Monday, December 1, 2008

clean sweeps!

+ Ok, so get this. I thought this was just TOO unbelievable. This past weekend we had our annual crafts festival. I lust it! It happens every Thanksgiving weekend, and I go every year. It's a great place to not only be inspired, but to pick out some amazing handcrafted works for your loved ones this holiday season!

So while waiting in line (for a sampling of some hot cranberry beverage that I try every year, but actually don't like. But it's tradition! Yes, yes, I'm insane. Did you just now figure this out?) these two women in front of me were making purchases. Each bought a package of the drink mix (what were THEY thinking?!) and the man placed each one into a plastic bag, which the women then took and slipped into...

oh we need a drum roll here really bad.

...their "Paper or Plastic? Neither" reusable totes they'd purchased from Walmart; which they were each sporting on their shoulders. I literally rolled my eyes and spoke OUT LOUD to them, in as nice a way as I could muster "Don't you think that pretty much destroys the entire point of those bags?" and let out a laugh, so they didn't think I was about to beat them out. They both started laughed uncomfortably, realizing what they'd done, and one said "Oh my, it just might." and then the other one, I guess realizing she wasn't going down without a fight, said "Ha ha, It might not, though." To which I responded, "Oh no, it does."

Ok, OK. So I didn't say that very last line. But it was burning a space in my brain as I walked away from them. I mean, COME on people? Give me a break. And... rant over. (Hey, it's almost resolutions time! What will yours be this year? No more plastic bags? No more paper towels. Come on, break that bad habit! AND, more on this later... I know, you're so excited.)

+ method lust readers Josh and Kirby have both been scouring the aisles at their local Big Lots lately, and have come back with lots of method finds! Josh has found quite a few of the items previously mentioned here on method lust (eucalyptus + mint hand wash, fig candles, aroma pill refills, etc.) but did also find some sweet water laundry detergent. Perhaps because the new line has hit stores (note on that. Has anyone seen this yet? Target clearanced out the old laundry line, we now have nothing but some softener. And nada. No new line. I'm curious if it's hit anywhere else? But I swear method said it's already made it's way to stores. Perhaps this is the line that will hit in waves. I forget... hey, I write a lot of method stuff. I forget, I'm not an elephant. Anyway...)

Kirby happened to find some ginger yuzu foaming hand wash! So you might want to head out to your local Big Lots and give them a new look see. Josh said to check everywhere, as many of the items he found were in boxes throughout the store, not even on shelves! (Or uhm, perhaps you just have a really messy Big Lots there, Josh. I've seen some doozies!) Good luck everyone!

(PS - Thanks to Sustainable Is Good for the (doctored) photo.)

+ Yeah, see over there on the right. There is no advocate spotlight. You really want to see me cry, now don't you? No, you, I'm pointing at you. That's alright. If you want to see a grown man cry, just keep not sending in your advocate spotlight. OR, you could make me happy, and send one in! Oh, happy is so much better than crying Nathan. Trust me. All cranky and red eyed. Not a pretty sight. Come on, rub your lust for method in everyone else's face! You know you lust method more than they do. Go on, show it. Get in their face. Make them know just how much you love method! I dare you! (Is any of this working? Is this thing on? Hello, hello?)

5 comments:

nonailstoday said...

I work in retail, and this same thing happened to me this weekend.

The store I work at is in the mall, so oftentimes people will already be carrying a couple big bags already. When someone buys one small item, I ask if they would like a bag for it. I cannot believe when they say yes and then toss that little bag into one of their bigger bags.

The lack of common sense will be the downfall to this entire environmental movement. =(

Nathan Aaron said...

Actually, the lack of common sense will be the downfall of mankind. Yeah, not really joking, either. (Unfortunately.) Nathan's doom and gloom, over.

Anonymous said...

I've been saying Big Lots for months...MONTHS!

I picked up a few $2 eucalyptus + mint hand wash. My Big Lots still has Fig Candles as well.

If you have more than one Big Lots in your area-hit them all. ;)

melanemac said...

I always hand my reusable bag first(I have the baggu bags) to the cashier and probably 50% of the time they still put it in the plastic bag. So I kindly remove my product and put it in my baggu and then what do they do? Throw away the plastic bag. WTF?!?! I mean it wasn't even used for 2 seconds.

Sadly, none of our Targets (and we have alot!!!) have clearanced out any of the laundry goods. I keep looking for the new stuff. I really want the new baby laundry stuff, although I really don't want to pay the inflated price of it over the regular kind, but I want to have my clothes smell like the mallow...yummy!

Nathan Aaron said...

Hey melanemac,

Oh, I know where you're coming from! So this is what I do almost everytime now. When I immediately get to the cashier, even if I'm still getting my bag out, I'll say out loud (nicely) to them "I'll just use this bag, if that's alright with you?" Which conveys that I'm keeping their feelings, etc. in check, but would like to use my own bag (I'm trying not to be a total "USE THIS BAG, LOSER!" when I do this, which is why I throw in some nice sweet sugary wording. LOL) Then if they've already begun using a plastic bag (by mistake) I'll say out loud now (because they do throw them away, and I wanna scream!) "I'll just use this bag, and you can save that plastic bag for the next customer." and sometimes I'll even throw in the reason I'm doing it "I'm trying not to take any plastic bags this year, I don't want to waste them." which insinuates that they also shouldn't throw it away.

But at this point, I think I'd actually point out if they threw them away. I'm getting that bold. LOL

Give some of those suggestions a try. For the moment, we still have to be proactive about this. Surprisingly (coming from Walmart!) Walmart is now asking "Paper, plastic, or reusable tote?" when you go to the checkouts. Well, they're supposed to be doing this now. Which is a great step forward! Hopefully Target will catch up!

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