I have a cute car tote from Thirty-one that I keep in the car and store reusable bags there. I also have a large basket by the door ( got it at home goods) and I stuff them in there also. We keep a bunch of things in there like leashes, bags and some rain boots but I know they are there and handy as I head out the door.

I'm in the "keep them in the car" club also. Otherwise, I don't remember to grab them.

In the car here, too. Putting the bags back in the car is part of the routine of putting away groceries when I get back from the store. (I also keep a few in DH's car, in the unlikely event I am driving his car and need to stop by the store or he stops to pick up some things we need.

I keep mine in the car as well. Once I unload the bags, I stuff all the bags into one bag and hang it over the doorknob to make sure it goes into the car on my next trip out.

I fold them all into one of the bags and hang it on a hook on the inside of my pantry door.

We keep ours in a deep drawer in our mudroom. I also keep several in the car for the unplanned stops. Grabbing bags from the mudroom is part of the routine when I plan a big shopping (along with grabbing the cooler and shopping list.)

I keep them in the car too.

Good for your community for taking this step!
We store them in both vehicles so either of us can have them handy (and out of the house).

In the car!

In my pannier on my bike since I do all my shopping and errands on my bicycle. I fill the cloth bags in the store and then off load the items into the 4 panniers . It was easier when I used my trailer behind my bike as it has one large waterproof duffle and I could set the cloth shopping bags into the duffle. DH now has the trailer hitch on his bike. I may need to move it back to my bike as I do more of the shopping than he does. c

Generally in the car.

We have two adults, and two cars, so we have two sets of shopping bags, roughly colored coded to match each car. The red car has red(ish) bags; the black car has a different colored set.

When groceries come in they are unloaded to storage and the empty bags are hung on hooks on the back of our normal exit door to the barn yard. Cars live in stalls in the barns about 50-100 feet from the house, so there's no way I'm making a special trip back out just to return them. The household "rule" is that if you're going out to a car, you take any empty bags out (of the right color) that are hanging on the back door out with you when you go. That way if you're away from home, you can be confident that no matter which car you're in, there's likely to be bags ready for use.

At least that's the theory; it doesn't always work, but at least if you've just rushed out past bags of the color car you're driving, there's nobody to blame except yourself.

Just sayin'
L.

In the car here too. I actually keep them under the back floor in my Prius, which is great until I have something heavy and can't get to them.

I keep them in the car as well. After coming inside, if there's only one reusable bag, I'll hang it on the back door until the next time that I leave the house. In the meantime, I'll stick anything that needs to go to the garage/car in it: this has helped me remember to take small stuff out with me, and if it's a return or something that needs to be dropped at someone's house, it's at the front of my mind as I walk out to the car - because otherwise, I'll never remember!

Trunk of my car.

I try to remember to put them back in the car. I just discovered the big blue Ikea bags work great for Costco items (though sometimes it takes two of us to carry the bag.)
Maybe the next generation will have an easier time learning this new habit.

Car trunk or back seat for us too. For the main car we use for shopping, we have a set of bags we bought from Trader Joe's - the blue beach scene ones with a surfboard on them. The baggers and us like them because they open and stand sturdy to be filled and hold a good amount of stuff. The other car has a rag tag collection of ones gotten for free from various sources. They would probably rarely get used if we kept them at home and had to remember to put them in the car.

In the broom closet around the corner from the kitchen, near the door to the garage. I'm in the habit of grabbing them now.

If your city outlaws plastic shopping bags, what will you all use to pick up after your dogs?

In the car, all folded and placed in one (nicest) bag.

Boy, I wish our city did that too! DH is refusing to use them which makes me mad but there is nothing I can do about it. :-(

I try to remember to put them back in the car, but I usually don't, so I keep a string bag in my purse.

Overwhelmingly seems to be the car. I just need to figure a family policy of how the bag get back to the car. Our garage is a couple hundred feet away and it is not likely, I can enforce returning it immediately. So maybe I do the color coordinated bags with the car and try to get family to take it out on the next trip. That was a cool idea.

Ginny --> We don't have dogs :)

Most of mine live in the car. I live in a condo, so I'm not making a special trip out to the car (down a flight of stairs, out the building, and walking halfway around the building to the assigned parking spot) just to put the bags back. I fold them so they all fit in one bag, then hang them on the doorknob of the front door and take them out to the car the next time I leave.

I have one bag hanging in the broom closet for returnable bottles, which I mostly remember to take with me when I head to the supermarket. I return the bottles and then use the bag for groceries.

I have a small nylon bag, that is the size and shape of a plastic grocery bag, that folds up into its own little pouch. That lives in my handbag, ready for any spontaneous, impromptu purchases.

I meant everyone in the city - doesn't anyone have a dog, or don't they have to pick up?

Plastic shopping bags are a litter problem, no doubt, and I can understand the urge to eliminate them, but I reuse them for lots of things.

While keeping the bags in the car would be ideal,I agree that it's not always convenient to run back out after unpacking them. Camlan's idea is good, so you remember to bring them out the next time you use the car. I hang my purse in the same broom closet where the bags are, so it's easier for me to remember them when I get my purse.

>>doesn't anyone have a dog, or don't they have to pick up? >>

In our area, "pooper scooper" plastic bags are still readily available. But I expect the 5 - 10 cent surcharge will be applied to them soon.

Most of mine are in the car. I have some that fold up into about the size of a deck of cards and I try to keep one of those in my purse in case I head in somewhere thinking that I'm only going to pick up one or two items that I can carry...and then wind up with 4 or 5.

There are a few of the bags that stay here in the house for when I'm making a planned large grocery trip (insulated bags and some larger ones) and those live in the basement right now.

Pardon my ignorance, but I live in the country- you know where they want to build landfills to store city dweller's trash. Wouldn't it be better to pick up dog poo in a paper bag(waxed, if necessary) so that the bag and the poo could decompose in the landfill in tandem?
I hate to think of aliens visiting our planet in a 100,000 years and wondering what all the little treasures are that are wrapped in protective coverings before being buried.

We keep our bags in the car, and hang them some place prominent like the newel post for the stairs or on the door handle to make sure we don't forget to put them back in the car.

Localeater - I don't think picking up dog poop in a paper bag works very well unless the poop has been there awhile and dried out. Plastic really is the only thing that works well and is hygienic for the person picking it up.

Most modern landfills, once filled, are sealed tight to so there is limited decomposition. It's not like a big compost pile because most of the stuff doesn't break down at all or at least does so very slowly, and isn't exposed to air for very long. Those aliens are going to find poop regardless of what it's stored in!!

Reusable is the way to go however we are very cautious about washing the bags after carrying meat, chicken, fish etc. We only own the $3.99 woven washable bags and have more than needed so when some are in the laundry, there is always a supply in the car. When they come out of the laundry, they get hung on the exit door.

Some in the car....some in the pantry.

Ginny: I have a fenced backyard. When a trash can otherwise needs to be emptied, I bring the bag outside, untied, and wander around the yard with a shovel, then tie the bag and put it into the garage. When we go on walks, I bring snack-sized plastic bags. I try to time the walks so that I don't have to pick anything up while we're not in our own yard!