Sarah from ‘Flourish & Knot‘ gathered a great group of bloggers together for a few challenges in 2017, all revolving around DIY solutions that only use materials you have on hand (i.e., you’re not allowed to spend any $$$!)
February marks our first challenge and I had some work to do to figure out what I already had to solve a few problem areas in our home. I decided to tackle a small area of our pantry that is overrun with plastic bags. Anyone else have this issue?? I thought a reusable fabric bag could hold them all in but this is what it looks like:
And more often than not, this is what happens:
The solution I used came from a former co-worker of mine (Marc, if you’re reading this, I first thought you were nuts but now I think you’re a genius!). It involves:
- toilet paper rolls
- pretty paper
- tape (I like double-sided personally)
- plastic bags (of course!)
I wrapped the pretty scrapbook paper I had on hand to the toilet rolls (the process is similar to what I did in this post) and then I started folding the plastic bags. Here are a slew of photos to show you how I did the folding:
Repeat this process until all of your plastic bags are folded (side note, watching an episode of Real Housewives helps speed up this process). Once you’ve folded up all of your bags, stack a whole bunch, one on top of the other, and pop them into your newly decorated toilet paper roll:
And voila, you’ve compressed a million plastic bags into one tiny tube! Ok not really but it will feel like a million (I can get about 10 plastic bags per roll). The lovely thing about this method is that everytime you need a bag, you just pull one out from the roll like you would a Kleenex tissue.
With this little hack, all of those bags I had above got compressed into two toilet roll tubes!
And the bonus? It didn’t cost a dime.
Come visit with the other bloggers participating in our no-spend DIY series. The next blogger on our hop today is Maria from ‘Simple Nature Decor‘. She has a lovely chair makeover you must see!
There for the Making – February Challenge!
DIY Birch Business Card Holder by Minty Green Dream
Chalk Paint Chair Makeover by 2 Bees in a Pod
Sponge-Painted Picture Frame Makeover by Flourish & Knot
DIY Chalkboard Monogram by Personally Andrea
Gemstone Wrap Bracelet by Lifeovereasy
“Hello Sunshine” Wall Art by Two Purple Couches
St. Patrick’s Day Wine Bottle Makeover by Green with Decor
DIY Barn Board Mirror – Ikea Hack by Vin’yet Etc.
DIY Organizational Clipboard by DIY Passion
Geometric Planter by Love Create Celebrate
Toilet Paper Roll Turned Plastic Bag Holder by Design Inside the Box
Andrea Hunter says
Wow that’s clever, and I love the papers you used to pretty them up!!!
Lidia says
Thanks Andrea!!
Lindsay Eidahl says
Great tip! Thanks for sharing!
Lidia says
Thanks so much Lindsay!!
Caitlin says
Such a cool idea! I love this challenge – so fun 🙂
Lidia says
Yay! So glad you like it! I love the creativity of this group!
Shirley says
Thanx for your latest posting…neat idea…cute!
Lidia says
Thanks Shirley!!
Meg @ Green With Decor says
Omg we need this! Our plastic bags are out of control!
Lidia says
I had the same feeling! The last straw was the door not closing because bags kept getting caught! LOL!
Emily says
I need to do this! I keep our plastic bags in a bin/tote thing, but they still spill out everywhere. This is so smart!
Lidia says
Thanks Emily!! Let me know if you give this a whirl!
Sarah says
This is SUCH a great idea! And I honestly snorted a bit of coffee out my nose at that pick of the bags sticking out of the door… Because my plastic bags are similarly “stored”. 🙂
Lidia says
LOL!!! Thanks Sarah!!
dani@lifeovereasy says
Who doesn’t need a clever plastic bag storage solution?! And this one is so pretty, too. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Lidia says
Aw, thank you Dani!!