Strange habits you have

[webny99]

I also have to sleep in total darkness with the door closed.

I find weird sleep habits kind of interesting, so I guess it's fitting that I have a few of them.

-I can fall asleep with the light on, but when it happens, it's usually an accident.
-I do like complete darkness, though, so I keep a towel draped over my alarm clock. (It's the only alarm I could find that's loud enough, but it's also very bright, even at minimum brightness.)
-I have two digital clocks, the one mentioned above, and a smaller, dimmer one that I can use to see the time. Both are always set on weekdays.
-I usually wear just boxer briefs to sleep, if anything. I've slept shirtless since I was about 12 or 13.
-When it's very quiet or completely silent, my ears start ringing, so I have a noisemaker.

Now I'm not sure how much of that stuff is actually strange, and how much of it is just stuff I assume is strange, because, well, how would I know? 

[kphoger]

I find weird sleep habits kind of interesting, so I guess it's fitting that I have a few of them.

-I can fall asleep with the light on, but when it happens, it's usually an accident.
-I do like complete darkness, though, so I keep a towel draped over my alarm clock. (It's the only alarm I could find that's loud enough, but it's also very bright, even at minimum brightness.)
-I have two digital clocks, the one mentioned above, and a smaller, dimmer one that I can use to see the time. Both are always set on weekdays.
-I usually wear just boxer briefs to sleep, if anything. I've slept shirtless since I was about 12 or 13.
-When it's very quiet or completely silent, my ears start ringing, so I have a noisemaker.

Now I'm not sure how much of that stuff is actually strange, and how much of it is just stuff I assume is strange, because, well, how would I know? 

I think the highlighted ones are probably pretty common.

Also, not only do plenty of people have two clocks, but you can find people with two alarm clocks–one to wake them up, then one later to make them get out of bed and walk across the room to shut it off.

[webny99]

I find weird sleep habits kind of interesting, so I guess it's fitting that I have a few of them.

-I can fall asleep with the light on, but when it happens, it's usually an accident. ...
-I usually wear just boxer briefs to sleep, if anything. I've slept shirtless since I was about 12 or 13. ...

Now I'm not sure how much of that stuff is actually strange, and how much of it is just stuff I assume is strange, because, well, how would I know? 

I think the highlighted ones are probably pretty common.

That's fair. I think the second one pertains mostly to guys, not ladies. The guys on my dad's side of the family mostly wear T-shirts to bed, so I thought I was the oddball until I got older and decided maybe they were. I'm still not sure, but I'd like to know.

Also, not only do plenty of people have two clocks, but you can find people with two alarm clocks–one to wake them up, then one later to make them get out of bed and walk across the room to shut it off.

Sorry, I should have clarified: they are both alarm clocks. I guess I did say they're both set on weekdays... 

I set them both for the same time, so I'll be sure to wake up. I do have to get out of bed to turn one off, but the problem is, I often don't stay on my feet, and instead get back under the covers. Haven't mastered the psychology side of it just yet...

[SectorZ]

I find weird sleep habits kind of interesting, so I guess it's fitting that I have a few of them.

-I can fall asleep with the light on, but when it happens, it's usually an accident.
-I do like complete darkness, though, so I keep a towel draped over my alarm clock. (It's the only alarm I could find that's loud enough, but it's also very bright, even at minimum brightness.)
-I have two digital clocks, the one mentioned above, and a smaller, dimmer one that I can use to see the time. Both are always set on weekdays.
-I usually wear just boxer briefs to sleep, if anything. I've slept shirtless since I was about 12 or 13.
-When it's very quiet or completely silent, my ears start ringing, so I have a noisemaker.

Now I'm not sure how much of that stuff is actually strange, and how much of it is just stuff I assume is strange, because, well, how would I know? 

I think the highlighted ones are probably pretty common.

Also, not only do plenty of people have two clocks, but you can find people with two alarm clocks–one to wake them up, then one later to make them get out of bed and walk across the room to shut it off.

