Save money on rubber and plastic! Want to re-purpose and re-use those plastic grocery store bags and get the most bang for your buck? Here are some answers that are sure to make you smile. When you get home from the store or pharmacy, don't just wad up those bags and throw them away. Tuck all of your bags inside of ONE bag and wait until you need them. Here are some great uses!
Well, there you have it. There are many more uses for plastic bags. If you want more, I can certainly give them to you. These are just a few. Use your own creativity and see what you can come up with.
Don't forget, after you have used them up, put them all in ONE bag and recycle. This tip will not only help the planet, but it will keep a lot more money in your pocket over the coming year.
By FranFran from Zebulon, Georgia
This page contains the following solutions.
Uses for plastic grocery bags (the one time use/disposable): To carry groceries home: Most can be used more than once to get groceries home
There have been several tips on reusing these bags. If you go to YouTube and check out this video and many of the others you will be sick at what we are doing to Mother Earth.
Recycling is very important to me, sometimes to the dismay of my husband, who complains about clutter. The plastic grocery bags accumulate, even though I mostly use cloth bags.
Even though I try to use my own shopping bags when I shop, I still wind up with a lot of plastic bags. I recycle them periodically with the various stores, but I also use them myself.
I have been able to keep my car cleaned up, by hanging a plastic grocery bag on the back of the front passenger seat with a velcro cord holder. I put the holder around the metal head rest post and attach the grocery bag.
My dad's new wife just showed me how to re-use plastic grocery store bags. She folds them into four length wise then cuts the bottom off. Working your way up, you cut about one inch strips until you get to the handles.
We, as a whole, use way too much plastic. Its life span is hundred of years if put in landfills. So I have tried to find ways of reusing, recycling and looking at it in a different way.
Another use for plastic bags is to drape them over a bucket or other container and then use as a toilet! I understand that in Africa, they call these "flying toilets." It would be great for camping or to use in an emergency situation.
Use your plastic shopping bags for packing in shipping packages. It is light weight and free. Also it is a good cushion.
I have two carry cases for my new camera. As I use only one, I decided to pack the other, away. I didn't want it to become flattened or misshapen in storage, so I stuffed it. I found those ubiquitous grocery bags to be the ideal stuffing.
A friend of mine was moving large speakers from CO to CA on a bus. We packed them in boxes and used wadded up plastic grocery bags instead of newspaper or peanuts.
Don't we love to re-use those plastic bags from the grocery store? I store things in them, and a lot of women cut them into strips and crochet them. Those strips are called "plarn."
This may sound a little "unprofessional" to some, but in my business I mostly use used plastic bags for my customers. I simply ask "Would you like a recycled, used plastic bag?" and so far EVERY customer I've asked has said with enthusiasm "Why YES, I would LOVE a recycled bag!"
I normally use cloth bags for groceries, but occasionally forget to put them back in the car, so I have a few plastic bags in the house. I picked up a footstool with a vinyl top and wooden legs at a yard sale for $1.00.
I keep a laundry basket in the back of my car. I put my newspaper and plastic bags in the laundry basket. Once a week, I stop at a local resale shop that is run by a charity. They need the paper to wrap glass items and the bags for customer's items.
Instead of using plastic wrap, that sometimes fails to stick properly, use plastic bags for some leftovers.
Sometimes, I forget to grab my "green" shopping bags before heading into the grocery store. I re-use the plastic bags by wrapping my produce in them. I have found that my lettuce, grapes, cabbage, peppers, carrots stay fresher much longer.
The most effective was to reuse plastic grocery bags that I do is make them into plarn, then into useful items like cell holders, lunch bags, purses, even a bingo bag for my one co-worker!
Take the excess clean, whole grocery bags to your local food pantry or farmstand. Please do not take ones that are wet, smelly, or dirty.
When I buy fruit or veggies at the store, I put them in those plastic produce bags provided by the stores. At home, I take the produce out of the bags, putting it into a fruit bowl or a paper bag in the refrigerator. Then I turn the plastic bags inside out and use them for breading my chicken, fish, etc.
My husband and I like to walk for exercise and we like to bring water or iced tea with us.
I'm posting this information as a plea for our environment. Please check this link and you will see how our using plastic shopping bags is hurting our world, our wildlife, and poisoning our environment.
This short video teaches you how to make a creative dog leash out of old plastic grocery bags.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I would like to know how to make a bag or hat out of bread bags.
By Kerena
I have seen this, as well as rugs for wet shoes made out of bread bags and walmart type bags.
The girl I saw making them (4h project) cut the bags into 1 inch strips and tied them together. Then she crochet them into rain hats, reusable grocery bags, rugs for by the door for wet shoes or boots).
If you need a shower cap and don't have one handy, a plastic shopping bag can be used as a substitute. This is a page about how to use a plastic bag for a shower cap.
Recycle plastic bags to keep your socks and feet dry when out in the rain and snow. This is a page about keeping your feet dry with plastic bags.
This is a page about craft use for grocery bags. Plastic grocery bags can be kept out of the landfills by recycling them into knit, crochet, woven, and other craft projects.
This is a page about making a plastic grocery bag crochet hat. Recycled plastic grocery bags can be cut into lengths and used to make crochet and knit hats.
