I think it is a Southern thing, I wouldn't want to use the Trader Joe's bag at Whole Foods (not that we have either here in the Texas Panhandle), I would be afraid they would tell me I couldn't and then I'd be embarrased.

You just need to get a re-usable bag from Whole Foods and use both, so whether you shop at Trader Joes or Whole Foods everyone will be happy.

And I don't hug my car but I do pat it lovingly from time to time. :-)

laurie you are SO funny. I'm not from the South but I know what you mean about the bag. I have one too and I don't use it when I shop at Whole Foods - it just doesn't feel right (I use a plain cloth bag instead).

It's not a southern thing, but it might be a crazy thing. I would do it too and I'm Canadian.

I just got a non branded bag from Target and now I can use it at any store... I also got a prius and love it!

I too would feel weird walking into another store with another store's bag. I love my car, he even has a name. His name is Beauregard or Beau for short and he is a beautiful blue. I pat his dashboard when he has accelerated quite nicely and has blown several cars off of the line. God, I love V-6's! He gets incredible gas mileage as well. I can't see myself in a hybrid, I like to accelerate and I speed!

Well if the Trader Joe's bag wasnt SO striking, I would use it. Recycling a bag is still recycling, right? I feel the same going to a theme park, have no problem walking into Universal Studios wearing Mickey on my shirt. Yes DH would NEVER do that! You're advertising for the wrong park! How is that different than wearing a NY shirt while in FL??? I'm from FL while he's from NY. HOWEVER, I'm from Miami (which is NOT southern) and he's from a rural part of NY. Maybe its a city vs country thing??

It's not just a southern thing (I'm Canadian, doen't get much more northern than that). Not only will I not use another store's bag while shopping elsewhere, I feel bad when there are bags from another store (oh, say Wal-mart) in my trunk when the bag-boy (from my local grocery store) loads stuff into it. Of course, this doesn't stop me from shopping elsewhere before I hit the grocery store. But, I still feel bad and wonder if I should hide the other store's bags.

Oh, and the only things I say to my car are rude, so I won't repeat them. However, as I still owe money on this thing, I won't be getting a new one anytime soon.

Liza {who obviously has issues and should really cancel that subscription}

I have the very same TJ bag! And, I've used mine at Whole Foods with nary a raised eyebrow :)

The Husband loves to do the grocery shopping. In part because our nearest store (walking distance!!) gives him three cents off of his total for every canvas bag he uses. We have many. Many!!

I have both TJ and WF bags in my trunk - and I forget to take them into the store every time.

I think I would do the same thing. I wouldn't be able to use a bag that had a logo for one store in another store. I would buy one from each store. My husband thinks that sometimes I'm crazy like that. It's nice to see other people think that way too! :)

First of all, I've lived in the south all my life, and I understand completely. Let me tell you a story with two points to make. Or maybe three. I bought an HEB (Texas grocery store chain) bag, and frequently used it to shop at Albertson's. (And felt funny enough about it to have an answer prepared if any store employee mentioned it, "Yes, but look where I'm using it! I mean, look where I choose to shop.") After a few visits, a manager came up to me and observed that I was using an HEB bag. (Point 1 -- he DID notice it.) I gave him my prepared response and he asked me to wait there. He ran and grabbed an Albertson's cloth bag, brought it back and gave it to me. No charge. (Point 2 -- he cared enough to comp me that $5 Albertson's bag.) I was very careful, from then on, to ONLY use the Albertson's bag when I went to Albertson's.

Point 3 is that, well, sometimes you get free stuff!

You know, Lorelai Gilmore solved the problem (or rather Luke solved it for her) by buying a new Jeep engine for her old Jeep, so it maintained its old Jeepiness.

I'm just saying.

Oh, yeah - I'm from Virginia and a bag must match the store.

Hey there! I'm from Va. too, Kim (Franklin Co., God's country), and I used to feel bad taking my Sam's Club Coolbag into Costco. However, when the employees joked about it, I'd say "Hey, look where I'm spending my money!" They'd laugh and keep packing it full. Happy happy. I keep a string bag in my car and when I remember, I take it in the store with me. The coolbag is the exception for me with branded bags, though. My hubster just doesn't care, but then he's from NY. And Laurie, my truck died last October ('87 Ford F-150, V8 engine) and I mourned for days. Bought an '07 Toyota Corolla. My gas savings equals the car payment. But I don't have quite the same Mountain/Southern woman cachet I did while driving my Big Blue truck.

My Corolla has 175K on it, has survived many a crashing, a recent mud sticking, but no thefts. I get very very nervous when the issue of replacement is brought up by cold hearted people, (sorry Dad). I love that car, it is nicely broken in, like a good pair of jeans. Please stay with me forever Corolla!

I vote that the bag must match the store. I wouldn't be able to concentrate, I would be so worried that someone would say something. Vote me Southern.

"So the problem must be that you are not Southern". Or Canadian. I totally understand!

Oh Laurie, I take a BP bag into Whole Foods! BP, as in "British PETROLEUM" and "exploding natural gas refineries". Never have a gotten a reaction. My conclusion: the Whole Foods people just love you for shopping there, and they love you even more for using re-usable bags, regardless of their source!

OTOH, if you are truly hung up on this, I have a suggestion. Knit a shopping bag out of a bunch of the plastic kind that are all over your house. (And if they are not all over your house, call me, because they are all over mine. They multiply in the safe cozy darkness of my pantry.) You will re-use plastic bags, the labels on the plastic bags will not be visible/readable, and HEY! It's knitting! Check out MagKnits May 2007 issue for the pattern.

I wouldn't use another store's grocery bag either. I crochet my own, though...and usually forget to bring them but it's th thought that counts, right?

