Will have to remember your alcohol tip. But would caution about using it if rug is on good wood floor--alcohol can do some really nasty things to some wood finishes.

Grocery bags? I wash mine at least every 2nd or 3rd time I use them, more if there was anything in them that might make them dirty. I'm fanatical about what I put my food into. I'm known for getting out of line and going to another checker when I see the cashier lick her fingers to open bags or count money. As a matter of fact, I just did that the other day--with the cashier calling me back to her line. No way do I want my food being spat on by someone, nor in a bag that's not washed regularly.

If you buy woolite with oxy clean you will never have another stain on your carpet.......It just does a fabulous job and it comes with a pet base too.

I wash mine as I feel it's needed. But, must add, I don't buy much meat, and if I do, it goes in plastic.

Other stuff, just isn't that bad. :)

Moni

Very good point about the wood underneath. Unfortunately, I have never been lucky enough to have hard wood floors.

You sound like you are on top of things and very aware of things when it comes to sanitation. I could learn a bunch from you. I really don't know why I never thought to wash those bags before.

Our check-out girls have a little sponge in a bowl to use to moisten their fingers. I can't imagine licking my fingers after handling money!!

Like Moni we put the meat in the produce bags, then into the cloth bag. Oftentimes, there is onion-skin remnants at the bottom of the bag. No meat stains though.

I'll have to find out if the store replaces torn cloth bags. I have one that has a large hole below the handle.
I know the heavy-duty plastic ones are replaced for free.

We re-use cloth bags for grocery shopping....the checker puts meats and produce in plastic, then into the cloth bag.
So, the few plastic bags we bring home are used for garbage(food) disposal in the trash....and they certainly not re-used.

As Jasdip alluded money is FAR filthier than someone "spitting" on (c'mon now, isn't that a bit exaggerated???) a bag. If someone is fearful of a lick, I take it you're Howie Mandelish on shaking hands? What do you do about money? Very little is filthier. Doorknobs? Wastebaskets? Telephones? Purse, computer bags, suitcases, etc? Jewelry? Eyeglasses? Computer keyboards (or PDA, Ipod, etc) or mouse? Railings? Remote control units? Pens? Grocery carts or baskets? You set your food, often unbagged produce right where kids butts are placed. Here's hoping the diaper doesn't leak too much! What about the checkout counter itself?? When's the last time one of them have actually been cleaned? (To say nothing of sanitizing!) It's like wiping your face with a dirty diaper considering peoples' sanitation habits! Care to know how often the store shelves get cleaned? I realize this is just one person's quirk, and don't intend to make light of it, well too much anyway, especially if it's a condition that's more than just a quirk, but I'll bet you never thought about what's out there that's far worse than a grocery bag!

Just hit me... cashiers handling money (to say nothing of picking their noses, scratching their butts, touching their phones, store intercoms, etc) and handling your food at the same time. Hmm. Yet ANOTHER reason I like the self checkouts!

I don't put raw meat in the reuseables. Only packaged items. Any produce is produce bagged and store bagged first if it even gets put in a reuseable. Same with things like flour, pasta or sugar and they go right into the freezer when I get home. Although I realize what's in a grocery store I'm still not paranoid about canned goods, packaged goods and the like in the reuseable bags. They get washed as needed though and an occasional spray with Lysol. I look to take reasonable precautions and avoid paranoia and hysteria. There's germs out there. I look at it this way, spinach was a cause of a big e-coli outbreak for cryin out loud so you can't totally isolate yourself and live a normal life.

I'm surprised they replace the poly bags. I don't know of any places willing to replace them. They sell them only. I wouldn't expect them to, since to me it's kind of like expecting them to replace socks when they get a hole in them! Wait a minute, I know some people who expect that! LOL I can't believe what some people will try to return to stores! And the stories they tell justifying it! And around here, everyone has their own bag, plus some other "designer" bags so I could be using a mix of bags from Menards, Rainbow, Walgreens and unbranded.

This is one point of the article that bears repeating:
"* When using reusable bags, consumers should be careful to separate raw foods from other food products." emphasis added

To me, it's just common sense but so often overlooked. I never use the canvas bags for groceries of any type. Haven't seen any studies to prove anything but it just seems that they would be more prone to aiding growth than would the poly bags.

OF COURSE I wash my reuseable totes!! Gads, who wouldn't?

It's not just meat juices that will contaminate your bags. There is food-bone bacteria on your produce, as well. Salmonella from spinach anyone?

I have been in line behind people who clearly don't clean their reuseable bags. The bags stink. People can be so clueless!

They're reusable bags - not MAGIC bags!! Wash them.

