I have a wonderful standard poodle named Bix. He’s the fifth standard poodle we’ve had over the last 34 years. We live in a city and take twice-daily walks, as we have with all our dogs. Needless to say, I know something about poop bags.
For years I’ve used the DOOG pick-up bags, which come in a packet that fits beautifully in the DOOG walkie dog belt, which I’ve been using for more than a decade. With the belt around my waist, I can carry my phone, keys, treats and poop bags, all hands-free. I put it on every time I walk out of the door of our apartment with Bix.
This year, the DOOG pick-up bags became unavailable for some reason, so I was forced to switch to a more traditional roll of bags. The roll worked fine in the same pocket of my walkie belt, but the quality of the bags was really variable over the various brands I tried. Some were too thin. Some were too hard to tear off the roll and some were really hard to open when you got them off the roll. Some had ties, others didn’t.
By contrast, the DOOG pick-up bags are large and thick. They have handles. They come out of the packet one at a time, no tearing required. They’re just right.
Thankfully they became available again and I stocked up on them. I paid $80 for 30 packets of 20 bags, which amounts to 13.3 cents per bag.
This morning, I needed a back-up bag (don’t ask) and I had one of the old ones from a roll tucked in the extra pocket of my walkie belt. It was so thin and so hard to open that I actually gave up trying. This is a bag I paid 9 cents for.
The contrast between the experience of using the two bags within moments of one another made me reflect on how grateful I am to have the means to spend more for quality products even in something as mundane as a poop bag. Mundane, yes. But I use them at least twice a day, every day.
For me, higher quality poop bags = higher quality of life. My driving motivation is ease, so I’m living spendfully when I buy these bags.
Interestingly enough, my husband uses plastic grocery bags as poop bags and he loves the fact they don’t cost anything. But I find them a big pain to use so I stopped using them many years ago.
This is a great example of how living spendfully is a completely individual experience. What matters is that you’re spending according to your own values and priorities. However it looks to you, I wish you a spendful life!
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