Well if you hadn’t guessed it before by my blog – beekeeping, thrifting and making old things new again – I’m one of those new age hippies. My big thing is reuse. I hate putting things in the dump if I can avoid it. I especially hate those little styrofoam packing peanuts. I have a giant box in my basement full of them that I reuse for packing just so they won’t go into the dump immediately. Sorry I digress.
A few years ago I decided I wanted to compost. There are lots of stigmas around composting – that it smells, it is hard work, etc. Well I can tell you none of those things apply. I keep a compost bin under my sink and throw vegetable scraps in it until it fills up. This compost bin is so great at concealing odors that I sometimes forget how long the food scraps have been in there until I open it. And I can put it right in the dishwasher!
Sidebar – look at my organized under-sink! I created and installed a corner shelf last weekend that makes things so much more organized (see the top left). (Thanks mom & dad for my power drill and circular saw!) Oh let me show you the other side too! On the right I added a nice little $.99 thrift store basket to hold random cleaning supplies and sponges!
You may have noticed the unsightly stash of produce bags sitting in a ball under the sink. I can’t bear to throw these away either so I use them to line my compost bin before eventually throwing them away (they also work as dog poop bags for the tiny poop machine).
Corgi in the sun
So to take care of my unsightly bag stash I’m going to show you how to make a grocery bag or produce bag holder that you can hang up. Hopefully this will encourage you to store your bags and reuse them! Look at how much better this looks now!
But wait, there’s more! Before I show you the bag holder plans – I’d like to give away two sets of hand made earth friendly items for our January give away! You’ll get a full size grocery bag holder and a fun mystery prize that I’ll show you how to make next week! What do you have to do to enter the contest? Just comment about an earth-friendly step you’ve taken in your household or an environmentally friendly idea that you are thinking about trying! No idea is too small because as Captain Planet says “the power is YOURS”. (I know you’re rolling you’re eyes and I… am… loving it!!)
Captain Planet Grocery Bag Holder
What you need:
- 2 pieces of 21″x8″ lightweight fabric for a grocery bag holder -or- 2 pieces of 15″x7″ lightweight fabric for a produce bag holder
- 1/4 inch elastic (about 1.5 feet)
- yarn needle
- short piece of ribbon
- thread
- Iron your two rectangles of fabric flat.
2. With right side together pin and sew along both the long sides of your rectangles.
3. Fold the top over once 1/2 inch.
4. Fold over again and pin to form a 3/4″ rolled hem.
5. Stitch close to fold and leave a one inch gap opened to form a tube.
6. Using a yarn needle thread the elastic through the rolled hem tube.
7. Gather fabric around the elastic until you have a hole 3.5 inches in diameter (or 2.5″ for the produce bag holder). Tie off the elastic.
8. Sew the gap you left in the hem closed.
9. Repeat steps 3-9 for the bottom hem.
10. Cut a 8-10 inch piece of ribbon (depending on preference) and fold in half.
11. Stitch ribbon to the side seam at the top and bottom of the rolled elastic casing.
Open out & stuff with bags!
Voila!
if it’s yellow let it mellow! if it’s brown flush it down…
making our own general purpose cleaner with vinegar and orange peels
no clothes dryer! just hang ’em, silly
We recycle paper bags by giving them to our friend who owns her own etsy shop so she can wrap her packages. Saving the world one run-on sentence at a time!
I am a big fan of re-use! I reuse bags and plastic silverware and such, sometimes to the point where Lexi thinks it is gross…
I also always use a reusable water bottle at work rather than paper cups or bottled water.
Thanks to a certain fabulous sister-in-law I have a reusable mug for work, so I don’t use the Styrofoam cups we have in the office! We also reuse containers from things we buy at the grocery store. Although sometimes it does look a little strange to have 6 things of ‘yogurt’ in your fridge.
We save plastic grocery bags and those extra fistfuls of disposal napkins from fast food places that I always accidentally grab. I also have been holding on to an empty laserjet printer cartridge until I can drop it off at a recycle-friendly retailer! I also compulsively save disposable utensils (I have plastic forks in my backpack in case I forget to pack one with my lunch!). Also, we are very conscientious about turning off lights in rooms we are not in. We also recycle old socks by giving them to our house-elves as clothing.
We do not have curbside recycle pick up but we do have a wonderful open facility close by so we save EVERYTHING we can and take it to the recycle center a couple of times a month. We also (like Erin) save containers that are reusable though we have bought a lot of soup this winter already and our drawer is bulging with the containers!
We are trying to keep our house at a cooler temperature in winter (we wear coats and vests inside on many days!) and a couple of years ago had a service come to seal up all the (MILLIONS OF) cracks and air leaks around doors and pipes. It doesn’t sound like much in print but we are trying to do our part….
I have been a re-cycler since the idea nationwide fir st began. Our area doesn’t have a pick up, so I put my recycling in a leaf bag and when it’s full, I take it to my sister
Helen’s (about 2 miles away) and put it in her recycle can.
I have tried to use the plastic grocery-bag holder (have 2 or 3) but I find it quicker to keep the bags in a basket in the pantry and when it gets full (I do use them occasionally)
I take them to Second Source, a second-hand store that raises money for Appalachian Outreach. Before I put the Campbell soup cans or cereal boxes, etc., I cut off the Box Tops for Education – and the Campbell soup Labels for Education and give them to Helen to give to the children’s school.