Count me (as a teenager at least) for the needing to put an alarm clock across the room to ensure I wouldn't hit snooze a bunch of times.

[kphoger]

I have a friend who puts his second alarm clock in the bathroom.  That way, he has to actually leave the room in order to not wake up others in the house.

[kphoger]

Whenever I throw an aluminum can away, I crush it in my hands first, so it looks like this:



One of my chores growing up was, every so often, to empty the aluminum recycling bin onto the garage floor, stand all of the cans up, stomp them flat, and put them all back in the bin.  Even though we don't recycle at our house, I still feel the need to flatten the cans.  I suppose it also comes from remembering the old slogan "reduce, reuse, recycle".  I always assumed the "reduce" part meant "make your trash as physically small as possible", but it occurs to me as I type this that it might have actually meant "reduce the amount of stuff you throw away to begin with".

Also, when we receive a shipment in the mail, I flatten every piece of cardboard, pop every air pillow, take every piece out of every other piece–even if it takes a couple of minutes with a box knife–before throwing it away.  Most people seem to just toss the whole box in the trash, thereby taking up half the can sometimes, but that drives me absolutely bonkers.  (At least I know I'm not the only one on that count.)  The way my wife does it is to stuff all the little bits down inside the half-opened box, such that I have to take them all out again if I want to flatten the box–pick your battles.  I don't remember if I mentioned that on the "pet peeves" thread.

[jakeroot]

One of my chores growing up was, every so often, to empty the aluminum recycling bin onto the garage floor, stand all of the cans up, stomp them flat, and put them all back in the bin.  Even though we don't recycle at our house, I still feel the need to flatten the cans.  I suppose it also comes from remembering the old slogan "reduce, reuse, recycle".  I always assumed the "reduce" part meant "make your trash as physically small as possible", but it occurs to me as I type this that it might have actually meant "reduce the amount of stuff you throw away to begin with".

You forgot the other "r": resize.

[Scott5114]

I always assumed the "reduce" part meant "make your trash as physically small as possible", but it occurs to me as I type this that it might have actually meant "reduce the amount of stuff you throw away to begin with".

That is indeed what it meant. Also, it's been generally forgotten that "reduce, reuse, recycle" is listed in order of priority–reduce consumption so that fewer trees have to be cut down, oil has to be extracted, etc. to begin with; reuse things that you have already bought in order to further reduce consumption, then recycle everything that you couldn't get away from using. For example, with a plastic bag, first preference is to avoid using the bag at all (instead carrying it in your hands, or use a cloth bag instead); if you must use a plastic bag, reuse it (perhaps bring it back to the store and use it again, or use it as a trash bag instead of using a new purpose-made trash bag), and recycle.

Unfortunately reducing consumption and reusing stuff doesn't allow companies to vacuum money out of anyone's pocket, so the emphasis has been on recycling for much of the past 20 years when, really, it's the least effective of the three. Still important in conjunction with the other two, but the other two have way more of an impact.

[kphoger]

or use a cloth bag instead

I've read from multiple sources that the total environmental toll of reusable cloth bags, from manufacturing through the end of its life, is much greater than that of single-use plastic bags.  Like, you'd have to use a canvas bag thousands of times in order to break even.  The last such report I heard about it was on NPR, and the commentator mentioned how ironic it was that they were in the process of giving away canvas bags as part of the pledge drive or whatever.

Unfortunately reducing consumption and reusing stuff doesn't allow companies to vacuum money out of anyone's pocket, so the emphasis has been on recycling for much of the past 20 years when, really, it's the least effective of the three. Still important in conjunction with the other two, but the other two have way more of an impact.

We are very much a one-and-done, throw-it-away society, aren't we?

