How to make a smaller ecological footprint by amandaperl

"Moved to Portland, left our car behind."

How I did it: We decided that we hated having a car, researched where it was good to live without one, and moved to Portland, leaving our car behind, where my kind father-in-law sold it for us.

We are also living in shared housing, and trying hard to reduce packaging.  I bought these great cloth grain bags that have velcro on them.  I love getting home from the store and having zero trash.  I also made a shopping bag out of a t-shirt.  It's really easy and a t-shirt bag is easy to stuff in your regular bag, purse, pocket, etc. so you don't have to remember to bring the bulky stiff ones.

Lessons & tips: To make a t-shirt bag: cut the sleeves off the shirt.  If possible leave the seam ridge, because that makes it stronger. (You can also start with a tank top and skip this step.)  Cut a deeper curve at the top of the shirt: you can trace a plate if you like.  Turn the shirt inside out.  Sew a seam along the bottom, or further up if that makes the bag too long.  If you sewed it further up, cut off the extra, leaving about an inch.  If you want to get fancy, you can sew the corners to make the bag boxier.  To do this, with the t-shirt/bag still inside out, pinch the corner so the side seam of the shirt (or where it would be if there isn't one) and the seam you just sewed along the bottom line up.  Sew perpendicular to this seam to make a little triangle.  Try to make both sides the same, and the closer to a right angle those seams make, the neater it looks.

All done, stuff it in your going-out stuff and forget it til you need an extra bag.  Many grocery stores (at least in the places I've lived) will give you a 5 or 10 cent discount for bringing your own bag.  Whole Foods gives you the option of donating your bag discount.  
Be prepared: some people are puzzled by a t-shirt on the grocery check-out belt, but most people think it's really neat.


 

Jun 29, 2011, 12:20PM PDT | 0 comments | 3 cheers


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