If you’ve ever run a race, donated to a charity, attended a convention or been a supporter of public television, you’ve probably got at least one tote bag in your life. Maybe multiple bags. Obviously they’re good as reusable grocery sacks, but that’s not their only use.
My friend Linda B. uses them to sort recyclables. Bags hanging from a railing hold newspaper, mixed paper, tin cans, aluminum, plastic bottles and glass. (And yes, I know they’re not “tin” cans. I also call it “tinfoil,” because I’m old.)
Linda keeps hats, gloves and scarves in a tote bag. In the winter the bag lives in the back of her car and in the summer it goes into the entry closet. Sounds neat and tidy to me – and here’s hoping she never gets stranded somewhere and needs to suit up.
How else to use these bags?
3. Store other out-of-season items. Even a medium-sized canvas bag can hold quite a few shorts and T-shirts, whether hung from pegs in an attic or stacked in a closet. Devote a bag to beach pails and swim flippers, or to outdoor toys like Frisbees, jumpropes and sidewalk chalk.
4. Store outgrown children’s clothes. If you plan to have more kids or want to hand those onesies down to a friend, stash ’em in bags vs. having to buy storage boxes.
5. Organize hobby items. Skeins of yarn, dress patterns, blocks of Sculpey, quilt blocks – whatever you buy too much of because it delights you.
Kid stuff, safety first
6. Keep small toys together. Bag similar types – Legos, little cars, dolls – and make it the kid’s job to put things back where they belong. Hang the bags from pegs on the wall or in the closet.
7. Small child’s laundry bags. If like me you are a Cloroxy kind of person, get your kid in the habit of sorting by color. When a bag is full he or she can haul it out to the laundry room.
8. Office trashcan liner. Any trashcan that holds only dry items can be lined with a canvas bag vs. a plastic one. Since the totes have handles this would be a good first chore for a toddler: Carry (or drag) the trash down on trash/recycling day.
9. Carrying firewood. I don’t like toting all those logs piled in my arms, because the walkway between the shed and the house is sometimes slippery. Instead, I haul them in a strong vinyl tote bag left behind by a tenant in the apartment building I used to manage. That way I have one arm free to ensure my balance.
10. Storing auto emergency gear. You should carry some or all of the following in the trunk of your car: tire gauge, flashlight or headlamp, fire extinguisher, first-aid kit, cash (Consumer Reports suggests at least $20 in change and small bills), foam tire sealant, gloves, spare fuses, flares, hazard triangle, rags and hand cleaner. Build this bag now, before you need it.
Readers: How do you use these bags?
Related reading:
- Trashing plastic bags
- 9 frugal mood enhancers
- Does frugality have to hurt?
- Never dumpster-dive for plastic containers
I have several of these hanging in my hall closet with all sorts of miscellany. I have one big one in my car I use to store the reusable bags I use for shopping and dropping of donations.
One of the prettiest oilcloth canvas bags holds my coupons and store flyers (with the bargains circled).
I am pleased to say I don’t have too many of the canvas ones but the reuseable ones seem to multiply, kinda like wire hangers. I tend to be more prone to give those away than the canvas types which seem to last a long time. Thanks for the reuse tips for those
The reusable ones tend to deteriorate over time, I find, or get punctured by sharp corners. Canvas ones are more durable, especially if you’re putting heavy items inside.
Thanks for reading, and for being such a consistent commenter.
For me it makes a great bag for going to the beach for a day. The heavy-duty one I have is the right size for towel, blanket to sit on, sunscreen, and my book.
In Joisey we use them for ‘schlepping’ anything that needs to be schlepped. I have a huge one (papyrus brand -I got at a hallmark store that was going out of business. $35 marked down to $5!!) It says BYOB bring your own bag. That cracks me up. Also have a smaller LL Bean $1 yard sale find with someone else’s monogram on it. It confuses people…which is fun! It has a coin purse/key ring attached inside ((bonus!!) Yes, I may have a little obsession with bags. My friend even calls me old bag- but that a whole other story.
