I have admitted to being a reusable bag junkie. I just love to collect them! I buy them for 99¢ when we visit an out-of-area store, receive them from online freebies, pick them up from conferences – I seldom say no to a reusable bag! As such, my collection has become rather large. Here is a picture of some of that collection:
This is really just a small sampling of my reusable bag collection. I stopped counting at 100. Yes, I have a problem.
These are some of the cold pack bags we have. That Scout by Bungalow bag is awesome!
Inside the vehicle, I fold up the bags and place them inside a larger bag. Unless I plan a large shopping expedition, there is only one bag like this in the vehicle. Hubby’s vehicles also have similar bags. Sonny-boy has a bunch of reusable bags, but they are never organized. He is my delivery mule, so the bags just get tossed into his car and I fish them out on occasion.
Ultimately, the leftover bags are folded into larger bags and hung on hooks in the garage. That works best for us to know where we can find them. Since hubby uses a lot of these bags to hold things in the basement and in his office, it may be time for me to find a real hiding place!
How do you store your reusable bags?
Note: these tips first appeared on my old blog, Coupons, Deals and More.
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Debb F says
I have never paid for a reuseable bag yet Ann and I have about 30 of them. Every year Shop Rite has dollar days and you buy X and get a free shopping bag. I have so many I give them away when ever some one comes by they leave with a new shopping bag. I do however have a giant reuseable bag that keeps cold food cold, and I fold mine and place them all in that larger bag. I love reuseable bags and use them for everything! Gift bags, hauling stuff, cleaning and sorting stuff, I even used one this year as my son’s Easter Basket.
admin says
There are free ones in the collection too, Debb, and lots of ’em! But I also use them as a collection (sorta like store bonus club cards) to keep track of just how many different stores I have been to.
Ann
Shell says
I too am pretty well addicted to collecting reusable bags. I have two large Red Gold bags that seem to be perfect for holding other bags. So I use those two most of my bags organized. One is always in the car and the second is usally in the house for me to put the bags back into, then I swap them. I also have a canvas bag with other canvas bags inside it. I mainly use those for glass milk bottle purchases. I keep one small bag that folds up in my purse in case I run in someplace quick. I love using them when I travel to pack stuff like snacks for the car too!
admin says
That sounds very efficient, Shell. I’ll have to try the old swap-a-roo.
Ann
Candie says
I have between 10 and 15 bags. I bought 2 car trunk storage bins from Scout by Bungalow, among other things, they fit perfectly in my car and my bags are stored there in the bins. I have 2 bags that keep cold stuff cold, I love those. Target gives you 5cents per bag off your bill. It is not much but every little bit helps. I bring 5 or 6 bags whenever I shop at Target.
admin says
I love Scout! How did those car trunk storage bins work out, Candie?
Ann
KimH says
Yeah, Im a bag lady too.. bag junkie? Yeah, whatever you wanna call it.. I’ve got it too.. I’ve got a couple really large ones that I do the same thing, put the smaller ones folded up in them.
Some I keep in my car and some are in bags in my basement. I have a pantry room down there and there is a large bag with bags in it and more bags with stuff in them, and then another bag at the bottom of the basement stairs.
I really need to go thru them & get rid of the ones I dont like & just keep the ones I do.. I’ve bypassed many a bag I liked because I have so many.. if I get rid of some, I can get more.. right? 😉
admin says
Ummm I think a bag lady has a different connotation, Kim.
I don’t get rid of any and just keep adding more. Hmmm your way seems to make sense though.
Ann
Amy says
So glad to hear that I’m not the only bag junkie out there! I keep several bags in my car for shopping trips. My other bags stay either folded up and stored in a larger bag on a hook in my kitchen or in the garage! I can’t resist a free reusable bag! My local grocery store has even started a special edition bag series from a local artist. They are amazing!
admin says
Oh that is cool, Amy! What grocery store chain?
Ann
Candie says
Ann,
Those trunk bins are awesome. I fold them when I want to use the trunk for something else and they just sit in the trunk folded. They hold about 6 to 10 bags of groceries each and nothing rolls around. I wouldn’t give them up for any reason. The best thing was Groupon had a $50 certificate for Scout for $25 and I snapped that up immediately and bought those bins.
Candie
Barb says
Our local foods banks are alway begging for these bags so their clients can use them over and over so this is where mine go to.
Antonio says
Hey Ann! Looking around I am the only man here who collects reusable bags!
I moved to a new area in December 2015. Not knowing anyone around or what to do for fun at first, I went to a Home Depot one day to buy paint for my new home. Now I LOVE the Home Depot logo and was looking for a hat or shirt with their logo also. Seeing as they had none but had reusable bags for 1 dollar instead I bought one and was hooked immediately.
The thing about them is that there are SO MANY out there with so many different things. GUYS OUT-THERE, , there are many reusable bags that we men can carry also without it looking “girly”-not that that is such a bad thing but-so guys reading this, if you want to start collecting them, do so! Every professional sports team sells them online with their logo on it, as do stores like, again, Home Depot, ACE Hardware, etc.
I have over 150 from 8 different countries, from such diverse sources as Delta Airlines (loved their black one, not to mention Delta’s my favorite airline since I was about 8 and flew first, on them) the L.A. Dodgers, boxing gloves brand Everlast, Hot Topic, The Beatles, Puerto Rican supermarket Pueblo, Chilean supermarket Jumbo and the Telluride Beer Festival (I just got that one tonight)
It’s a shame Auto Zone does not have any and neither does Victoria’s Secret, nor does Canada’s Canadian Tire.
Mine are mostly for collecting, in fact, even as I try to use them I don’t ever remember actually going shopping with one.
One big concern, however, is the paint on many of them. It is well known that many of the bags are made with paints that contain lead, which can lead to Cancer. That is the reason instead of having them around the house and exposing my kids and myself to the lead and the big C, I have them boxed inside my shed on the back, so we won’t be smelling that lead and it won’t be in the air and going to our lungs. I recommend all my fellow reusable bag collectors on this page to do the same.
Otherwise everyone keep buying and collecting and have fun!