Sound familiar?

1.  "I'm so bad about grabbing my canvas tote bags and remembering to bring them into the store."

2.  "Oh, I reuse the plastic bags at home all the time."

3.  "I always return my plastic bags to the store to recycle them."

Do any of these sound familiar?  All have come from my mouth at one time or another.    Number two is my personal favorite and is the reason for this particular blog.  I had an epiphany and wanted to share it.  This illustrates how part of my brain sometimes gets 'stuck' in a certain pattern of doing things.

Short story:  After several years of focusing on the 'Reduce, Reuse' part of the three R's, I found myself in a Target Store without my reusable bags.  I heard myself say, "I can't believe it.  I don't have my canvas tote bags."   Was thinking, 'you don't understand, I'm the recycling queen, I never forget my refashioned t-shirt bags or my chicken feed totes."  All the while, I am frantically digging in my purse for one of the pocket nylon bags I carry for just such an occasion.  "Darn it!"  I changed purses and didn't transfer them. The cashier did what a cashier must and put my purchases in the white plastic bags decorated with the highly recognizable red bulls-eye trademark.  The bags stared up at me accusing and whispering, 'how could you?"

Feeling that my 'recycling maven' crown had slipped a notch, I made my way to the door. As I approached the exit doors, I saw a sign above a large bin that read: USED BAGS HERE!  How many times have I seen these repositories?  Once, twelve, one hundred?  I pay little attention to them anymore.  Can you see where this is going?

Hel-lo! Kimberly!  It's a cornucopia of used plastic bags, right there for the taking!  No questions, asked.  Why didn't I just go to the "used bag bin" when I realized I'd entered the store without my canvas bags, grab a dozen or however many I think I needed and then hand these same used bags to the cashier when I came through the check out?  Because I was stuck in that proverbial box, thinking only of putting IN the box, not taking bags OUT.

Since this "light bulb, a-ha moment," I have had the good fortune of remembering to dip into the 'used plastic bag bin' on a number of occasions.  When I am completely out of plastic bags for use in my home (yes, I too, enjoy using them to line some of my smaller waste cans) I smile real big as I reach into that bin and pull out as many as I can carry.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.