RED WHITE AND IKEA BLUE
By: Lauren Anderson
It’s the Fourth of July today, and while I hope most of you are at a barbeque, or riding on a boat, or sleeping in, I just had to take a minute and drop by and share a story fitting for this day.
Although America’s history is complicated and violent, and the present isn’t much better as of late, still the 4th is often a day I let myself fall in love with America again. Celebrating strength and independence. It’s about people wanting a different way of life for themselves and trying their best to get it.
So I thought I would take this day to share a small story of my own strength and independence. Thankfully my tale is without war or taking people’s land. No no. It’s just about me, some groceries, and a giant blue IKEA bag.
I live in an apartment building. And it’s small enough that there are no elevators, and of course I’m on the upper level. Because I hate grocery shopping so much, when I do go, I tend to buy as much as I can justify. Then I eat ALL of it, and then I go again. It’s a flawed system to be sure, but so far it’s the only strategy that I’ve been able to stick to.
However, usually this means I buy about three to four bags of groceries every week and a half or so… and that’s more than I can carry up the stairs in one trip. Annoying? Yes. Especially when you take into account the sack of potatoes, or the toilet paper, or the inevitable case(s) of LaCroix.
Awhile ago, a good friend clued me into the glory of using IKEA bags as a way to move, and it blew my mind. Suddenly there was a logical moving solution for stuff like throw pillows or coats left on the hanger. The IKEA bags could move shoes and towels and a bunch of other things with ease!
So when my mom moved out of her house about a month ago, I brought over some IKEA bags I had accumulated from my last move, and again they proved triumphant.
When she gave them back to me, I left a few in my car. Not sure why, but there they stayed.
Cut to my last trip to the grocery store. It was a typical 3 bag trip. Complete with heavy stuff like potatoes and apples and grapefruit. Plus, LaCroix was on sale so I bought two, because Duh.
When I got home and was about to unload the first trip of groceries, I noticed the IKEA bag folded into the back pocket of my car seat. Wait a second… A light went off.
I unfolded the IKEA bag, and placed the three grocery bags inside it, and one of the cases of LaCroix. Using some technique I learned at Solcana, I hoisted the giant bag to my shoulder and grabbed the other Lacroix case with my free hand. Using my legs and butt, I was able to safely move a pretty heavy load. I locked my car and walked slowly up the stairs to my apartment. Feeling pretty damn happy about only having to make one trip!
Since then, I’ve been sure to keep at least one IKEA bag in my car at all times. It’s been working like a dream. Finally I only have to make one trip! And it’s not just for groceries either! It’s for laundry and blankets and props for the show, or any number of other things that I haul around with me on any given day. Instead of multiple trips that are annoying, with the up and down of the steps and the locking and unlocking of the car, I make one. Bing bang boom.
So, I’ve been a little giddy about this not-so-innovative IKEA bag hack that I’ve been telling anyone who would listen about it. I haven’t been this excited about a life hack since I started pinning my socks together before the wash.
**It’s super simple. Set a dish of safety pins by your clothes hamper. When you take your socks off at the end of the day, take a safety pin and stick your two socks together. It’s best if you lay one sock on top of the other and pin in the middle. Now I don’t spend ANY time matching socks! Also, no, I haven’t noticed any holes or damage either! WIN WIN.* *
I’m really showing my full dork-i-tude here, but whatever. I am one of the people in the world that gets truly bogged down by the trappings of adulthood, so any little thing that helps, makes me grateful, and I want to share it with the world. I know there are people that use sock matching as “me” time or whatever, but I’m not one of them.
So back to the bags. I’m actually at IKEA with a friend, and I decide to buy another blue bag. I mean, they’re only a buck and in my humble opinion, you can never have too many.
I excitedly start to tell my friend about my grocery store one-trip hack.
“It’s so awesome. You take all your grocery bags, put it on one IKEA bag, a case of LaCroix in each hand, and boom! One trip!”
And my friend was like, “Yeah if you’re a total beast.”
I looked at them dumbfounded. “What?”
And my friend is like, “I’m sure that works great if you’re a super strong beast that can carry that much.”
And I was silent. It never even occurred to me that in order for my IKEA bag hack to work, it would be helpful if you could lift heavy things. I had taken for granted the fact that I am now super strong from working out at Solcana.
In fact, the weight of the bag never even crossed my mind because I am so accustomed to lifting heavy things! Ha! Isn’t that fantastic?!?!?!?!
Not only am I strong from a consistent regiment of lifting weights, but now it’s become such a part of me that I forget just how strong I’ve become!
And isn’t that truly the American Dream? Work super hard to achieve something so that eventually you can take it for granted?! (She says with a twinkle in her eye. Haha!)
I don’t want to take anything for granted, but I would be lying if I said this discovery didn’t make me giggle. I was sharing my IKEA hack like just anybody in the world can carry 4 bags of groceries and two cases of water up the stairs and it would be juuuuuust fine.
But the truth is, that’s a heavy load.
And on this Independence Day, I’m taking a minute to celebrate my own tiny independence. Being able to carry a heavy load is one thing. Being able to carry a heavy load without even realizing it’s that heavy—is another thing all together.
I’m about to go to a barbeque, where I will relax and celebrate with friends and family, and hopefully see some fireworks. And when they go off tonight, I’m going to oooh and awww and celebrate a country that is flawed, and I’m going to allow myself to hope for a better tomorrow.
But as I lay on my blanket, I think I’m also going to dedicate one of the fireworks to my body. I had taken for granted how strong and independent it’s also become, and I think it deserves some praise for once. Hip Hip Hooray!
And you can bet, I’m going to bring my blanket to park inside a giant blue IKEA bag.