a renewed commitment to get off the single use bag train. I chuckled as I watched this mocumentary about the journey of a plastic bag. The producers left out the ever present leg of the journey - the long stop in the closet of folks who want to be green but haven't quite broken the habit. Come on faithful followers, how many of you have a large stash of bags hiding in your closet?

As I shove off for my 24 hours of foot loose and fancy free fun, I'll have a few reusable bags in hand. My hope is to return without a new supply of single use bags and refreshed and to be renewed by some time with girlfriends.