I use reusable bags. I do not like the plastic bags at the store. They bust if anything with a remotely pointed edge is put in there, they bust if you put more than two jars of something inside, and they are horrible to our environment. I know, they are great for liners for the little bathroom trash cans, but I don't really care about liners for them since there is mostly dry stuff thrown in there and we bleach them down each week when doing a full clean down of the bathroom.
T-shirts are normally repurposed into rags around here if they have holes in them. I've seem people turn them into fun quilts. I found a use for some the other day: sturdy shopping bags. There are a lot of tutorials online for them, but they are seriously easy.
I had two shirts from when I was coaching and on the board of our local soccer association. They were still in great shape though, but I didn't want to donate them as I was pretty sure no one would want to purchase them to wear. I decided to let the kids sew them up (they are still practicing their sewing skills a couple of times a month). I found a tutorial and set about it. These two shirts had a few buttons at the neck, but that was no biggie. I simply cut off the sleeves along the outer edge of the hem (no need to sew as T-shirt fabric doesn't really unravel). Then I cut a larger hole in the neck area makeing it wider and thus easier to fit items through it. Then the kids sewed the bottom of the shirt together and we made a gusset on each side to give it amore defined bottom. It worked out really well and they were mighty pleased.
What I really like about these is that I can wash them good without fear of them falling apart. I will be making some of a heavier canvas fabric soon. We have the kids old army tent that they don't use anymore to play in. There are three large pieces of the fabric-one is being used as a saddle cover for one of my saddles, the other two will be repurposed elsewhere!
goof ball...