A simple one for me was switching from a plastic shaving instrument to an old-fashioned double-edge safety razor several years ago.  I occasionally use a Gillette Slim I got from my dad, for example, that was the first razor he ever owned.  Based on decoding the date stamp on it, the thing was manufactured in 1963 and still being used.  The blades cost me about 10 to 20 cents each when purchased in bulk, I get five to ten uses out of each one, and they're recyclable wherever steel is accepted.  I first looked into making the switch because of cost, but now I just can't stomach going back to the plastic junk I was using before.

[kphoger]

Lactose tolerance is a strange habit, according to most of the world's population. Milk is good as an ingredient, but not by itself.

I have a vague memory of the US sending a whole bunch of infant formula to Somalia as part of a relief effort, only to find that it made babies sick because the majority of Somalia is lactose-intolerant.

[webny99]

Whenever I throw an aluminum can away, I crush it in my hands first, so it looks like this:

[img snipped]

That's not a thing in any state that does bottle and can returns, because the return machines don't accept crushed cans.

[1995hoo]

or use a cloth bag instead

I've read from multiple sources that the total environmental toll of reusable cloth bags, from manufacturing through the end of its life, is much greater than that of single-use plastic bags.  Like, you'd have to use a canvas bag thousands of times in order to break even.  The last such report I heard about it was on NPR, and the commentator mentioned how ironic it was that they were in the process of giving away canvas bags as part of the pledge drive or whatever.

You could always use cardboard boxes. There's no rule that requires anyone to use bags and only bags at the grocery store.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I don't particularly enjoy eating "breakfast"  foods, so my breakfast often consists of sandwiches, pizza, tacos, burgers, or pasta (not always last night's leftovers; often things I made or bought fresh that morning). Used to have meat and potatoes in a crock pot for breakfast when I was in high school. I should start doing that again.

Taco Bell starts lunch at 9 and I think Sonic does it all day, so those are often my morning go-tos on the road.

So do you eat two lunches, or an early lunch and then dinner?

It depends on my schedule for that day. I'm a night owl and often don't get up until 10-11 and usually just have two meals, but I do work a morning every 2-3 weeks where I have to plan my breakfast a bit more either bringing food home the night before or getting up early enough to make something. I usually end up eating a more traditional three meals on those days.

[kphoger]

return machines

Never used one of those.

When I have a large amount of recyclable material, I drop it off here.  For cardboard boxes, I drive around to the side and drop it off there.

You could always use cardboard boxes. There's no rule that requires anyone to use bags and only bags at the grocery store.

That's what I do at Aldi.  I've been using the same three boxes for probably two years.

But, at Dillon's (Kroger), how would that work?  We buy enough just at that one store every two weeks to fill at least five paper bags all the way to the top (a family of five plus a home daycare).  How would the bagger do his or her job then, without bags?

[webny99]

I have a friend who puts his second alarm clock in the bathroom.  That way, he has to actually leave the room in order to not wake up others in the house.

Smart if you sleep right near a bathroom...

[webny99]

You could always use cardboard boxes. There's no rule that requires anyone to use bags and only bags at the grocery store.

Pointing out the obvious here, but cardboard boxes are a lot more cumbersome to use and harder to store because they're not collapsible.

That's what I do at Aldi.  I've been using the same three boxes for probably two years.

That's smart. For me, as a kid, part of going to Aldi's was finding the empty boxes on the shelves that we could take with us and use to load everything in. We never reused them, though.

return machines

Never used one of those.

Here's what they look like, just in case you or anyone else was wondering. The opening at the bottom is where anything that's rejected goes. I haven't used one myself in ages, since we take ours to a return center now.

[Scott5114]

or use a cloth bag instead

I've read from multiple sources that the total environmental toll of reusable cloth bags, from manufacturing through the end of its life, is much greater than that of single-use plastic bags.  Like, you'd have to use a canvas bag thousands of times in order to break even.  The last such report I heard about it was on NPR, and the commentator mentioned how ironic it was that they were in the process of giving away canvas bags as part of the pledge drive or whatever.