Sometimes I see canvas bags in the “free” box at yard sales. Some people want to de-clutter, but I consider that an opportunity.
I have a couple of these canvas bags that I acquired while…”bundling items” to get a better deal at a couple of yard sales. Keep them in my truck and use them when I go to my favorite “toy stores”…. Home Depot & Lowes when working on property. Don’t know about anyone else but I’m sick of seeing those plastic bags hanging from trees and blowing all over creation.
Me too! The worst for me was seeing them littering a Seattle cemetery, caught on gravestones and tangled in decorative plantings. Oy.
I too call it “tinfoil and tin cans” because I’m old!
I keep them in our truck for bringing groceries from Bottom Dollar or Aldi’s. When we were at Nag’s Head last year we found out they ban those plastic bags. I think its a great idea, even if I loose all my garbage can liners.
I have been called a “Bag Ho” (with affection, of course) by my friends. As you say, they are great for crafting projects. I needed a new project to take to my knitting group last night and I just opened my yarn closet and picked out the first “pre-staged” bag that came to hand. Found out later that it was yarn, needles and a pattern for a really lovely baby blanket.
If I hadn’t had the stash of pre-staged projects, I would probably still be in front of the open closet door, dithering.
Grab-and-go is a very useful concept.
I saved some of the kids old backpacks and keep all of our gloves and hats in them. Cheap organization and a trip down memory lane.
Linda is my sort of gal!
Oh yes, she is…Wish you could join us in Talkeetna. One day!
http://donnafreedman.com/2013/10/28/coming-up-the-talkeetna-bachelors-auction-and-wilderness-woman-competition/
I’m ashamed to say I sometimes succumb and buy a beautiful canvas or nylon bag. I love color and fabric and when I travel my eyes are captured by the bags for sale. I only have around 8, but that’s probably 7 more than I need. I try to use them when I need to tote something to someone’s house. Gosh, they’re works of art.
Honestly, if I had more empty walls in the house I would nail them up just to look at.
These are different than the cheaper ones that I use for grocery shopping.
Maybe you should hang them on pegs in the kitchen or something. They’d be decorative as well as useful.
I save up the plastic containers that bulk stuff comes in from the grocery store – but they take up a lot of space. One big canvas bag of these goes in the garage so friends who visit can “shop” in my garden. Perfect for raspberries, radishes, tomatoes, etc. In the house, under the sink, there is another big canvas bag full of these containers and those go for sharing cookies and stuff. All gone by winter.
Smart! I like it.
I’ve only used them for groceries, but these are all good suggestions.
We reuse plastic and canvas bags for everything: groceries, any kind of shopping, packing up the dog for a field trip. I can’t carry things in my hands for even a minute without causing a pain flare so EVERYthing goes into bags, and I particularly love my really nice heavy duty canvas bag (welcome gift from the dentist of all places). I’ve hauled 12 lbs of chicken from the car in that without it even creasing. I’m tempted to ask for another one but I probably have enough in my mishmosh of bags here, must avoid hoarding!
Next on Dr. Phil: Bag hoarders and the people who enable them.
There are bag hoarders. There are at least two people in town that have cars stuffed completely full of plastic grocery sacks, the entire car expect the drivers seat.
Then there is a lady that walks into every store and asks if she can have a bag, even though she has never bought anything. A police officer said she lives in public housing and he went to her apartment on a call and the place was “packed to the gills” with bags from every store in town.
Hoarders of any stripe are worrisome.
I regularly use my tote bags to carry lunches and/or school supplies to and from work. I also store all my Christmas items in the bags with handles that are too short for me–I should be able to sling them on my shoulder instead of carry them in my hand.
