Bag Lady Goes Green!

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a bag lady as "A homeless woman who roams the streets of a city, carrying her possessions in shopping bags."

Although I'm not homeless, I definitely consider myself a bag lady when it comes to visiting the nearby Harris Teeter grocery store.  My local store is only a block away; yet, I've already learned that I hate the walk back home.  Those grocery bags grow proportionally heavier with every step taken.  Consequently, I've chosen to keep my grocery list short and plan more frequent trips during the week in order to ease my load.  

However, I've recently been liberated.  My husband Tim did some online surfing and fixed me up with a wheeled shopping cart which arrived yesterday. 



YIPPEE!!!

I took it out for my maiden voyage this morning. 
Here's what I learned:

*  On my outbound trip, it's faster to drag the cart behind me by tilting it onto its back wheels than it is to push it sedately in front of me.

*  I need to formulate an aisle strategy when I enter the store that will enable me to grab the heavier items on my grocery list first, placing those in the bottom of my cart.

*  Save easily-crushed items such as produce and baked goods for my final sweep of the store before I head to the self-service checkout line.

*  At the self-check stand, remove the top layer of fragile items and set aside to scan last.

*  Unless an item might possibly leak on the trip home (i.e. ice cream), don't bother placing scanned goods in a plastic grocery bag.  Simply set them on the weight shelf until every item is scanned; pay for the goods; then, repack them bagless into the cart.

*  Pack the cart for the walk home as carefully as I would pack the car for a long road-trip vacation.  Heavy items such as milk gallons and boxes of soda pop go on the bottom.  Canned goods are layered in.  Medium-weight boxes of pasta or cereal go next while crushable items go on top.

*  Walk home, carefully pushing the cart in front of my body with both hands on its handle.  A fully-loaded cart is difficult to steer so be prepared to wrestle it around turns.

*  Avoid curbs, even if it means adding more steps to your route.  In my case, this means walking clear around the block to the front of my apartment building rather than using the more conveniently located rear entrance.  Manhandling a full cart up and over a curb will almost always guarantee a catastrophe.

*  Push the automatic door-opener at the apartment's front entrance.  No doubt, this is a no-brainer to most people.  I had to have this pointed out to me while I was trying to position my body to hold the door open and simulataneously wrestle the cart through the doorway.

Ah, home at last!  I've gotten my exercise and eased my conscience by eliminating plastic grocery bags from my shopping excursions.  Thank you, Tim!  You're my hero!