For the marry Al resume--you watch his TV network, right? Because you totally should. :)

Oh, and I love my car too. Her name is Molly. Molly Mitsubishi.

Listen: Al Gore is MINE. The fact that I am also married is of no importance. I will fight you for him! I am also closer to his age (which may not be a plus for me) and I voted for him 3 times. How many times did YOU vote for him, hmmm?

I see that many have agreed with my first thought -- that the folks at Whole Paycheck would be happy to see that you are using a reusable bag. I'm also happy to see that someone else has pointed out the Lorelei Gilmore solution to the new car thing. That was my next thought.

Must be an East Coast thing, because even if we had a Trader Joe's in Maine (really, they're supposed to be glove trotting grocery buyers, why can't they come to Maine?!) I would feel so much scorn using another store's bags.

Seriously, yet another reason to knit your own!

Hello from the Owner of Kitty Camry. Kitty is nice to me after 9 years ONLY because I pat her dashboard when she is being good and don't yell at her when she is being bad (which hardly EVER happens EVER!). And I was born in the South and have the same pre-programmed "don't want to be embarrassed" gene... that must also come from my British side? I keep TJs bags AND QFC (The Ralph's/Kroger's of the NW) bags in my trunk and use them faithfully for every store trip. (QFC gives 3 and a half cents to the Nature Conservancy for every bag i bring back... i think i have "donated" about $5 since i started! Woohoo!)
And Laurie, I think Al would be SO attracted to some knitted plastic-bag bags... get started woman... ;)

We have more reusable Whole Foods bags than I care to admit. Next time I see you, two of them are yours. (And I better see you before you leave!!)

For anyone looking for a non-denominational reusable bag, I LOVE Envirosax: http://www.envirosax.com/

I love my cloth bags! I recently got a new one free at Safeway, and like it so much I will use it everywhere. Not only do I score points with Al by using it, but the best part for me is that it holds a lot more, giving me fewer bags to carry. A friend knitted me a cotton stringy bag, which is fantastic because it expands exponentially!! Maybe someday I can make you one--my first attempt was, uh, not so good. See the pattern here: http://www.paradisefibers.net/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=3030&click=7319
Also, I just store them in my car--then I'm always ready to shop.

lol....I get it, I couldn't use it either!

Liz R. - did you vote for hi 3 times in the same election? :)

I must be a brazen hussy, for I feel no guilt at using my Trader Joe's bags (I have the canvas one too) at Safeway, or wherever else I happen to be. Likewise, I have used leftover Safeway and other bags at TJs. Not to mention using a Hannaford's (MA-only chain) bag at both!
But then, I am only half Southern. It is probably the Yankee side of me that uses the bags without concern for the stores' feelings.

Although I know nothing about Trader Joes... being Canadian, eh, I do know about the Prius. These are great in terms of the idea of being more environmentally friendly, however, because they contain 2 engines (an electric one and a gas one), they are twice as heavy, making them use 2x the ammount of fuel. In road tests, they don't perform much better than the standard. Also, they are more expensive than the standard gas model. However, I do think that the more people choose them over a standard gas fuelled car, the more auto makers will be forced to put some time and effort into improving them. I just wish they would go back to the all electric...

I worked at a bookstore for a bit, a library, was a teacher, and also maybe in the right place at the right time to acquire a vast canvas bag collection!

I admit to having recently bought a "Central Market" (my local fru fru market) bag because I was using a "Shopper's Corner"(a local fru fru market from a city I lived in over 7 years ago now...) bag and the guilt was slowly mounting, so I feel your pain.

If you use canvas bags with stuff you'd rather not advertise? Turning them inside out hides most printing, just sayin'.

Here (Germany) bags at the grocery store cost between .15 and .30 cents, so at least half the people in line bring their own bags and no one seems to notice or care if they're from other stores or not. I like to keep a folded-up blue Ikea bag in my purse or backpack at all times; they're higher quality and cheaper than most grocery store reusable bags. Plus, you never have to worry about offending the grocery store.

I don't quite share your passion for Al Gore, but my aunt met him once when he was in office. When she was showing her photos to us I remember her saying "He has a really nice ass" when she came to... the photo she'd taken of his ass when he was bending over. I'm surprised the Secret Service didn't arrest her.

I have 1 Tj bag and 2 Wf bags. I use them at TJ yes I even get to enter the weekly drawing with my WF bags to win the TJ 25.00 gift card. I use my TJ bag at WF it seems to fit the items I buy there better than the WF bag. And I always donate my .05 cents to one of the causes WF donates to. I even if you can imagne use them at Safeway. Years ago i used my WF bag at a designer type fancy market. I used these bags before they were "in" well the bag boy made a comment about my WF bag. I was offended and I did come home and call the store. I have not been back since. See my love is with Ralph N. and so I recycle. See we all have out Earth Idols. I even buy those bags as gifts. Secret is to put them by your purse when you empty them. Carry them down to the car on the very next trip to your car. Keep them in the car not the trunk and you will always use them. Whole Foods even now sells a smaller lunch bag version of the big green back and that one works great for those make up adventures to the local drug store.

I get the bag thing, but don't share your wariness. A bag is a bag is a bag. And sometimes it's just a bag!
I also lovelove my car, but I am wary to admit to what I have. I would be lynched!

