About a month ago, my mother sent me a PDF about the evils of plastic bags (over 2MB). I had to laugh when I received the file because about two weeks prior to that, I’d already started bringing two reusable cloth bags for our grocery shopping trips, after finally finding where I’d packed them in the last move.

The first time I brought the bags out and handed them to the cashier to use for bagging, H.E. was slightly embarrassed. I don’t blame him. I probably seemed a little cheap or pushy. Not only that, but the bags aren’t exactly in the height of fashion. One of them is a freebie from Target—bright, bright red with white designs on it, which you can fold, zip up, and carry around like a featherweight checkbook. The other, which I’ve had for about as long as I can remember, is a bright, almost neon orange bag with black handles, which you can also fold up into a ball, snug in its attached black pouch, and attach like a key fob onto anything you wish. I keep the first in my purse and the second attached to my purse’s strap, and I carry them around with me whenever we go out.

H.E. assures me that if we’re ever in a bind, the bags have a dual purpose; they’ll help the rescue helicopters spot us more easily. He also jokes that every time I use the bags, I save a whale.

Which is really not far from my ultimate goal. I am still on that saving-the-world kick, and after earning almost $14 for just one bag of plastic bottles and one bag of aluminum cans, I’m not about to stop. I might be just one person, but if I can save $150 and 200 bags a year, that’s pretty darn good. At the very least, it makes up for some of the print books I buy.

Anyway, I’d love to have a third or fourth bag to carry around. Sometimes we buy more than my two bags can carry, and we end up using plastic bags for the rest of the stuff. They don’t go to waste—I use them when I clean out the cat box—but I’d still like to keep from bringing any more of them home; my current stash of plastic bags will last me years of cat box cleaning yet.

So if anyone knows where I can find more of these kinds of bags—specifically reusable cloth bags that fold up discretely—please let me know. I see a lot of reusable shopping bags being sold in stores now, but they all seem so bulky and small. They look like they require a lot of carrying around and like they themselves don’t carry much, which kind of defeats the purpose of having them in the first place.

I mean, I’m a bag lady, but I’m practical too.

Edited to add:
I think I found the perfect bags! This one, and this one.

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