Reusable Shopping Bags

Some retailers are starting to provide a monetary incentive to get you to bring your own reusable shopping bags. This is a great way to save the environment and keep all those plastic bags out of the landfill.  Other retailers, however, are actually charging for plastic or paper bag use.

Some states are also considering legislation to ban the use of plastic bags. San Jose, California has banned the use of both paper and plastic in grocery stores.  Citizens of Washington, DC now face a charge of 5 cents per plastic bag, and Ireland imposed a bag tax and now charges 15 cents per bag, providing an incentive for customers to bring their own resuable bags with them. This trend of charging for plastic bags seems to be popping up in countries and cities all over the world, including Hong Kong, and Toronto, and other stores in other parts of Canada. Click here to see what other governments around the world are doing to combat the problem of plastic shopping bags in their landfills. 

Bags typically cost about 99 cents - $1.50 each, and are available at many retailers, particularly grocery stores.  In searching the web, here's a few articles I found regarding SOME stores that offer a discount on your purchase price. This is likely only case in locations where retailers do not charge for the use of plastic. The discount will be taken off of your total and be reflected on your receipt. Occasionally you might have to remind them.  If you don't know if a store has an incentive program, just ask!  I've asked several times, and the typical response is 5 cents per bag.

For example:

Albertson's grocery store offers 5 cents per bag.

Smith's/Kroeger offers 5 cents per bag. (Some locations) It used to offer 10 cents, but some locations have done away with the program completely. 

Macey's grocery store (Utah only) offers 5 cents per bag.

Target offers 5 cents per bag

Ralph's offers 5 cents per bag

CVS has a different program. You must join their ExtraCare rewards program and purchase one of their 99 cent bags. They will give you a Green Bag Tag card that you hook to the bag. Each time you use the bag, they will scan the card. After 4 purchase, you will receive a $1 Extra Buck coupon which is good towards your next purchase.

Click here for an article about what other stores are doing.  Also, if you know of other stores that offer incentives, be sure to comment so that we can all benefit by knowing!

Making Your Own Reusable Grocery Sacks

If you'd like to make your own reusable shopping bag, here's a few links to some free patterns that are available on the web.  Use old bed sheets or tablecloths, or pick up fabric from a thrift store to reduce the cost of making your own sacks.

Wallet-Sized Fold-up Reusable Shopping Bag (pictured above)

Lunchbox Inspiration 2: Fabric Grocery Sacks

Morsbag Free Downloadable Pattern. There's also an animation of how to construct the bag.

Pie and Coffee: How to Make a Canvas Bag Canvas is stronger than cotton fabric, but this blog also shows how they used oil-based ink to print a custom design on the canvas.

All-Free Crafts: How to Sew a Fabric Shopping Bag

Curved Bag within a Bag  This site shows how to make a bag that closes up within it self into a tiny cozy.  This might be great for always having at least one bag in your purse or car, for those quick trips to the store. The bag itself doesn't look very big.  

Sew a Durable, Reusable Grocery Bag (from About.com)

Tutorial- How to Sew a Reversible Grocery Sack in Under an Hour

If You Don't Sew or Prefer Knitting or Crochet:

Reduction Tote Bag  (crochet)

Large Market Bag Crocheted from Plastic Bags

Felted French Market Bag (Knit)

Personalizing a Bag that You Purchased at the Store:

For those of you who don't sew or want to just personalize a pre-made bag

Personalizing with Iron-on Photo Transfer Paper

Sack Lunch Ideas in a Printable Document

Thanks to my bff, google.com, I think I have figured out how to upload a document to blogger and you can print it from your computer. Yay!  Click here for the uploaded  document for the sack lunch ideas from this post. It seemed like an easier format. And, once again, thanks to my awesome friend Jen for creating this document and sharing it with me. Love her.

If it works, comment and let me know! Yay for google. I knew she wouldn't let me down. :)

Free Photobook

My friend, Erika, posted this on her site Celebrating Today.  

Get a free 8.5x11 Hardcover Photo Book (up to $39.99 value) with 20 pages from Picaboo using the code AFFLGB if you are a brand new customer. You do need to pay $8.99 shipping. I've never used Picaboo so I am not sure how user friendly the site is, but $8.99 is a good deal. This offer expires on March 31, 2010.

Mending Holes in Blue Jeans

When you find that perfect pair that fits just right, don't you wear them until they are threadbare & have a hole or two? I have been thinking that I should try patching a few pairs of my favorite jeans, but I don't personally like the iron-on patch look for adults (or older teens).  It's ok for little girls, since there are some really fun decorative patches that can be added to the denim.

However, I found this awesome tutorial on patching holes in denim jeans.  Ragged, holey jeans are sold in high-end department stores, so here's a great way to duplicate the look for next to nothing and repair your favorite jeans in the process. Abercrombie & Fitch sells "destroyed" jeans for $90-100 a pair.  Here's an example from their website. These shorts retail for $50 a pair.

Abercrombie & Fitch Destroyed Denim Shorts

Why not make your own knock-off from the pair you love so much you just don't want to give them up?  If the legs are beyond repair, you can may your own version of "destroyed" shorts, and save yourself $50 in the process.  You're also helping to save the environment and learning/practicing a great skill at the same time.

So, I decided to head to my machine and see if it really was as easy as Suzannah makes it look in her tutorial. It was! Here we go.

To patch your jeans, you will need:

1. A sewing machine

2. A pair of jeans with a hole torn in them, or just starting to wear thin in a few places.

3. Thread.

I used a blue that was close to the color of my denim, but a neutral tan for the bobbin. When the bobbin ran out, I replaced it with the same blue. Either way, you can't tell. If you want the patched holes to show more, and have more of the "destroyed" look, you'll probably want to use white thread.  You could purchase some denim-colored thread if you want it to match exactly. I just used what I had.

4. A piece of soft iron-on interfacing or a scrap piece of denim. 

You can cut your denim scrap from another pair of jeans that is too small or beyond repair.  You could also use an iron-on denim patch, but it won't be as soft, so you probably want to use the interfacing or soft denim if you are patching the crotch area.

Directions for mending blue jeans:

Cut a piece of soft interfacing that is slightly larger than the hole in your jeans. Iron it on to the inside of the jeans. Head to your sewing machine and on the outside of the jeans, start stitching back and forth -- like a zillion times. You can use a tight zig-zag stitch or you can use a straight stitch. Both worked. I kept my hand on the backstitch knob and just went back and forth over and over until the hole was filled in. That's it! It honestly took less than 10 minutes to repair one hole.

For more detailed instructions, click on the Essential Blue Jean Mending Method from Adventures in Dressmaking.  

Example #1-  Holes by back two pockets of my son's shorts:

Before

Ironed-on piece of soft interfacing on the inside of the jeans.

Another view of the ironed-on interfacing

After: Outside of the back of the shorts after they have been repaired (blue bobbin thread)

Another view of the back

Example #2: Hole next to the bottom pocket

Before: Small hole starting next to the pocket

The inside of the pocket showing the taupe bobbin thread and the interfacing

After: the outside of the pocket (with blue thread & taupe bobbin thread)

It was really easy to patch these jeans! Her tutorial will show you some other examples of ones that she has repaired. The hardest part was when the hole overlapped with a belt loop or pocket corner, since the fabric was much more bulky.  Go slowly when you hit sections like this. I broke two needles because I was a speed demon. What can I say?

Seriously, this is an easy project, and I believe that a beginner sewer could do it. You can't really mess it up too much, and even if you do, they were jeans with a hole in them that you were going to throw out. So, now I am off to scavenge through my drawers for more beloved jeans that need a bit of tender loving care. Happy sewing!