Laurie, if you really want to impress Al, get a Tesla Roadster in red. They're like 90thousand dollars, but look tres cool. And are environmentally friendly. Also, my brother works for them now out your way in CA, and I know the guy who started up the company. Um, I am planning to wait for the "regular folks" priced editions to come out before I buy mine. I'll just keep driving my shiny dark blue 2yrold Jetta meantime. Yep. I love my car too, just not in a physical huggy way. But I am not a huggy person to start with. And mine is not old. That would be Moby Dick, our old white minivan, now the teenmobile. So cool to be 17 tooling around town in a minivan. Heh. It does come in handy for the geekfest LANs my guys attend. But I digress. In summary, save those pennies for a Tesla. Seriously. http://teslamotors.com

Denise in WI

So...it's not normal to hug your car? Then I suppose it's not normal to name it either...but I'm not going to stop calling mine Eugene. :)

AHA! Just saw several other people in the comments (I should read them before commenting!) who have also named their vehicles. I KNEW it was normal to name your car. :)

Love, Julie & Eugene

I totally get the TJ bag at the WF - but I decided that WF charges enough to make up for any of MY rudeness by carrying a TJ bag in there. Plus, I usually use those plastic bags you get everywhere because I can never find my cloth bags - I just recycle the evil plastic ones - that's not SO bad is it?

I'm with you on the bag thing, I have the TJ's bags, whole food bags, etc.

I've never hugged my car, an explorer, but I do pat it from time to time, and I've even had it blessed by a priest, but I guess that's because I'm a southern, catholic girl.

Whole Foods is from Austin, which makes them southern in my book, so likely they'd be too polite to do anything but thank you for bringing in your bags.

Actually, I have seen other bags used at WH and those using them get thanked, too. I do the other way around and use my canvas WH bags everywhere. They have nice shoulder straps as well as the regular handles so you can carry more bags at once and not strain your knitting hands.

No one has ever complained. Usually they comment on the nice bags. I think the Whole Foods/Enviroment conciousness connection helps.

It's not a southern thing. I would feel VERY uncomfortable doing that and I'm from New England.
My cars have names too.
Maybe I'm just crazy.

Re:Tipper not living forever. I have a wonderful friend that I have had a little crush on for years and someone told me "wives die all the time". It was funny, so, blah, blah, blah, Weeelllll, she just died. I cannot begin to tell you the guilt I have felt, evn though I know, rationally, I had nothing to do with it. So, as they say, be careful what you wish for.

Someone did a very funny commentary on how you can say the most disparaging, insulting things about someone as long as it's prefaced with "Bless her heart." (I know that's not what you meant, Laurie, but it reminded me)

Own a 1984 Dodge Ramcharger over here. Has been semi-retired to deep snow days when 4-wheel drive action is needed or when I need to haul a bunch of stuff. We used a Ford Probe for everything else and it now costs almost as much to fill its tiny tank with gas as the Ramcharger did in '84.

My car is Beast [and that makes me Beauty.]

I got two canvas bags and found out they carry my crocheting around so well that I sent one to my sister as a gift [THAT overachiever knits AND crochets] and she loved it.

Thank God those little plastic bags fit all my small trash cans in the house.

But yeah, I can totally dig the not using one store's bag at another store, unless it's Aldi. Everyone brings their own bags there because each bag costs a nickel or so.

And I'm not even Southern. [But I know some!]

-I wouldn't use a TJ bag at WF. I am from GA, maybe it IS a Southern thing.
-I think charging .25 for a bag would surely make a huge difference in this country.
-my first car was a 78 Jeep, I miss it terribly, but it got to the point where it was costing a fortune every time I turned around.
-2nd car was a honda- I miss it.
-Now we have a Durango, (Hey Al!) but my mom has a Prius and I like the way it drives. but we do the lightbulb thingy and don't use the dryer, does that make up for the gas guzzling?

Our local grocery store has some reusable grocery bags and I will only use them there. No where else. Ever. My husband got a Pilatus bag on a recertification course last year and since that is a kind of commuter plane and not a store, I can safely use that anywhere.

Ummmm... HIGH SPEED CHASE? Do tell.

My sister (Leone) just sent me here to read this post. On Friday I got a new car. I cried as I moved my stuff from my little green car into the bigger (my 6'3 husband friendly) red car. The sales woman thought they were tears of joy, but I was having an total melt-down thinking about leaving my car alone on that big lot. I loved my car. But the new one is wonderful as well. I'm careful to tell it as much so it won't think my sadness is about it. I just miss my little green car.

Oh, and BTW, my TJ's bag is full of yarn.. is that bad?

I've loved all my (4-cylinder) cars (except the Taurus, what was I thinking?), they are like children, you care for them and have experiences with them. I bought my current car new and know exactly what has been done to it and how it has been maintained so I'm keeping it as long as possible. Some day if and when the prices come down I'll go hybrid. I really hope to see some hew breed of vehicle emerge that will be both affordable and efficient. I think the technology is there it just isn't being used.

I haven't done the re-useable bags yet but would probably get some generic ones so they could be used anywhere and because I hate to be used as advertisement for free.

It's ok, Laurie. I know how you feel. We've got a Shaw's on one side of town that sells their reusable bags sometimes on a 10/$10 sale. However, I almost never shop at Shaw's and instead find myself at Hannaford's. I think I'd be horribly shamed if I brought Shaw's eco bags to Hannaford's. Maybe I should knit my own. Gods know there are a ton of patterns out there for market bags... 10 bags for 10 bucks, though...

But if you don't bring home an endless supply of grocery bags, what do you put the cat poop in?

I'm from the South, and I use my sturdy Whole Foods canvas bag at whatever grocery store I happen to be at at the time. Which may be Whole Foods, or Trader Joe's, or even *gasp* Safeway or Albertsons sometimes.

None of them care. Really.

Honey, I'm from way north of the Mason-Dixon and I'd probably do the same thing. I do have a stack of cloth bags and a couple of neato collapsible baskets that live in my car, so I don't have to worry about being without. (Except when I use the last one in the stack and have to remember to take them all back to the car.)

