The Daily Tightwad Tutor–Lesson #5: Save at Least $50 Using Your Own Grocery Bags

by TFF, posted in The Tightwad's Notebook
Daily Tightwad Tutor–Lesson #5: Save at Least $50 Using Your Own Grocery Bags
CVS Green Leaf Tag
The idea behind this CVS tag is that you bring your own bags in to the store and you get paid for doing so. You can buy this tag at the front registers at any CVS store for .99 cents, or sometimes you can get it for free wtih a CVS coupon from the store’s red box. Use it every time you make a purchase, it adds up and then you get an Extra Buck to use at the store. One caveat: you must bring in your own bag in order for the cashier to swipe the tag. (Though many kind cashiers give you a bag anyhow, even if you don’t have one, and they swipe the card.)

Take your own bags to the store. (I am bad at remembering to do this, but now that I’m doing the math….)

Depending on store policy, grocery stores credit .02 to .05 cents per bag. (We hear that ShopRite offers the higher rate for a canvas bag versus a plastic one.) And CVS gives you credit for taking your own bag into the store but only if you have that green leaf card they can also swipe with every transaction (which after a few visits offers you a dollar of Extra Bonus Bucks).

So, when you do the math for a year, it adds. up. Example: If you go to a store and bring ten of your own bags, you are getting .50 cents off your shopping bill (for .05 cents per bag). Say you go twice a week. That’s $1 a week. Go twice a week all year and what have you saved? $50! I’m sure large families have more bags!
Not a lot to you….but you wouldn’t throw a $50.00 dollar bill away….would you?
Our English friend, Wendy, says that in England, you have to buy your bags and bag your own groceries (like you have to do at PriceRite if you come bagless), and that cuts down on the amount of bags that are used/bought. (Wonder if this will be the wave of the future here in the U.S.? See this post in Related Articles below!)
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