Confessions of a bag-hoarder
Hello, my name is bluntmoney, and I’m a compulsive plastic bag-hoarder.
I just can’t bring myself to throw those plastic bags away, so I put them in the cupboard until I’m ready to reuse them. Even though I work hard at saying “I don’t need a bag” whenever possible, and I’ve switched to bringing my own bags to stores, and we use the bags we do have regularly, we STILL have a lot of bags left. A LOT. Like, probably hundreds of bags.
They were all just crammed into a cupboard above our washer & dryer. Whenever someone opened the cupboard door, the bags would try to escape. My husband hated it. I knew that there were bag holders available (simplehuman sells one for $10, for example) but they don’t hold very many bags.
So now we have a solution that we’re both happy with. Meet our free bag holder:
That’s right, we stuck a taped-up box in the cupboard. The opening in it is big enough to pull the bags out of when we’re ready to use them, and to add new ones (although hopefully we won’t be doing that too often.) And this way they don’t try to attack my husband when he opens the cupboard door.
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December 6th, 2007 at 9:31 am
You know, they do recycle them. The local supermarkets around me have bins for those bags. I have hundreds as well, and when I get sick of them, I gather up about half of them and take them to be recycled. It’s really the only way to keep up because I always forget there is a real bag in the trunk of my car. (DOH!)
December 6th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Darling and I have been regularly taking our own bags to the stores for months now. And you know what? We still have a growing collection in the pantry! It’s insane. Friends come over after buying snacks from the corner store – leave their bags. Mom or Dad come by for the weekend, pack stuff in plastic bags…and leave them. During our Thanksgiving get-together, people brought loads of dishes and drinks IN BAGS. It is really never-ending.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:58 am
OMG I am a hoarder too. A serious hoarder. Heh.
Another thing that works is a stocking. When you get a run in a pair of nylons, cut the leg off and stuff it full of bags. A lot will fit in there squished up.
I reuse and reuse and reuse those bags and still they multiply. I think they breed.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
I was just going to say, like commenter one, you can take them back to the store. I know Wal-mart has a bin at the front doors for recycling them.
December 6th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
I’ve done something similar. I use an old milk jug, wash it and dry it good. Cut out a hole on the side, and stuff your plastic bags in there. That way they do not sop up so much space–or attack people when they open the cupboard…and they are accessible.
December 6th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
OMG, my dad could have written this! My mom is always complaining because he is a bag hoarder. He also made a contraption to hold the bags in! Too funny!
December 7th, 2007 at 2:17 am
My mother would have loved you.
She hoarded everything she could. Plastic bags, envelopes, rope, strings, bottles..
It is just a thing with her.
And we get a sermon on the benefits of hoarding, everytime we look for something and she takes it out from her hoard. We must have heard it a thousand times already.
As you can see from the comments above, you are not alone. So hoard to your hearts content.
Haku nama tata, as my second daughter so often reminds me.
December 11th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
:) I blogged on this recently too, when I felt like the bags were taking over my life.