I too would feel kind of wierd taking the TJ's bag into another store.

I had the same issues for a while, even though I own Trader Joe and Whole Foods bags plus this set of five really pretty nylon totes from some eco store. And I have WAY too many because I started penalizing myself every time I forgot to bring one of them to the grocery store -- I would always buy more bags til "I learned my lesson." I am sure the cashiers got tired of me scolding myself at checkout.

So with over TWENTY reusable bags scattered in my house, my car, my office, and the homes of nearby relatives, I finally took the plunge and grabbed the bags that were handy when I went shopping (which of course did not match the store where I was going). And, as it happens, I was totally distracted about the bag thing because the cashier, after I gave the bags to her for the bagger, started putting stuff in plastic bags!

So I recommend indignation as a way to get over the initial shyness. Or something. :)

Im with you . I couldn't use a bag with another competitor's name on it either. Im a dork and sewed my own bag's from home dec fabric. as soon as I'm done I throw them in the car otherwise I wouldn't remember it either. My dream car is an old woody jeep thing. perfect for all the crap I want to drag home from the curb. For now my dying VW wagon will suffice.

1. Grocery Bags: we just got a TJs and I take my garden-variety Sentry bag there. They really don't care, I'm sure they think "Oh cool, they got the bag THERE but shop HERE." 2. Grocery bags, part II: Woodmans has very neat little tough bags for produce which are The Thing for cat poo. They are altogether fab. 3. We have a '93 Toyota Camry wagon which is the Love of my Life. She has over 260k miles on, has taken out three deer and a 25 lb turkey. I am SO loving that car. (We also have a Subaru Outback which the Hub makes me drive in winter for its 4-wheel drive and anti-lock brakes.) But my precious Toyota, "Deerslayer"....now, there's a ride.

Jennifer: I'll never tell!!

To keep the FBI, CIA, KGB and others off my back, I actually voted for him in 1992, 1996 and 2000. I WOULD have voted for him in 2004 but HE DIDN'T RUN!!!

I hope you having a nice day off, Laurie!! Four days until Friday and becoming a famous AUTHOR!!!!

Oh my gosh! I remember being in JCPenney's with my mom when I was a single-digit-child, and while perusing clothing, I mentioned the name of some other store, like, Dillards or something and my mom about jumped out of her skin. In a hoarse, urgent whisper she says to me, "You NEVER mention the name of another store while shopping!" Uh, okay. But I NEVER forgot that. And now, if we're ever in a store together, even now, we use our secret face gestures that tell each other we want to go to another store.(And I'm in my thirties y'all). When I think about it, it's very funny. But I can't be in Central Market and say aloud, "Safeway has a sale on these here cantelopes," to my husband. I would have to whisper that to him.

A different bag? Actually advertising that I shop somewhere else?? Uh, no. I don't think so.

Yeah Jennifer at 9:29, how did LizR vote for the Goracle three times?? That must include for VP?

I have an old Exploder that is horrible on gas mileage so I try to be consciencious about my driving. But the thought of buying a new car? Laurie, I'm with you. I liked the idea of a new engine in your old red Jeep. But HOW do you deal in LA without AC?????

Last thing!I knit one of those bags using plastic grocery bags cut into strips but it was kind of lame- not very stretchy.

I got two bags at the New Hampshire Sheep & Wool Festival, with lettering and logo and everything, and it did cross my mind that I could shop with them anywhere (not that I have remembered to take them with me yet) without worrying about what Stop & Shop will think of the Trader Joe's bag, or whatever.

I do not know how to explain this. I have never lived south of Champaign, Illinois.

Our newer vehicle is 11 years old because we are so petrified of buying the Wrong Car. Also, I have read that what with mining all that zinc for the battery in Canada and shipping it to China and then to England and then back again and then over here, or maybe it's the other way around, but anyway, by the time the hybrid gets to you you might as well drive a Hummer. I find this extremely depressing. I do dry our laundry outdoors, however, so maybe Al would like that.

I totally understand your dilemma!! I mean, you don't wear a John Deere cap to your New Holland dealer. It's just not done. Bad for business.
Have a great day!

I do love my red jeep. Her name is Lola. Lola the Liberty she's spicy and cute...all at the same time!

She is my first new car EVER and I totally get the whole "too much responsibility" of having a new car and all of the worry that goes along with it. Lola was rear ended last week...but she took that little Dodge Shadow DOWN! He bumped into her spare time on the rear door. She got a rip in her tire cover and he smooshed the whole front end of his car! (Everyone's ok!)

I consider this experience part of her pre-disastering that you speak of.

I say, use your bags at any and all stores! At bigger grocery chains, they'll even give you a 5¢ per bag refund! TJ's enters you into a drawing for bringing in your own bags. Plus, I think it would be pretty hard to single-handedly bring down WF with your TJ's bag. Everyone I know who shops at one also shops at the other!

Laurie, through out this entire post...I could only think.... She doesn't have air conditioning? How can that be? You live in the Valley! Where it is 200 degrees in August and September!! I know this because I live in the Valley where sometimes I go and sit in my icy cold car.
so, Laurie, if you ever need a ride to CVS or Target or any of the other wonders, when it feels like we live on the sun, please let me know. I'll drive you in my icy cold car.

I asked the clerk at the Pavillion's that I shop at if there was any problem if I used my WF bags for bagging my groceries...and the smart aleck guy clerk in the next aisle said there was no problem...as long as I didn't mind being laughed at. Great incentive! I made them bag my groceries in paper, not plastic. It seemed to be a bit of a problem for the bagger, I guess they are just not used to them.

