Plastic Bags; I owe me.

Easy punishment.

Eco-Snobbery? I'm against it.
Saving money? I'm for it.
If saving a couple of bucks in-turn helps the resources on the planet maintain a little longer... sounds great.

The plastic bag problem.
I use a two-week menu (this is something I will cover in the future), and get fresh fruit or veggies twice a week. On my main trip (every other week), I can have as many as 10 plastic bags... what am I going to do with them?
Put dirty diapers in them? Donate them to the local parks for dog doo? Play 'The Suffacator'?
No.
I'm going to punish my wallet for forgetting my reusable shopping bags (RSB).

I have a great idea.
Every time I forget to take my reusable bags with me to the grocery store, I owe my jar $1 per bag. Seems fair. I don't need a potential 20+ plastic bags per month. Right now I have bags stuffed with bags. My sister even sent me bags as padding for the gifts at X-mas. Maybe I've used them up, but bag-mating goes on in the dark under the sink. That would explain the noises... and the never ending supply of crinkly bags. I could reuse them... I could take them back to the store, and they can recycle them into a bench, but meh. I'd rather not have them in the first place.

All the RSB's I need.
I have three (maybe a fourth someplace) reusable shopping bags; small, medium and large enough. I didn't buy them, and don't really care what is on them. The small one is from Marie Calendar's; it just happens to be the perfect size for pie... or as I use it for bananas. The medium size bag is from Target. It has a tree and a bunch of little targets... joy! The larger bag was a give-away at some lectures I was attending. It proudly boasts the company name on the side.

Stores sell these RSB's for about $1 a piece. They are even available online, customized! for $20+. That's what I could do I guess. Get one that says something clever, to notify my fellow grocery shoppers that I'm not a hippie and don't care about the Earth. (Tongue-in-cheek phrases tend to confuse the masses)

I only need three, it may not seem like very many but I have checked over the last few month and everything fits that I get during my main shopping ventures. Since, I decided to do this little experiment, I have been checking once I returned home with my many plastic bags. I would unpack my items directly into my RSBs.
This next bit of news is one that I divulge with slight trepidation. I am a vegetarian, and have been for quite some time. This makes shopping fairly easy for me. Basically I have to visit two aisles when I go to a grocery store: The Produce section/aisle, and wherever the Hell they keep the flour. I'm not going to get into an argument over the organic vs not; or GMO food vs Actual food; or an omnivorous diet vs plant based diet.

I simply divulge my dietary preference so you, the reader, can understand why you may need more RSB than me. I very rarely need to get cans or jars of preservative enriched food. The packaging adds unneeded weight, and quite frankly might tear the handle striaght-off my freebies.

Conclusion
This is something easy to do, easy to remember and hard to deny. The evidence will be with the plastic bags living under the kitchen sink with the dish washer detergent. Oh sure, I could throw them away and keep my dollar in my wallet, but I hate to lie to myself. Even if I don't earn/get punished my dollar, I will have made a little difference.

Sometimes it feels good to feel good.