Hasta La Ideas

Disclaimer: I do in fact own one of those reusable shopping totes, no matter how often I forget to actually bring it with me to the market…

Every once in awhile I’ll stop into the natural foods market in my neighborhood. Two things always happen on these trips, without fail. First thing- I end up leaving with odd items like a box of instant oatmeal with some strange man’s head printed on the box, or a self-tie bag of some grain I told myself I’d try from the bulk section (because isn’t that what you’re supposed to do in “natural food” stores?) Second thing- the man at the register scowls as he hands me my bag of random, possibly unnecessary groceries. My PAPER bag. Whoops.

The first time this happened (the scowl, not the random grocery-buying), I was taken aback. I just bought $10 almond butter, the guy could at least crack a smile. However, the next time I went, I happened to be carrying a canvas gym tote, and mentioned to the man (same one) that I could just carry my groceries in it. Him? Same scowl on my way out. Where was the nod, the one that says “Ah! You’re doing your part!”? Did he somehow know my bag wasn’t organic? Hmph. Off I went.

There’s no real moral to this story, but there’s probably some truth to the fact that you’re more likely to carry a canvas tote (or remember one, in my case) that you actually like. If it happens to be CUTE, even better! The cute (clean up the earth) bags are crafted from organic cotton and embellished with Swarovski crystals. Part of the proceeds from cute bags go to groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council and Global Green USA. So the next time the Mean Organic Grocer Dude/Chick scowls, at least you can know you’re way more CUTE than he or she is anyway. But please, do it for the Earth! Buy your cute bags here!