Well, I'm heading out to both TJ and WF today, with their respective bags in tow...that is, if I don't forget to bring them. :)

Oh, I NEVER use my Whole Foods bag at Trader Joe's. That would be just rude!!!! I have generic fabric bags that I have crocheted or knitted for "emergencies" (like Winco, Safeway or Fred Meyer's). And I feel your love for your Jeep. My Jeep passed away almost a year ago this month. We were in a horrid accident on I-5 and nothing could be done to resusitate Theodore(my Jeep). I'm still in mourning, although I have a newer car (Angela)that gets better gas mileage and has air conditioning and cruise control and a solid roof that does not billow in on the highway. I still miss Theodore. I drove Theodore from Virgina to Washington in February in 2001..that's definitely a bonding experience. And, by the way, doesn't everyone hug their cars?

Although not Southern, I was also hesitant to use my TJ bag at our new WF store here in El Segundo, but being budget conscious, the 5 cent per bag rebate at WF has outweighted any possible guilt at the unintentional insult of using another store's bag.

Two constants when I go grocery shopping are myself and my vehicle, so my solution to forgetting the bags is to immediately store the bags in my car when I unpack them. This insures that I'm alway prepared when I go shopping!

1) I am inclined to use generic cloth bags or reuse paper bags from any store. I used to feel bad - actually, I used to feel my mother spinning in her grave - and it mortifies my father. I used paper Food 4 Less bags at TJ's the other day and the kid said - what's this? I told him, a girl's gotta do. One thing I have noticed, though is that the baggers at Von's are utterly incapable of dealing with plain cloth bags. They try to set them where the plastic bags are and they can't deal with the handles. Even though I have the tops folded down and all ready for them. I just want to push them out of the way and say, here, let me show you how it's done.

2) Thank heavens someone has employed the Luke/Lorelei method to dealing with the jeepiness of the, well, jeep.

3) One thing you and I will never fight over - Al. He's all yours.

There's not a Whole Foods within 90 miles of me, and I own one of their reusable bags. I have a special love affair with it. Kind of like with you and the Jeep.

I loved my jeep when I had it, and was very sad to let it go. 2 year ago I bought my prius, and while I don't hug it, I sure think it is a great car!
I agree about the shopping bag thing - I'm not from the south (unless you count 'South Dakota') but I'd also feel strange about it.

Ayup. I'm fixin to go to Whole Foods myself for some squash and tomatoes (finally! not the winterized versions, either!). All hail Southern Women!

Oh, heavens, Laurie, I understand. I get to talk to Al about once a week for work and really have to contain the urge to squeal "Oh! Al! I love you! I voted for you! I loooooove you! Call me!"

i have a tj's bag and a whole foods bag. i keep them in my car, just in case i need them. last week, i went to tj's and used both bags at the same time, and i must admit, i felt weird about using the whole foods bag at tj's and hoped no one would notice.

Josh Bernstein (formerly of the history channel) has a Land Cruiser that runs on vegetable oil. So I suppose it isn't a long shot to get a jeep to do so as well. Then you wouldn't have to wait for Tipper's demise, since Al would dump her ass...

I totally get not wanting to use a TJ bag at the whole foods. I like the plain canvas kind you can get in the paint your own t-shirt department of a craft store. You can even put an apron with pockets in it to divide sections or have a way to hold wine in place. If you're really crafty, you can get get some webbing and extend the straps so that you can actually carry it on your shoulder.

Liza: I voted for Sexy Al for VP in 1992 and 1996 and then for president in 2000.

I take my bags into Ralphs (when I have to get those other groceries that they don't sell at the good stores), and they give a 5 cent credit per bag.
Also, I got a really cool 'refrigerator' bag from our local "Henry's" that I take everywhere. And people do comment at the other stores, but usually it's "Hey, that's a really cool bag!"

I also feel bad for using my TJ's bags in other stores. Last week I used them at Ralphs, felt so bad that I hid them under the food and then apologized profusely to the checker and bagger for having them. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, I understand.

Add me to the list of Canadians who also won't use a competitor's shopping bag at another store. Who knew that canucks & southerners had so much in common?

I love those bags. I think I have a dozen or so, and they've been super handy for all the crap I don't want to put in boxes while I move. And, with a dozen, there will always be one or two in the car. And I use them as recycling containers to make it easy to carry them to the mondo recycling bins, and well. Lots of things. Best 99 cents ever spent!

oh I so get the not using Trader Joe's bag somewhere else. I'd love to bring mine to my Farmer's Market but have the same thoughts and the cashiers barely speak English so what would they care!

I love me some string bags and canvas bags, but here in Wisconsin we need to protect our precious groceries from wacko-mother-nature and her propensity to deluge us in rain, ice, and snow, especially as we are loading the groceries into "Bessie VI", our ten-year-old Cavalier (that gets over 35mpg, thank-you-very-much). So the plastic bags are what we use. We do use them as garbage bags, so I guess you could say we recycle them.
And I'm also a student of the school of Don't-say-the-name-of-one-store-when-you-are-shopping-in-another. It's Just Not Done. There are enough rude customers that walk into DH2B's Office Max and say "Aren't you and Office Depot the same thing?"
Grrrrr......

Hugging your jeep is perfectly normal. Especially if it's old and broken down. Trust me, one jeep driver to another.

Well...ex driver. Mine finally died completely.

Oh well. They're still great. And what do you mean there's no AC? That's what the soft top is for! XD

Laurie,
I saw those bags at my grocery yesterday. I decided not to buy one, since I have a million tote bags at home that I could use, if I could ever remember to bring one. Then, as I was leaving the store, the plastic bag broke and I dropped my groceries on the ground. I think it was punishment.
I don't hug my Prius, but I do pet her. I give her a little pat after I lock the door. I just love that car. She will be 3 in July. We tool along at 80 MPH on the NJ Turnpike, so I just laugh when people think hybrids are slow. I also laugh when I go to the gas station.
I get about 50 MPG.

it's not a southern thing. i would feel weird going into another market with a TJ's bag.

and i enjoy my car more now that i don't worry about every scratch or piece of dirt.

