Category: Journal Entries

Sorry I have been gone so long folks, but life has been crazy and I have been having serious problems with my website, not the least of which being that my emailer has been down over a year. But everything is back up and running so you will be getting fresh new posts from me soon. Be healthy, stay small.

Finally we have made the big step toward an Eco-friendly world right here in New York by banning plastic disposable shopping bags. This is long overdue. Hopefully this is just the first in many changes toward a better earth, to come.

This wonderful culture change goes hand in hand with a minimal existence. Less waste, less clutter, re-using, retaining only that which adds value. In the end “minimal” and “environmentally friendly” are the same thing.

But with that being said, I see as I go shopping that there are many people that still have a difficult time adjusting to this bag-less change.

I am at the self checkout at the local market and I see most people PAYING for a paper bag to load their groceries in. When I see this I just lower my head swinging it back and forth. This is just replacing one waste for another, and unfortunately stores are forced to supply these paper bags to make up for negligence and ignorance.

C’mon people, it’s time to build the habit of bringing your own reusable bags. Most grocery stores sell ones right there at the registers; pretty ones. These ones are fine and dandy, and very sturdy. Buuuuuut they are a bit bulky for my taste. I prefer something that I can store in an easy to “grab and go” place; something minimal (of course). It is for this reason that I use Timomo reusable grocery bags, or “pocket bags” as I like to call them. When not in use they fold up into a pouch the size of your palm and can be stored literally in your back pocket. These bags, and others like them can be found online, and at most variety retail stores (Target, Wal-Mart n such).

But whatever we prefer, go with it. This is hardly the difficult part of this whole change. The difficult part is building the habit of USING the bag.

For this reason, I wish to bestow some tips/tricks that will make establishing these habits smoother:

1. Keep the shopping bag/s stored in the vehicle. It makes no sense to keep them in the home, as likelihood is we’ll only forget to grab them when it’s time to go out an shop. This brings me to tip number ….
2. After we return home with our shopping goods (bagged of course), and have unloaded the bag/s, make a point to fold up the bag/s and put them with our “away supplies”. Ya know, the pile of stuff we keep close to the front door for when we leave the home. Stuff like our keys, coat, and hat. This way, the next time we leave the home we will have the bag/s to stash back in the vehicle. Either that, or just bring the bag/s back to the vehicle right away.
3. In the event we DO forget to bring our bag/s in the market, and we find ourselves at the register when we realize this, please resist the temptation to buy a bag there (paper or otherwise) for the sake of time and saving a little bit of embarrassment. This actually hinders the process of building the good habit of remembering to bring the bag/s in next time…… and actually begins a NEW habit of just buying one every time. It takes two minutes to push our merch to the side, go to our vehicle, and get the shopping bag/s. PLUS, the time delay and embarrassment serve as an excellent reminder to get the bag/s next time; nothing sticks to the memory like a time lagging embarrassing moment. If we gotta get back on line and wait again at the checkout, so be it. The more of a hassle it is, the less likely we will make that mistake again.

No one said establishing good habits was easy, but as long as we establish a pattern, stick to it, and never let ourselves take the easy path,  we will get into the rhythm in no time.

This Friday I got so caught up in my pattern, my personal obligations, that I missed an opportunity to engage in some needed and deserved quality connection time with my daughter. It took some smart words from my daughter to snap me back to reality, to my true values to realize what I was missing.

“It is our relationships that make us great. Not our money or even image.”

Or as my daughter put it:

“I thought you were a Minimalist daddy. If you were, your know that time with me is more important than anything else you got going on your phone.” ……. she’s 7 …….. but also 100% correct.