Simple Solutions - Dry Cleaning

My apologies for not having posted anything on the blog since May!  I thought that summer break would afford me more time given we aren't bogged down with the kids' busy school load and activities, but instead I've been tied up on the major renovation taking place on our house, which included having to move into a rental house for 6 months.

Given, I only have sporadic chances to blog (as opposed to taking several hours to write a longer, more thought out post), I decided to use this opportunity to post about one-off solutions that don't require a lengthy entry.  I hope to hit you with as many "Simple Solutions" this month as possible BEFORE school is back in session.

So, here goes #1: "Dry Cleaning"

A couple of months ago, I had a "aha!" moment when it came to the problem of dry cleaning, namely those single use plastic bags in which your clothes are returned.  Looking back, I have to laugh at myself for not having thought of it sooner.  Honestly, it was more of a "duh!" moment than "aha!"

Obviously, I had choosen an environmentally-friendly dry cleaner years ago.  But it was only recently (once my Zero Waste mission commenced) that I realized I needed to tackle the problem of the single use bag. My first solution (rolling my eyes in hindsight) was to return all of the bags to the cleaners to use again (fingers crossed).  I have been returning hangers for years thanks to the convenience of a hanger caddy compliments of the cleaners, so why not bags too?  They can reuse them, right?  Then one day, while stuffing the plastic bags along with my dirty clothes into a "cloth" laundry bag to be handed off to my cleaners, the light bulb went on.  Instead of the single use bags to return my clothes, the cleaners could simply put them in a reusable "cloth" garment bag like this:

You only need 2 and they cost about $10 each (http://www.amazon.com/Travel-Five-Gusset-Dress-Bag/dp/B0000YRQEE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1376504631&sr=8-4&keywords=garment+bag): 1 to drop off the first visit, and 1 more to drop off on the second visit when you pick up the previously dropped off clothes.  So, for $20 bucks you can help eliminate the need for single use garment bags.  Heck, many of you may already have these laying around from dress or suit purchases from department or other high end stores.  Before you go buy some, check around your house to see if you already have them.  A simple and inexpensive (if not free) solution!