Ok, it's not just a southern thing. I grew up in Maine, and I can't even RETURN something to a store in a bag from another store. If I bought it at Target, and am returning it to Target, it has to be in a Target bag OR a grocery store bag. (Grocery store bags are ok for other types of stores.) I would never return something to a store in the mall or anywhere else in a bag from another store. It just feels rude. I guess I'm just weird.

Maybe it is some kind of passive-aggressive part of my personality but I love using the recylced bags from one store in another store, especially if they are competitors. Let's them know they haven't totally sucked me into their cult of customer loyalty and they can't complain, because someone recycling bags has the moral high ground. Generally the staff are aren't being paid enough to notice or care anyway, so I concentrate on being nice to them and no-one mentions the bags.

pretty much all those bags here [ Australia ] are green but with [mainly] white company logos. No one worries about whose logos they are ... although I will admit the first time I took a bunch of Aldi bags into Woolies, I felt a bit ... brazen.
Now I don't worry.
I have a whole bunch so even if it takes me a week to get them back out to the car, there's still enough in the boot for most eventualities. So long as I remember to take them into the store with me. That's a whole 'nother issue.

I know! I can't even buy a reusable sack because I shop at three different stores! I want a generic one, and am thinking of making some of hemp - none of this gnarly plasticized stuff for this super recycler! (Although if I don't use a reusable bag I'm only THINKING I'm a super recycler!)

And about all of us being weird: my husband's best thing he says is "We're all weird!" (Say it with a big smile when someone is annoyed with anyone's weirdness; guaranteed to make them wonder just how weird the speaker is!)

Love your great 5/25 entry about Food, Dreams, Dates and Smart You!! Good girl, Laurie!! You're terrific!

Laurie, you better be toughening it up for NYC. We won't tolerate such politeness here.

Umm! How about you put yarn in the TJ bag. Buy some generic canvas shopping bags that you leave in your beautiful Jeep so that they're to hand on the way home. Then ya get to feel well-mannered and on the road to AL! (The bags in the car thing works well for me - I always used to hit the store when I didn't have them to hand.)
Keep the Jeep! Keep the Jeep! Keep the Jeep!

I use my whole foods bags at trader joe's all the time, and at the regular grocery store too. I get two reactions:

Amazement that I am using my own bags at all, but what a good idea (regular grocery store)

or compliments on using any reusable bag, an raffle ticket to fill out for using same, and a discussion of the excellence of the handles on the whole foods bags, which are universally admired (TJ).

I even take net bags to the 7-11 now and they thinks its weird for sure, but a benign weird.

We're trying to do the right thing - which in some cases actually transcends branded capitalism. Go for it.

Well, I am from the South, born in Nashville, Tenn., raised in Cullman, Alabama, married for 40 years to a man from Birmingham, Alabama, living in Dallas, Texas for the last 38 years, so I do so totally understand about the sack. I would be uncomfortable going into Whole Foods with a sack from ANYwhere. Maybe we Southern girls are just more considerate of others feelings.
Ann Carpenter in Dallas, Texas

I'm from the North, and I get it.......

Well, here (in Australia) a few years ago it was green reusable bags. You couldn't really tell the different between different supermarkets, as the logo was too small to actually notice. However, the major supermarkets where I go now make themed reusable bags. Football teams, Simpsons. Mind you, I stick with the green bags.

And you know what?! The grocery store workers DO get their feelings hurt sometimes! I have seen them look at me funny before, I swear! Of course, I might just be paranoid.

I still use mine anyway -- did you know the average American uses 500 plastic bags a year? THAT IS INSANE.

I went for the VERY CUTE, very convenient, store-agnostic option that Gwen mentioned:
http://www.envirosax.com/

p.s. If you don't want to make that much of an investment, TJ's has some even cuter bags now, very vacation bag looking, with a very slightly less prominent TJ logo. They are $1.99.

It's a long story how I wound up driving a big blue pick up truck - I used to be embarrassed to be seen in it. Now several years later, I have grown to appreciate her "practicalness," named her Bessy and I love loading her up at home depot or the nursery. I wash her once a month whether she needs it or not - ha!

Love my "Re-Elect Al Gore in 2008" sticker on her bumper too.

I don't know about it being southern... it kind of reminds me of when I was in junior high and it was so NOT allowed for you to mix your Adidas gear with your Nike gear. Or how I feel funny about going to knit in a yarn shop with some cheap Michael's yarn. I've been a Californian since birth. I'm with you on the TJ bag at Whole Foods. I would feel weird about it too.

I laughed and laughed...

(and completely understand. Maybe Canada and the South have more in common than previously thought?)

You HUG your car before you get in?????
That's awesome.

I have the green enviro-bags, one refrigerator bag (love you! ice cream not melted on the way home!) and I like to collect enviro-bags in pinks and purples. They are quite hard to find. Target had Dora The Explorer enviro-bags in pale lilac with a big Dora on them. My 3yo daughter was ecstatic :)

I use them for the grocery run, as well as all sorts of other need-to-carry-something moments. When I've put away the groceries they go back in the car.

You're so cute. I don't think the Whole Foods people will kick you out for using a TJ's bag in their store.
I keep two canvas bags (non-denominational)in my car for impromptu shopping trips. Also, I'm knitting some in between my other projects.

I have three of those TJ's bags, and I love them dearly. Mostly I just use them to hide yarn stash and needle felting supplies for my girlfriend. :)

Ummm, couldn't you just turn the TJ's bag inside out to use it at Whole Foods? Only the bagger could tell and I don't think they'd care too much!

