THE STORY OF THE BAG LADY

The neat and tidy evolution of the Baginabag.

As a hyper organized and mildly obsessive mother, I continuously increased the size of my purse as I found more and more things that I couldn’t live without during the day. It was getting embarrassing to lug a suitcase around town with me (consider that I’m 5’ tall on a good day, and the picture will make a little more sense).

And then I realized…

I can always get a box of band-aids. I just can’t always get them the second I need one. I can always get a bottle of ibuprofen, I just can’t always get it the moment I would like it.

So I really don’t have to carry the entire box of band-aids, and a whole bottle of nail polish remover (don’t ask). I just needed to carry one or two, to get me to the time and place where I can get the whole box/bottle/pack of whatever I was carrying.

I then created myself a “one of everything” bag, which I carried around close to my heart for a year or so.

After being made fun of by all of my friends, they one by one secretly admitted that they, too, would like a one of everything bag. This, naturally, became my signature gift for birthdays, showers, etc. And in true Virgo style, every little zip top bag was labeled and put in order.

And after each gift delivery, I would undoubtedly hear “you really ought to sell these”.

For two years, I’ve been hearing “you really ought to sell these”.

So I am.

Here are a few things you should know about me / us / our company when deciding to buy a baginabag. This is the most perfect career path for me. I have been collecting shopping bags for years, I have a color-sorted bag cabinet in my home that I covet – organized by size, shape and color. I love bags. I have a bench to store purses, and it’s full. I save free bags from restaurants because of their wonderful square-bottom shape. I save plastic bags from the grocery store because I love how the handles magically stick together even when there’s no holder. I save jewelry bags because they’re pretty. I’m really, really, really a bag lady. So clearly, the #1 most important thing to me is the actual baginabag.

Then there’s the #2, 3 and 4 most important things. If you’re interested in some of the behind-the-bag information, read on.

When designing this company my husband and I considered what we would want to make it perfect. We would like to do as little damage to the environment as possible, and we would like to use American made products whenever we can. Check and check. We’re making sure that we use recycled materials when we can, that we recycle our packaging and other materials, and that we look specifically for American made products. We will try to conduct as much business as we can online, and not print out orders whenever we can avoid it.

My fabulous brother in law Chip lives at the Inwood House, a residential apartment living program for handicapped adults. The Inwood House partners with the C.H.I. Center in employing handicapped people, and we have hired them to work on our bags. We are hiring them because they want to work, they deserve to work, and they do great work. So, you can know when you use your bag that there is some extra attention paid to its creation by some wonderful and loving people. www.chicenters.org

My husband and I have been involved with the Brendan Sail Training Program for Youths with Learning Differences for several years. It’s a fantastic program that teaches 11-18 year olds with all types of learning differences self esteem through the joy of knowing how to sail. We take our summer vacation to teach and administer the program, and this past year my husband took some of its graduates on a sail from Annapolis, MD to St. Martin in the Caribbean! What an adventure! Because of this, and the great students and parents of the program, we have decided that a portion of every bag should go to the program – so again, you can know when you buy your bag that there are some brave and astounding teens benefiting from your purchase. www.brendansailing.com

We have owned a service business together since 1999. We have seen first hand, time and time again, how important service is to people. Instead of a retail community, we’re hoping that bagsinabag.com becomes a sort of service and shopping community. We’re here to help you, if you have a problem with an order, need help picking something out, ordering something, have shipping questions, want quantities, or anything else. Please don’t hesitate to call us. Our level of service won’t disappoint you…I promise.

But what I really want is for you to never – ever – be without everything you need.

Yours, in order, Debbie (the bag lady)

TO BE CONTINUED...