I never thought I would be writing a blog post on garbage bags. But life is strange that way.
A few years after moving into our current home, we decided to get a new garbage can for the kitchen. At that time, our local supermarket packed groceries in plastic bags with handles. I brought one of those bags along to Bed Bath and Beyond so that I could find a garbage can whose size would allow me to use these plastic bags. I found one with the ideal design for our kitchen and the perfect size for these supermarket bags.
As time went on, we found that not all free garbage bags were created equal. (I think the quality of the bags started to decline.) After putting away our groceries, we would scrutinize the bags to make sure there weren’t any tiny holes at the bottom that would allow garbage to seep through into the bottom of our garbage can liner. We were not always successful in weeding out the losers, and we had to clean up a lot of messes.
In 2020, New York City banned plastic shopping bags. We started bringing reusable shopping bags to the supermarket. It took us a while to use up our stash of free garbage bags, but eventually we had to start buying trash bags. I was experimenting to find the exact size that would fit our garbage can.
Then I had a brilliant idea. Our garbage can was made by Simple Human. They also sold garbage bags that were designed to fit their garbage cans exactly. Since I was already buying garbage bags, I decided to try theirs to see if we liked them.
Well, we didn’t just like them — we loved them! I can’t believe we lived all these years without them. Having high-quality bags that fit our garbage can has truly improved our lives. We never run out because I order a box of 60 and then reorder when the box gets low. The total cost for a full year is around $100.
Some of my clients still have big collections of crappy store bags (even crappier than the ones I was using). They take up a lot of space in small kitchen cabinets. I urge them to save a few and ditch the rest, and buy higher quality bags.
Is there something you are using because it is free, but it really isn’t serving your needs? Research how much it would really cost you to upgrade to a paid item. If it isn’t very much, consider improving the quality of your life.