But those plastic bags make scooping the litterbox pretty handy...and I do realize it may take a looong time for it all to biodegrade, but since we know we can't flush kitty litter clumps here in CA.....

No TJ or WF where I live, just a couple of Save Marts and a Safeway. I don't have any reusable bags for shopping, but if I have my knitting bag and I'm buying just a couple things I'll thrown them in my bag. Well the closest grocery store tends to automaticly bag up your groceries if you only have a few things without asking if you want paper or plactic. Oh the glares I get when I say "oh, I don't need a bag" as they unpack the bag.... and then throw it away! Yeah, makes me want to not even try. Bah.

*ehem* You could always use an ACME Workhorse bag (http://www.reusablebags.com/store/acme-bags-workhorse-style-1500-p-1.html). It folds up small enough to fit in a pocket and holds a whoooole lot.

Plus, I bet it would REALLY impress Al. It always impresses the shopping store clerks when I use mine.

Ah, the old "bless your heart" slam. My BFF from Georgia told me about that one. Heh.

Get thee a Chico bag!! Or one of those Acme bags. They fold up very small and you can keep one in your purse or glove box in the car, and you can use them anywhere w/out feeling wierd (I'd feel wierd taking a TJ bag into another store, but I'd still do it. I'd just have to apologize every time I did it, which would make the experience even more awkward - if that could be possible.). If you go to reusablebags.com and look under "ultra compact", there are even some cure flowery ones. But the Chico bags are cheaper, and they are about the same size as the plastic bags you get from the store, but you can really stuff them more than plastic because you know that the bag's not going to break.

Hey, I haven't actually gotten to read this post yet, but I thought I'd mention something you need to look into for a book tour idea. There's this show I think they just started called Ex-Wives Club.

Check out their website here: http://abc.go.com/primetime/exwivesclub/index

It looks like emotion overload central, but certainly an appropriate place for your story.

When I lived in Florida I brought an Albertson's bag into a Publix and the cashier called me on it! She was only kidding but it was my worst nightmare because of course, me being me, I turned 10 shades of red.

Now I have a Shaw's bag, and have I ever brought it into a Stop n Shop? NEVER! :0)

Southern...or Canadian. I must be quintessentially Canadian because it seems rude to go into a store with a bag from the store you were just in. I should note that it doesn't apply in the mall because running back to your car every time to put the bag away is just silly.

My big problems with teh non-plastic bags? I forget them in the car until I am at the check out line! I have two new fold-up Hannaford bags in the car in an old Hannaford canvas bag - just sitting in the back seat waiting for me to pick them up on my way into the store. It never happens. Thank heavens the plastic grocery bags fit all the little trash bins in the house.

Also, it is my imagination or didn't WalMart nd some grocers used to have bins where you could return excess plastic bags for recycling? I haven't seen those bins in years and I've been looking.

Ohio girl here with no qualms about cross-pollination of bags in other stores. Nope, not one iota of guilt or discomfort.

You forgot to add that you take public transportation on your list of reasons Al Gore would want to marry you, and I bet Tipper probably doesn't knit...score one more for you!

i wouldn't use the tj's bag at whole foods either. my mama taught me better than that.

"The truth is that I am in love with my old, battered Jeep and perhaps it is not healthy or sane ... but love is not always sensible, ok?"

Oh Laurie-honey, it's a Jeep thing. I used to drive an old 1978 Jeep CJ-7. In Wisconsin. Where we have winter. I used to have to scrape the frost off the inside of the windshield WHILE I was driving.

It's been almost nine years now and I still miss my Jeep. I haven't been caught hugging other people's Jeeps (yet) but I have been caught getting a little misty-eyed and staring longingly at them.

What is Faith thinking!!!! Of course you can't use a bag at the wrong store!!! I'm a southern girl also!!!

I'm madly in love with my car, too, it's a very cool old Camaro and we've been together for 26 years now. No other car ever appealed to me like this one does, so I'll drive it until I can't drive anymore, I guess. While I don't hug my car before getting in I do pat the dashboard and say some goofy endearment! I never came up with a name but I do feel it's a female car.

I love my Jeep, too. My husband sometimes asks if I would rather have another vehicle. I give him The Look and he shuts up.

To resolve my own shopping bag dilemma (I hate those plastic grocery bags!), I got some basic cotton yarn in cones and am knitting bags to use instead of store bags. Will prevent me from being "branded". The only one I won't replace is my Ingles cold-stuff bag. That bad boy has saved the inside of my Jeep from nasty ice cream melt downs and other such incidents. Love that bag.

My allegiance is with the bag-loyalty, too. (Not born Southern, but Southern by heritage and lived there for about 7 years). Anyhoo, my favorite bags are the cotton string net bags. You can put anything in them and they just distort to fit. Machine washable, indestructible. Cars? Eleven-year-old Corolla here by the name of Little Red. Alternate name (for when misbehaving) Little Red Pig Butt. No plans for replacement, since CT charges yearly property tax on your car. I have to pay $130/yr tax just to own an 11 year old car! If I get a new one, it's like a birthday present for the town; the tax would go up to over $1000. Forget it.

I am definitely not Southern, I take my bags from two other stores into my local Safeway all the time, and sometimes in an "in-your-face, your store bags are ugly and not displayed where anyone can see them" kind of way. So not Southern. And I smoosh a fold-up tote into my purse for further plastic-shopping-bag avoidance. I do get some weird looks, but when you're as cutting-edge as moi, that's just to be expected.

