LaurenandLloyd.com

where our wasted time becomes your wasted time

bags

Lesson Learned

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Hope the needy need a bow tie.

I like to throw stuff out and give things away. Back in March (on the 9th, to be exact), I loaded up this stuff to take to Goodwill. It was going to be a post, but I used something else.

Jump to today: We were going to Omaha for ukulele night, and decided to drop off his tuxedo at the dry cleaners in Lincoln so it’ll be clean for next Sunday’s concert. He got the coat, shirt and pants ready to go and asked, “Where’s my other stuff?” “What other stuff?” I replied. “The stuff in the suit bag.” “Isn’t that the suit bag on the floor in your closet?” “No, that’s the extra one.”

(See, unknown to me on March 9th was that the black thing in the bag by the door is not the extra suit bag that I bought with a ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ deal, but the actual bag that still contained Lloyd’s cummerbund, bow tie, cufflinks and button studs for his tuxedo.)

D’oh!! What followed next was a lot of apologizing on my part and inappropriate laughter, also on my part. Sure I felt bad, but what a great topic for a post, right?

We went to Goodwill and they actually still had the bag, the cummerbund and the bow tie, but no links or studs. (We bought some new ones at a tux store.) Sorry, Lloyd. I’ll try not to do it again.

That would be my look of chagrin.

Envirosax vs. Chicobags

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All bundled up.

I’ll admit that I’ve become a little obsessed about reusable grocery bags, but I heard the story about the place in the Pacific Ocean twice the size of Texas that has all that plastic floating around and it creeped me out. (One million pieces of trash per square mile.) I already told you about the Envirosax, which I love, but I went ahead and bought some Chico bags to compare the two styles. Hopefully someone out there in intraweb-land may find this useful.

Envirosax have a lot going for them – they’re cute, have awesome patterns, they hold quite a lot of stuff, and best of all, the handles will fit over your shoulder. Lloyd and I do a once-a-week grocery trip, and can fit all our purchases in 3 or 4 bags. The down side – it takes me a little bit of time to re-roll them, but I might just be clumsy. I also had something punch a hole in one bag. (I patched it. No need to throw it out.) Here are some diagrams of how it rolls/unrolls.

You unsnap the straps, and it pops open.

It rolled faster than I could take the picture.

The sides are folded in thirds around the handle.

Yep.

Unfold the handle, unfold the bag- viola’!

A bag!

To re-roll, fold the bag in half, fold the handle down, fold the sides in thirds, roll like a little sleeping bag, snap shut. It takes longer to type the directions than it takes to roll it, but you can see how it’s a bit fussy. It’s windbreaker-like material, so it’s a little slippery. However, it’s a very sleek, compact package, and I always keep two in my tiny purse. (I ‘pimped it out’ with some elastic straps so they’d stay put.)

Two bags, a phone, a wallet, a camera, lip stuff, and a pen.

I haven’t taken the Chicobags shopping yet, but they are just the same size as a regular plastic t-shirt bag. The straps can’t fit over your shoulder, but I think the plus for these is the ease of putting it back in the bag. (It goes wicked fast.) To use the bag, just undo -the cinch cord, grab the bag and pull it out.

Open sesame.

It comes out inside-out, so shake it right-side out and the pouch becomes a little pocket inside to hold your keys or whatever. Here are the two together for size comparison:

Does size matter?

And just for kicks, a plastic bag.

Bad plastic bag! Bad!

So, overall, I like them both. The Envirosax will always live in my purse, but when I don’t have a purse, the Chico bag has a handy little clip that could attach to anything. They both pack up equally small. The fabric seems similar. The Envirosax holds more, but the Chicobag is so much easier to put away. They both get an A+ for gadgety-ness in my book!

(I also realize that now I have an over-abundance of reusable bags. Maybe I can give some away for Christmas?)

UPDATE: I recently ordered a Chicobag Vita, and was wondering if they made it out of a different fabric because it was so crinkly.  Looking back on this post, I see that mine used to be crinkly, too.  They soften up after a couple of uses.

Envirosax!

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Nine by six inches, baby!

So this is why we didn’t have groceries – I was waiting for my pretty bags to arrive!

A couple of weeks ago I was watching ‘Living with Ed’ (Ed Bagley Jr.) on HGTV.  He’s a tree-huggin’, energy-savin’, stuff-recyclin’ guy, and it makes his wife nuts.  I love the show.  This episode they were visiting celebrity homes and showing them little things they could do to make a difference.  They were at Cheryl Tiegs’ house and she had reusable grocery bag, but they didn’t show them in detail.  I looked for the on the internet, and found these instead.  In a fit of spending, I bought the whole pack.  You really need to go to envirosax.com to see all the collections.

They combine re-using with gadgety-ness!  On occasion I’ve walked to our local grocery store with a canvas bag, but these are much, much cooler.  They’re five cloth bags that each roll up to the size of a little egg roll, and they each hold as much as two plastic grocery bags.  I can keep one or two in my little purse at all times!  I’m so excited to get some food!  (I’ll run into a problem, though.  I actually do re-use the plastic bags by putting cat litter in them.  I’ll have to sneak some from the giant stash at school.)  I love you, Envirosax!!!

I could buy acres of food and stuff!!!