One of the problems with trying to do right by the environment is that you can play all sorts of fun accounting tricks to make anything appear more or less environmentally conscious. If you make a bag out of cotton, well, that's bad because think of all of the water it took to water that cotton field, and all of the native species that were displaced from the field the first time it was farmed. If it's made of wool, that's even worse, because you had to water and feed the sheep! A bag made of synthetic fabric probably uses more oil than a single-use plastic bag does.

I go for a common-sense approach here, and still use the cloth bags, because it means I don't have to do something with the plastic (or paper) bags afterward. My current fleet of bags was all given to me for free anyway through things like conventions, so I'd still have them even if I wasn't using them. I prefer them anyway because they're larger and stronger than store-provided bags, which reduces the number of trips it takes to bring the groceries in from the car. (Occasionally my wife will go to Walmart instead of Crest without the bags, since they live in my trunk. Walmart bagging policy infuriates me because it seems like they go out of their way to put one item by itself in a bag as much as possible.)

As individuals, we're playing around the margins, anyway. When I worked the off-track betting counter at a casino one of the clerks put together a spreadsheet estimating how much paper we used for the racing programs (booklets that list out the horses participating in each race, along with statistics about them, necessarily good for one day only). She calculated that in the four years we were open we had used 100,000 sheets of 8½ × 11" paper on programs alone (not even counting paper usage for race tickets and things like flyers and internal paperwork). I doubt I've used 100,000 sheets of paper in my life, so even if I never touched a piece of paper again, I could never begin to have the opportunity to reduce environmental impact the way a business could.

But, at Dillon's (Kroger), how would that work?  We buy enough just at that one store every two weeks to fill at least five paper bags all the way to the top (a family of five plus a home daycare).  How would the bagger do his or her job then, without bags?

My standard procedure at Crest with my reusable bags is to place them on the belt before my food items. The cashier passes them down to the bagger, then starts scanning the items. The bagger knows what to do from there. (I would imagine cardboard boxes might take slightly more explanation due to the novelty but I doubt it would cause a problem.)

[kphoger]

I have a friend who puts his second alarm clock in the bathroom.  That way, he has to actually leave the room in order to not wake up others in the house.

Smart if you sleep right near a bathroom...

It's even smarter if you don't.  The point is that he has to get out of his bedroom and shut it off before it sounds, or else it wakes his wife and/or kids up.

Aldi's

No such store.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I've also heard a brand new artificial Christmas tree has to be used for 20 Christmases before it reaches the environmental impact of one live tree.

[webny99]

Aldi's

No such store.

FTFY... 

[1995hoo]

You could always use cardboard boxes. There's no rule that requires anyone to use bags and only bags at the grocery store.

Pointing out the obvious here, but cardboard boxes are a lot more cumbersome to use and harder to store because they're not collapsible.

Probably depends on how much storage space you have. My mom re-used the same cardboard boxes every week for years at Shoppers Food Warehouse (similar to Aldi, you packed your own groceries at that store, and they charged 3¢ per bag so most people used boxes or re-used bags–this was well before the "cloth bag" trend took hold).

You could always use cardboard boxes. There's no rule that requires anyone to use bags and only bags at the grocery store.

That's what I do at Aldi.  I've been using the same three boxes for probably two years.

But, at Dillon's (Kroger), how would that work?  We buy enough just at that one store every two weeks to fill at least five paper bags all the way to the top (a family of five plus a home daycare).  How would the bagger do his or her job then, without bags?

Probably the same way he does if you bring reusable bags: He has to look at the bags and your purchases and figure out how best to fit things in. Either way is better than the habit many cashiers (or bagboys) have of sticking one or two items per plastic bag such that your total purchase that would fit in two or three boxes or four reusable bags winds up in 20 plastic bags!

The ideal is if the store has an option of scanning as you go, so you scan the groceries and put them in bags or boxes right away arranged according to your own preference. Of course not all stores have that. Wegmans has it, but the app you use for it is not integrated with their other app that you can use to make your grocery list. I find the "grocery list app" more useful (it sorts everything according to what aisle it's in and then you check it off as you go), so I use that. If they could integrate the "scanner app" into that, so that you scan an item and it checks it off your list for you, I'd be all over that.