I thought about including Christmas items but figured they were too breakable. Um, not if they’re in boxes, which you could then put in bags. Sure is easier to carry a couple of bags in each hand than to walk down stairs with a pile of boxes in your arms — what my former Health & Safety Committee chairman called “a tripping hazard.”
Thanks, guys — keep the ideas coming!
I have a nice, very large canvas bag that I use to take meals to friends (my social circle is in the “having babies” stage). It’s great because I usually have two little ones with me at the time and gives me a free hand.
I haves smaller tote that we keep our daughter’s ballet items in (not sure why so many of my friends succumb to buying pricey, monogrammed ballet bags). I mean, they’re 3! If they stick with ballet throughout their childhood, I doubt they’re going to want to carry a pink bag with a childish ballet dancer emblem as a teen.
Finally, they are useful in play.My daughter loves to put small toys and other items into a tote bag and carry it around all day. Oh, and we used a superhero tote we received at a superhero themed birthday party this summer to collect Halloween candy!
Dance bags — what a good idea. (Also gym bags; should have included both on the list.) And trick-or-treating — well, d’oh.
Thanks for your tips.
I use my larger bag as my yoga bag that I take to and from class. It holds my yoga mat, a pillow, a shawl, an eye pillow, and even some hand cream.
In my family when I was a child, we’d take long driving trips on summer vacations. For motel stops on the way to our destination, we’d each have a tote bag w/ pajamas, clean underwear and shirt for the next day, and a few toiletries and meds, if necessary. We could leave the big packed bags in the trunk until we got where we were going…something my father appreciated with a wife and two little girls. In decades since, my husband and I do the same thing.
Very smart! Thanks for the idea.
I have a cute little bag that I got at Target a couple years ago on Earth Day – it’s the perfect size for taking lunches to work!
My grocery canvas bags are super sturdy and giant – I actually bought them online years ago – and they stay in the car and go back in as soon as the groceries are unloaded.
The freebies that I’ve collected over the years, are used to schlep things to work and friends’ houses and back. I also use them to hold all the pieces I need for a partially done needlework project (need to get back to that!)
I have a nice canvas bag from a realtor friend that is perfect for a beach bag – and I’ve just started leaving my floppy hat, sunscreen and flipflops in the bag, ready to go!
I like the idea of using them for garbage liners – I currently have a paper shopping bag sitting by my mail area, for recycling flyers and junk mail – I keep reusing the same bag, but a reusable shopping bag that sits upright by itself would work just as well – no wet things are going in there!
In our family our adult sons and daughters used canvas totes when picking apples and pears from our little orchard this year.
Next use may be taking the bags to the hardware store.
So many good suggestions for reusing should cut down the waste and clutter created by plastic bag use.
I love tote bags! I usually carry one with me when I go shopping or run errands to carry extras like a water bottle, magazine or newspaper, the mail, etc. Of course, I always carry a tote bag to work with me.
Whenever someone travels and asks what I’d like them to bring me, I usually request a tote. A friend gave me a really cool tote from her NYC trip this past spring. I have an over-the-door coat rack where I hang my faves, making it easy to grab one before I go out the door.
I get a new one from our art museum membership every single year. They’ve now turned magically into gift bags holding birthday gifts for nieces and sisters-in-law.
What a good idea.
The best thing about canvas tote bags is they can be thrown in the wash.
Many people forget but if you hual groceries in the bags week after week you should throw them in when you do a load of towels. Bacteria from produce or other grocery stuff can transfer from item to item every week if you don’t wash it.
Good point. Thanks.
Don’t forget…another great use for those canvas bags is to hold baby gear, like diapers, bottle, etc.
We use a medium-size bag when we take long car trips. We use it for maps, travel guides, hotel information, extra eyeglasses, and, when we stop at hotels, we take whatever valuables (like electronic toll passes, GPS, phone chargers, which might attract thieves) with us in the bag. We never have to worry that we’ll lose something we need, because we know it’s all in the bag.
Very smart: Everything in one place.