Thanks for the tip on the carpet stains. I have steam cleaned and steam cleaned my carpets and there are some stains that won't come up, like cherry koolaid the kids spilt. I was going to have professionals come in and do them this summer but I'm going to try both the rubbing alcohol and Woolite (if the alcohol doesn't work).

I have a tip, sort of...my kids won't eat anything that takes any effort to fix when I'm not here. I buy watermelon or canteloupe and it goes to waste before it's eaten. Well, staying with my friend on vacation I finally realized I should be cutting the darn things up and putting them in a big Tupperware container. That way no one has to cut any off the big melon, make a mess. It worked, the melon I bought when I got home has a tiny piece left and I'm going to finish it off in a minute.

cynic- Why do your put your pasta, sugar and flour in the freezer? Is that to kill any pantry bugs?

I don't put meat in the reusable bags, ever. Produce is already put in plastic bags in the produce department or comes bagged. My biggest problem is remembering to take the darned things with me to the store--and if I get them in the car, remembering to take them inside with me. I had them out sitting on the dryer with the grocery lists on top of them yesterday and picked the lists up and left the bags home. GRRRR!

I agree with cynic. Our purses probably have a lot more bad germs than our shopping bags!

CA is considering banning all plastic bags. Oddly, this news came out about how dangerously contaminated our re-usable bags are. Hmmmmm....I wonder if there is any connection.

For one thing, the bag manufacturers do not want these bags discontinued because many people will lose their jobs.

If you want to talk about dirty, think about the carts themselves. Children stand in them, diapered bottoms sit in the carts, people go to the store sick and use the carts, raw meat and chicken sit in the carts. I fear the carts more than the bags.

I don't use cloth bags, as far as money and stuff like that goes. I don't touch my face while out in public. I have not been sick since I developed that habit. If someone turns my drinking cup upside down on the counter I ask for another one. I also use straws because dishwasher are not as sanitary as people think.

Our county is actually planning to ban all bags both paper and plastic. It will be interesting to see how people will do their holiday shopping. I plan to just drive elsewhere to do my shopping. So I will be burning even more fuel to do so.

I have a neighbor who is a grocery checker. She tells me you wouldn't believe some of the filthy reusable bags people bring in. Some even smell. I have a friend who uses uses them and rides the bus. Our buses are filthy. She uses the cheap ones they sell for a dollar. Like my friend the people I see using the cheap non washable bags are those who can least afford them.

A lot of those bags sold as reusable in stores are made in China. The environmental cost of manufacturing and shipping those bags far outweighs that of paper or plastic bags.

If someone uses strong washable bags I have no problem with it. But if you follow the money you will see that this is just another way for stores to save money on regular bags and make a profit on cheap reusable, most of which will end up in the landfills taking more space than plastic or even paper.

I'm so sick of the hype that I find myself refusing to buy anything with the word "green" on the label. Just like I refuse to buy products that relabel themselves with healthy slogans like low fat, low carb, cholesterol free or whatever when none of those things were a part of the product in the first place. My own little rebellion.LOL

If our country was really serious about reusing and recycling we would be buying milk,soda and other liquids in glass bottles that could be sterilized and reused. All those cartons in grocery stores could be used for packing up food just like in the old days. now they are broken down and tossed in the dumpster. We would be building cars and appliances that would last a couple of decades like they used to. We would have neighborhood schools instead of busing our kids across town. Chewing gum would still be in sticks with a paper wrapper instead of being embalmed in foil, a small box held together with plastic wrap. I bought 24 rolls of toilet paper the other day. The paper was bundled in four roll packs of plastic. Then the plastic wrapped bundles were put in set of three with more plastic. The cardboard roll was twice the circumference of the old rolls. The paper is becoming thinner. I'll take thicker paper over more plastic and cardboard. Seems they could give me better paper if they eliminated the cost of the extra plastic and giant tube. At least we use the TP. Waste anyone?

I'm LMAO here. How do some of you manage to leave the house without a Hazmat suit on? LOL

We are not forced to use reusable bags yet!!!

Socks I agree with you on the carts. I never understood why there are not health standards set for carts. I remember back when stores would steam clean the carts daily. Now they never seem to get cleaned.

Kids sitting in carts is the worst health hazard of all. I don't understand why the health dept. hasn't stepped in.

There was a documentary about the germs on the handles and where the little kids sit. Absolutely gross.
Some of our stores have wipes that you can use, but no one uses them. **When I remember** I use hand sanitizer on the handle.

I checked the label in a couple of my re-useable bags. The one that is tearing is made of 100% non-woven polypropylene.
It says to hand wash in cool water.
I can just poke my fingers through the material, so it won't be used to carry groceries. Right now it's sitting on the floor full of magazines.

The other one I looked at is 100% polyester, and it says to hand wash as well.

I notice alot of people putting unbagged produce in the grocery cart seat. After witnessing what kids have done in that seat, there is NO way I'd do that. I know the produce isn't "clean" to begin with, but...