[kphoger]

I've also heard a brand new artificial Christmas tree has to be used for 20 Christmases before it reaches the environmental impact of one live tree.

Did they factor in cats who drink all the water out of the tray under the real tree, and then the environmental toll of your house burning down because it turned into kindling for a short in the light string?   

[kphoger]

My current fleet of bags was all given to me for free anyway through things like conventions, so I'd still have them even if I wasn't using them.

Which, of course, is the best of both worlds:  you haven't added to the waste at all (you didn't go out and acquire them), while still having a convenient way of hauling your stuff.

Walmart bagging policy infuriates me because it seems like they go out of their way to put one item by itself in a bag as much as possible.

Either way is better than the habit many cashiers (or bagboys) have of sticking one or two items per plastic bag such that your total purchase that would fit in two or three boxes or four reusable bags winds up in 20 plastic bags!

I'm noticing a trend here...  And it drives me nuts too.  Not just because it wastes bags, but also because I don't want to haul 22 bags in from the car.

The cashier passes them down to the bagger, then starts scanning the items. The bagger knows what to do from there. (I would imagine cardboard boxes might take slightly more explanation due to the novelty but I doubt it would cause a problem.)

He has to look ... and figure out how best to fit things in.

In theory, yes.  In practice, they'd probably just toss stuff in there and then wonder what to do when they run out of room.  Let's be honest, they can barely handle paper bags.  It's pathetic enough that I choose my checkout lane based on who the bagger is, not based on how short the line is.

The ideal is if the store has an option of scanning as you go, so you scan the groceries and put them in bags or boxes right away arranged according to your own preference. Of course not all stores have that. Wegmans has it, but the app you use for it is not integrated with their other app that you can use to make your grocery list. I find the "grocery list app" more useful (it sorts everything according to what aisle it's in and then you check it off as you go), so I use that. If they could integrate the "scanner app" into that, so that you scan an item and it checks it off your list for you, I'd be all over that.

We've considered the scan-as-you-go thing for at least a year now, but we haven't actually jumped on it yet.  My wife uses a grocery app that's similar to what you describe, but that's more or less a separate topic for us.

[webny99]

I have a friend who puts his second alarm clock in the bathroom.  That way, he has to actually leave the room in order to not wake up others in the house.

Smart if you sleep right near a bathroom...

It's even smarter if you don't.  The point is that he has to get out of his bedroom and shut it off before it sounds, or else it wakes his wife and/or kids up.

Oh, I see. Interesting idea. I'm always look for foolproof ways to get myself up, so I'm trying to game that one out, but I don't think I could make it work.

[Scott5114]

The cashier passes them down to the bagger, then starts scanning the items. The bagger knows what to do from there. (I would imagine cardboard boxes might take slightly more explanation due to the novelty but I doubt it would cause a problem.)

He has to look ... and figure out how best to fit things in.

In theory, yes.  In practice, they'd probably just toss stuff in there and then wonder what to do when they run out of room.  Let's be honest, they can barely handle paper bags.  It's pathetic enough that I choose my checkout lane based on who the bagger is, not based on how short the line is.

Crest must hire smarter baggers than Dillon's. Usually they manage to fit all the groceries in my bags without a problem. In the cases I haven't brought enough bags to cover the groceries (because I forgot to put them all back in the car, or because one still has stuff in it from a previous trip that I haven't bothered to put away yet), then they ask if I want paper or plastic for the rest.

I also use a trick my mom taught me to ensure that I don't have conflict with the baggers–put the heaviest items on the belt first (so they are guaranteed to end up at the bottom of the bags), then frozen and refrigerated items (so they end up in the bags together and can keep each other cold, and also so you know what to put away first), then everything else, then finally the fragile things like produce and such last (so that it has no other place to end up but on top of the bags).