Fresh Start: Pedals & Pennies

It is a rainy Monday morning here in the Seattle area and I need apples. That means a bike ride to the grocery store. Recently, I’ve been trying to use my own power to get places. This means I’ve been walking to the store and biking to the post office and library – or trying. Sometimes it’s hard to motivate myself when using the car would be so much easier, especially now that fall (and rain) has settled in here in Washington. So I try to talk myself into it. That’s right …. I talk to myself. I tell myself about all the benefits of using my own power to travel: exercise, relieving the environment of some carbon emissions, saving money on gas, and enjoying the scenery. Plus I get to use my bike with the basket.

Here’s the view from my bike, complete with a Zimshopper in the basket:

And here’s some of the scenery I enjoy on my bike ride to town:

For the other Happy Bag Elf’s birthday I got her a tricycle. Yep, she’s a grown woman and I got her a tricycle. She can put the Little Lady in the basket in the back and bike to the park for some playing. It’s Zimbags green with a white basket. And her name is Myrtle – slow, but steady. Keep chec

Here’s a picture of the Happy Bag Elf and her Little Lady enjoying some pedal power (aren’t they the cutest?):

Keep checking back, I think the Myrtle adventures are going to be fun!

In other news, I got a happy little thrill the other day I went to Target and handed the cashier my Zimbag for my few items. She said, “And for bringing your own bag, you get 5 cents off,” she scanned a little barcode taped to the counter and like magic, 5 cents came off my total.

Now, 5 cents isn’t that much. When I was in elementary school that would have bought me a tootsie roll, but that was a long time ago. But if I get 5 cents off every time I went to Target, that would probably be about $2.60 a year. (Yes, I go to Target about once a week – it’s a bad habit.) And then if I add in the discounts from the grocery stores and other stores I visit …. the bag pays for itself in about a year. And it saves a lot of plastic bags. Plus the handles on my Zimbags never break and they don’t rip and spill my stuff all over the floor. And it’s cute to boot.

But one of my favorite things about using my Zimbags at the store is that I get to tell the story of our women artists. People often comment on how much they like my bag and ask where I got it. That gives me a chance to tell them (quickly, because there is usually a line) about the women artists and Zimbags. It always makes me smile when I get to talk about Siphiwe, Ntando, Alice, Caroline, and Nomvula. It is the best motivation for using my Zimbags at the store.

Sometimes it’s the small things that make big a difference. A 2 mile bike ride to the store gives me time to enjoy the scenery and toting my Zimbags around gives me a chance to tell someone about the beautiful painting done by women half a world away.

xo,
The Happy Bag Elves