I too remember when carts were steam cleaned on a regular basis. I haven't seen it done in years.

I've been using the zip-top insulated bags I bought at our grocery (Jewel) a year ago. I've wiped them out with sanatizer a couple of times. They're fine! Produce is in thin plastic bags. Meat products are wrapped in plastic at the meat counter and put in plastic bags at checkout before they go into my bags.

I also have some plain cotton bags. Have never washed them. No odor. Bags are in my car trunk for five minutes from the grocery.

Hawaii's law banning plastic bags takes effect in January, I believe.

It isn't that long ago that a shopper carried a string bag or a wicker basket to the greengrocer, the butcher, the baker. Nothing was 'pre-wrapped'. You tucked a loaf of French bread under your arm and took it home.

Grandma said you had to eat a peck of dirt before you died. LOL (I'm working on that, primarily with baked potato skins.)

"cynic- Why do your put your pasta, sugar and flour in the freezer? Is that to kill any pantry bugs?
That's exactly why maire_cate! We don't have anywhere near the problems that some states have with the bugs but I've been in the back rooms of enough grocery stores to say, in the freezer! I actually put them in a plastic bag to bring them home, then into the freezer, plastic bag and all for 2-3 days minimum. I've never had to clean out flour bugs from my house and hope I never will have that duty. Or should I say dooty?

Say Wildchild, about your comment "Like my friend the people I see using the cheap non washable bags are those who can least afford them." Are you talking about paper/plastic from the store? Usually they're "free", but with reuseables, many stores here give a 5 credit. We all know the cost of these bags are factored into the overhead, therefore into pricing at the store. If you're referencing the reuseable bags you buy, I haven't seen one yet that can't be washed so if that's the reference, where do you get this idea? I've even washed plastic bags from the store! (The cheapie "free" ones.)

Also, I have to question your position:
"But if you follow the money you will see that this is just another way for stores to save money on regular bags and make a profit on cheap reusable, most of which will end up in the landfills taking more space than plastic or even paper."
*If* the store has you bring a bag, AND not give you a credit for not taking a bag, then yes it's another way to save money and to that I say why not? Stores *are* in business to make a profit. However, if the store gives the credit, then I dispute your position since the bags probably cost the store less than 5¢ each so in many cases, it can cost the store money for people to bring the bags in, to say nothing of the loss of bags people don't purchase - grab, use and not mention it to the cashier. Next I'll take issue with the landfill: Yes, one reuseable probably takes more space than one paper or plastic, but I don't think it's fair to say we'll throw the reuseables away after only one use! Or for that matter after 2-3 uses even. Therefore they would keep a number of bags out of the landfill so, are you suggesting that one reuseable takes more landfill space than 50-100 other bags? I don't know what the ratio is, but I know I've used mine now at least 10 times each and they're still like new. Granted there's some wobble room there since some of the other bags would get reused as trash bags. Sometimes get reused even several times (for Aldi trips, carrying things to the vehicle and the like). And yes, sometimes I'll take a bag on top of it as mentioned. But I can't "buy" the theory that there's more landfill space used. You'll have to "sell" me on that one!

For the toilet paper core, I agree completely. I've said they should have a minimal size tube in it, 1" maximum. For that matter, make the toilet paper holder thinner. 1/4" would be more than adequate. However, people buy from looks. They tried reducing core size years ago and are trying it again but in the past people rejected it as they did compaction of the laundry detergents. Didn't think they were getting their money's worth. I buy Scott 1000 sheet cheekscrape and it takes less room in the closet, costs less and is as good quality as most any other and far better than many. Compare how many rolls you need to get 1000 sheets sometime folks and you'll see what I mean.

On cardboard, Aldi let's you (encourages you actually to) take and use the boxes in the store. Saves them trash costs. You dispose of it.

And finally, I can't hit submit until I address the "China Syndrome"! I keep seeing the woe-is-me posts on here about all the business going to China and although yes I think it's sad, I realize what's going on. Why do we get so much from China? Because that's what people BUY! I remember the tearful threads about Walmart not carrying fabric in some stores anymore. That's not carried because people don't BUY it! Trust me, if people bought fabric and made their own clothes and such, Walmart would probably have a store called Cloth*Mart, charge you $75/year to enter it, make you check out 3 times to leave and charge you 50% more than buying it somewhere else! And people would brag about how much they save! But until people buy, they won't keep selling. Stores need "turns". It costs them money to keep the lights on and every item has to carry its weight on profit.

Oops, one other thing. I found the comments on that link about sanitation of the reuseable bags to be quite interesting and I think they made a valid point. Don't forget to read the comments there if you read the article.

I'm reminded of the boy in the bubble ...