Toting My Horn

Since the start of our frugal days some eight months ago, I have rarely splurged on anything for myself. If I have needed new clothes or new shoes, you can be sure that I made sure I could get one or both at a bargain price or, better yet, by using a gift card that someone else had purchased for me. At the same time I have never been one to go with the whims of fashion or get sucked into labels–at least not since high school.

But for all of this talk of being frugal and fashion-averse, there are times when I see something and I’ve just got to have it. I’m sure my subscription to People magazine doesn’t help in this regard, especially the magazine’s “Style Watch” column. Every once and awhile there will be something in that column that I’ve just got to have. One of those must-have moments first occurred when the magazine wrote about the spray-on foundation like you may have seen Carmindy on “What Not to Wear” using and which I could never find in regular stores. Finally, last summer I splurged on that at the MAC store in London, despite its heart-stopping price tag.

Recently, “Style Watch” had a write-up with picture on Anya Hindmarch s “I’m Not a Plastic Bag” canvas bag, which offers a stylish option for those looking to green their grocery shopping. I’ll admit that it was cool seeing celebs like Reese Witherspoon and Keira Knightley carrying one of these smart bags, but then I just turned the page and continued reading the magazine.

However, in the days to come I found myself continuing to think about this bag, which, it turns out, is very hard to get here in the States. For example, when the bags came to New York, they sold out in hours. And suddenly I discovered that I just had to have this bag.

Just before Thanksgiving I logged onto eBay and started bidding like crazy. I lost out on a pink version of the bag when it went for $80 (I like the bag, but not that much) and then a brown version when it went for $60. I kept checking eBay and kept bidding, but I kept getting outbid. Finally, on a Tuesday, I think, the fury seemed to die down and eventually I succeeded in bidding on and winning an olive-colored bag. I was thrilled.

Truth be told the bag has sat in my closet for the past few weeks because I just couldn’t figure out how or when to use it. It was too nice to actually use for groceries and too expensive to risk having food spill in it. Then my elder daughter was playing on this newer virtual world called Wee World, and her “wee mee” happens to be a green gal with a, get this, Anya Hindmarch “I’m Not a Plastic Bag”–well, of course, the virtual version of it. And her “wee” girl was taking the bag to the mall with her. What an awesome idea.

Today, my daughters decided to have a New Year’s Day shopping extravaganza at the mall so that they could take advantage of all of the post-holiday sales. I didn’t mind the notion of getting good deals as well. And what better an opportunity to break in the bag than today’s shopping trip.

I have to admit that the bag looked quite smart with my outfit but what was even better was asking not to have a bag at department stores where I was shopping. At first I was concerned that some security guy might stop me because I had all of these purchases shoved in my personal bag, not a store bag. But I kept my receipts at the ready, and no one stopped me. And I managed to make it through a day of shopping at the mall without taking home a single bag.

I was actually a bit touched that I inspired my daughters and their friends to do something similar. They decided to use a single department store bag to hold all of their purchases from the various stores they visited. That is, they got a bag at the first store and then at every establishment thereafter they said to the checkout person, “That’s OK. We don’t need a bag. We already have one.”

Be still my green heart.