Reusable bags: I'm trying to be good!

I did it again. I forgot to use my reusable shopping bag.

I have two, and technically I have a lot of other bags I can use for shopping that aren't necessarily made of canvas or another eco-friendly material. One was made specifically for grocery shopping.

For some reason, however, I have only used them once or twice. I either forget to bring them or forget to use them. Now I have a full drawer of plastic bags, which I need to recycle (please see the last link below to find places to recycle your plastic bags).

Am I the only one who can't seem to use those bags? At least for me, I've found it's a hard habit to get into. I've just used plastic bags for years. I need to get used to bringing the bags on shopping trips and into the stores, then putting them back in the car when all the groceries are put away.

At first, I wanted to wait so I could buy a blank one and decorate it, but I never got enough time to do that and it just set us back in the cool trend.

The first time I went to Trader Joe's, I didn't have a canvas bag. As we stood in the check-out line, I looked at those around us and it seemed everyone had a reusable bag, whether they had one of the special Trader Joe's bags or another type. I felt like an eco-loser for sure.

I was determined to use it for a Safeway trip last week. My boyfriend and I put it in the car before we left for that purpose. Once we reached the self check-out, I realized we didn't bring the bags with us. I ran out to the car and got the bags, but by that time, my boyfriend had already bagged our groceries in plastic because there was a line waiting. I wanted to take the groceries out and put them in my bag, but it didn't happen for some reason.

Today I planned on writing this hub with my reusable bags in mind. I went to Safeway after that and didn't realize until I got to the checkout that I didn't have the bags.

I wish that I could remember more easily. It's so hard to break a lifelong habit. Maybe the incentives of winning stuff for remembering your reusable bags will help motivate me, because the environment sure isn't...