Fabric Totes: Think Outside the Grocery Bag

Written by contributor Nicole of Gidget Goes Home.

By now it’s probably second-nature to take our bags in at our local market, and maybe we’re even starting to remember to take them in to Target or other shopping locales. Using reusable/fabric bags for groceries and shopping is a great way to make a positive environmental impact, but there are actually a lot of other great ways to use these totes as well! Let’s look at a few more ways to use the infamous reusable bag (and at the end you’ll find some helpful resources)…

Library Books

A basic tote is the perfect way to bring home your literary bounty. We usually use a freebie bag from the zoo, but a homemade version would be an even prettier way to carry around reading material.

Cloth Diapers

Still using plastic grocery bags to bring home dirty diapers for the wash? There’s a special type of reusable bag that will be your best friend! A wetbag is made out of PUL waterproof fabric that will seal out the smell of a diaper better than a plastic bag and will cut out your waste as well.

PJ Organization

I love Amanda Soule‘s idea in her book The Creative Family for keeping track of kids’ pajamas. She suggests a personalized tote bag for each kid that they can keep their PJs in and maybe even a goodnight book as well. You can see a cute example here.

DivaCup

We’ll be talking about the DivaCup more on Simple Organic in the near future, but if you already use one, you may want to make an extra fabric bag for it. A simple drawstring version with the finished dimensions of 2.5″ x 4″ would fit the bill perfectly.

Tidying up the Room

Just recently Rachel at Small Notebook had a fabulous idea for using tote bags at home. She keeps one hanging on a wall hook in each room in her house for quick organization/storage. I love this idea for last-minute clean-up of mail and paperwork in a small home.

Resources:

• PUL fabric can be find in a variety of places online, including on etsy.com.
• Simple Reversible Tote Bag @ Skip to My Lou
• Handmade Tote Bags @ Remodling This Life
• Wetbag Tutorial (wide elastic works in place of zipper, too) @ A Lemon Squeezy Home
• Drawstring Bag Tutorial (could be adjusted perfectly to fit your DivaCup) @ the Purl Bee
• I also wrote a silly poem about totes to include in gifts.

Do you have other suggestions for reusable bags? Please share!