Yellow and blue make green... it's sealed!

Apparently I'm a crazy bag lady.

While I was cleaning out my kitchen the other night I came across my secret stash--okay, I'll be honest, not one, but a few secret stashes--of Ziploc bags. Throughout my childhood I can remember my mom washing Ziploc bags by hand and reusing them for our packed lunches, leftovers, etc. She would always say they are perfectly good bags and expensive to boot, so we were supposed to save them from our lunches and bring them home. And dutifully, I did.

I'm happy to report that's a habit I've continued, well, the saving and bringing home of the bags. It makes perfect sense, they are expensive and can be used many more times than just once. Saving the bags is another step in living more sustainably, which despite my showering habits, is actually really important to me.

So as I'm emptying drawers and cupboards, I came across two secret hiding places for my bags. You see, as good as I am at saving bags and bringing bags home--I'll even bring home other people's bags for myself--I am absolutely terrible about actually washing the bags. And, I've been known on one or seven occasions to take the pile of bags waiting to be washed on my counter and jam them into nooks and crannies of my kitchen before having guests over. I always have the same thought, as soon as they leave I'll pull them out and wash them. Ah, the cleaning habits of a lazy Virgo.

But apparently, I forgot about a couple of stashes of probably four dozen bags. When I hit the Ziploc jackpot the other night I found myself faced with a very challenging decision. I could either a) wash and dry the handfuls upon handfuls of bags, or I could b) do what normal people do and throw them away. Horror of horrors, I tossed them. With limited time of sinkdom left in my life before demolition derby, I didn't want to spend it hunched over my sink desperately turning baggies inside out making sure all the suds wash away.

So as I tossed the bags away, I made a little promise to them that when I get my new kitchen I will start over with new bags and a new commitment to washing them out... although I can't help but think that I'm nearly doubling my drawer and cupboard space, just think of the nooks and crannies.