I drove my beloved Datsun 1982 210 MPG for 17 years (and then my husbands Nissan pickup for a while). I thought I wouldn't get over the loss of my little white car until I met my 2005 Mazda 3. I still smile everytime I walk towards it. It coos and purrs and even the dash greets me with "Hello" everytime I start it.
Trust me, there is another car love in your life. Just wait until the time is right!

I am a southerner also, but let me tell you, the employees at Whole Foods DO NOT CARE if you use a TJs bag. (as an ex-WF employee we were just glad people used there own bags no matter where they came from!!!). So you use that bag, girl! With pride!

Now I finally know where it came from...my dad is Canadian and my mom is Southern. It's a wonder I don't just stash groceries in the diaper bag...

I don't think that is crazy at all. I would feel silly using my "Cub" bag at "Rainbow or Byerlys".

I've been knitting my own cotton market bags lately and put the pattern on my blog. It uses large circular needles and cheap cotton yarn.

Al would be pleased.

I absolutely use my TJ bags at Whole Foods, and Safeway, and my local market. Let 'em know I'm aware of the competition...and their prices. And the TJ bags stay standing when packed.

It would never even occur to me to notice. I'm stunned that you know what store is advertised on the sides of your bags. Just amazed...and you're apparently not alone! Wow.

I am with you, I could never use another stores bag at their competitor.

I have a Chico bag that has its own little stow bag so I can carry it in my purse. Usable anywhere, as long as I remember I have it.

While shopping for shrubs at one local nursery, the helper-girl noticed my car already contained plants from another local nursery. When she pointed this out, I responded, "Well, I have to support *all* the local nurseries, don't I?" And I do, which my checkbook does not appreciate.

Over here (UK) Tesco actively encourages you to recycle bags, regardless of which store they come from - you get an extra loyalty point for every bag you reuse. I keep a large "buy and fly" bag (ex-duty free, sturdy with wood handles) in the boot, along with some proper shopping bags. I also knitted one out of about 40 bags - they haven't let me have 40 loyalty points, though. Pah! I get really antsy if we gain a carrier bag - there are far too many in the house already, most of 'em not biodegradeable either!

I hate to encourage shopping, but I thought I might pointout that you can buy your own bags at www.reusablebags.com. They have all sorts of things so we don't have to use and throw away!

Just turn the bag inside out and use it. Remember how many years it takes to degrade a plastic grocery bag...I think Whole Foods would be in favor of you using the TJ's bag.

I understand the grocery bag thing. In fact, I get embarrassed when I accidently use the wrong jargon in a fast food place. Like calling their large size biggie when the correct phrase is "super-sized" (and they will pointedly use their phrase like they are correcting you.)

I feel like they just found out that I'm cheating on them with another burger place.

"Bless your heart"

My knitting group had a convo about this very phrase last Thursday, hehe.

And I'm not Southern, but I TOTALLY think that way too. I would feel weird using a TJs bag at Whole Foods if we had one here.

It's like bringing food from a burger joint just so you can sit with your friends at Taco Bell without paying for it later. I would feel like I'm gonna get kicked out or something.

Yup, it's a Southern thing, although on very rare occasions, when I am very much in a hurry, I have accidentally brought along the wrong store's bag.

These are my rules: If I accidentally bring the wrong store's bag into "Giant Mega Store," I just turn the logo so it's against my body and the blank side faces out, and hope no one notices.

BUT if I have a bag from "Giant Mega Store," and I find myself entering "Struggling Independent Bookstore" with it, I have to go put it back in the car, and look for some other bag, or I can't face them. Fortunately I keep several bags in the car, including string bags.

My car's name is "Pony." She is a silver Volkswagen Golf, diesel, and I love her. She gets about 45 miles per gallon; 50 on a steady highway drive -- that's at least five Al Gore Points.

I can cram an amazing amount of stuff into her and she is also pre-disastered (knock wood).

My Jeep's name is Helter-Skelter, sometimes just Helter for short, and we occasionally call her Trouble. (Or maybe that's me?) There are lots of pictures of her climbing trees, rocks, trampling over wildflowers and generally being a nuisance to wildlife on my own blog, and also on the boy's photo site here: http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/msbuckner97/Leavenworth%20Memorial%20Day%202007/?start=40

LOVE. MY. JEEP. I just love her. I understand. :)

Also, since I have discovered Freecycle, and gotten a very nice photo printer and nice black sleeper sofa off of there, for free, and I have a few things to get rid of myself, I have posted them back on freecycle. The LT pointed out that I could get money for those things on Craigslist. "But....but..." I said. "Freecycle helped me out with free stuff! It would be just WRONG to SELL my old stuff instead of giving it back to freecycle!"

He rolled his eyes so loud that I could hear it over the phone.

No! You're so right! I have two of the TJ's bags, only because I buy much more from there and then one Whole Food's bag, and either way if I have one with me, but not the other, I won't go into the other store and try to use my bag. That's just so rude or something. I feel like I'm cheating on one store or the other. And I'm so super anal about it all that if I'm on my way to either store and I forget my bag, I'll go home and get it. In the case of TJ's and why I have two, it was because all my stuff wouldn't fit, like I had three extra things and so I just bought another bag. Because I CARE.

Al and I will be such BFF one day.

Thank you!!!! I have always wondered about that!!!! My mother (from GA) always told me not to talk about going to another store while I was in a store because, and I quote, "you might hurt their feelings." I have had this in my head from the time I was buying 6x clothes for second grade. Even now, if I want to go to another store while I'm shopping, I have to whisper it! New Yorkers think it's HILARIOUS!

I totally used my Trader Joes bag at How's market today only because my generic "LA Recycles" bag is being used at a gym bag at the moment and I just can't bring myself to put groceries in the same bag that my sweaty spin shoes have been in.
I'm a very rude and awful person