Hey meh buyers… California outlawed plastic shopping bags. While I don’t live there, I wouldn’t mind having some that don’t have a store’s logo plastered all over them, or ones that don’t rip the second time I use them.
T-shirt totes! I leave the bottom hem intact, though - just an incision on the inside for a zip tie to loop through. The neckstretch Anvils are perfect, as the neckline is already wide enough, so I don’t even need to cut anything else.
@narfcake I was thinking about that… But I can’t sacrifice my shirts. I still have shirts from high school that are in decent enough shape to wear. I don’t buy multiples of shirts.
@RiotDemon@f00l
No need to sew at all; all i do is close off the bottom with a zip-tie. Sleeves are still on, just tucked in. If it gets in the way, cut it outside the seam. Neckline is no hindrance (because old Anvil), but if it’s too constrictive, cut it like a boat-neck shirt.
Going the no-sew-no-cut way means that theoretically, I can revert it back to a t-shirt later. Most of my bags were made from shirts that would never fit me, though, like the Grumpy Cat shirt that I bought for 39 cents.
I own multiple cloth bags that I’ve had for more years than some of you have been alive. O’Reilly used to given them away, and they have book covers of various books (some long gone and forgotten, and some still out there). I’ve got cloth bags from old grocery stores that vanished long ago (Mrs. Gooches, which was acquired by somebody or other, which was in turn acquired by Whole Foods).
I have FOUR “Porting Unix Software” bags (I dunno why), in two glorious colors, with a fine looking lizard. I have a really sturdy one from Central Market in TX (I dunno, but I have it).
Some of the O’Reilly bags date from 1990; I have bags that are older. I prefer cloth bags, so that they can be tossed in the wash now and then. Who cares if the store logo is on them? Turn it inside out if it honestly bothers you. I use a bag that says Windows 98; there’s not much worse than that, right?
@Shrdlu I don’t know why it bothers me. I guess I don’t like paying to advertise for a store I spend money at. The bags my grocery store sells can’t be turned inside out without looking ugly because of the seams.
If I had my way, all my reusable bags would just be plain black or purple, or they’d be covered in skulls or whatever.
@RiotDemon Look at Dollar Tree. I’ve never bought one, every time I turn around someone gives me one. One just came with my custom embroidered polos from Queensboro, Walmart gave me two when I made ny first curbside pickup order, and Costco has given me two very nice and sturdy insulated bags which I keep in my trunk for cold stuff.
@Shrdlu
Some times I think I should pick up a buncha vintage O’Reilly’s, rip off the covers, and put them on the walls. I love the cover design.
But since I never cracked any but a few, and those very briefly, it might feel like i were to imply I had the knowledge. And I don’t. So I can’t do it.
@cranky1950 I went there. The bags they carry are the same kind that I’ve torn several handles off of, they have their logo really big, and the bag is too small.
I found some spices I needed though, for cheap, so thanks.
@ELUNO I have no idea. Ikea is too far to just stop by. I’ve only been there once to eat meatballs and grocery shop for stuff that’s vaguely Scandinavian.
@RiotDemon Yeah, exactly. They are (or at least from what I remember) very durable.
Yeah, I knew you were going to mention the straps, but you can easily sharpie over those!
Yeah, it’s not a bad price, but it’s more than double the price: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/search/?query=frakta
@ELUNO The only bags I’ve found lately are all the same kind for $0.99-1.99 that have these weird tearable straps. It sucks when you dump your groceries everywhere because the handle rips off.
@RiotDemon I owned one of the bigger ones a long time ago and loaded it constantly with heavy stuff and it never ripped. So unless they have decreased in quality, this shouldn’t be a worry.
You should read some of the Amazon reviews.
I use Baggus. They have some cute prints, and they’re shaped more like traditional grocery bags. I’ve never liked the tote bag as shopping bag… I find there is no non-awkward way to carry them. Just me, perhaps.
Edit: The ripstop material seems pretty tough, too. I use the small ones and just overstuff the shit out of them and haven’t busted one yet. My grocery store is a 2mi walk.
@RiotDemon I have a ton of reusable bags at home, but forgot them. If I knew that I was going to have to buy bags at the store, I would of made the trip home first. The bags they sold were only $.10, and were a little thicker than a normal plastic bag.
@Collin1000 The marijuana law is a little more complex than the plastic bag one. You are allowed to smoke in a private home, but you still cannot legally buy without a marijuana card. It will become legal to purchase 1/1/18. I was a little confused, but being that I work on a college campus, there are a lot of experts around on this law.
@conandlibrarian My wife and I got the same surprise today getting a few items at Safeway (ten cents a bag too!). Yet we had just been to a different grocery store fifteen minutes earlier, where we bought most of our items, and they bagged as they would any other time.
Just another day in the failed utopia that is California.
@RiotDemon I’m keeping my pink one, but due to the aforementioned awkwardness of tote bags, I’d be willing to part with my red ones if you want to advertise a mediocre website while you shop
@RiotDemon Whaaaat? That’s just slightly over when I “joined” the forums, but I’ve been visiting meh for a long time now. You always seemed like an “oldie” around here.
I buy nice ones at the holidays and use them to ‘wrap’ gifts for family. that way they get two gifts in one. My favorites are Envirosax. they are not cheap but they last forever.
Sometimes I will do tote bags instead, like you might take into a small store that have an image the recipient will like. My daughter lives in San Jose and they have had a bag ban for many years, so she collects a few each year and when needed can throw out ones that are worn out.
If you live in a hot climate like I do, i recommend spending a bit more for the nice ones for meat and frozen food. If you want to go all out, Chico bags has produce sets.
If meh can get their hands on some “ChicoBags” I would buy a metric crap ton of them.
They are lightweight, very sturdy and stuff into their own little attached pouch. They have a carabiner on them so you can attach them to your purse, belt loop, or each other.
They are just the right size for groceries.
@mamawoot I love Chico bags. I learned about them when I went shopping at the Ashland Food Co-op with my birth-mom. I told her how much I loved it and she gave me hers. My wife has a couple with the Cake logo, one of her favorite bands. Before Chico bags I’d always forget to bring bags to the grocery store. Now I always have them with me in my computer bag. Ok, man purse.
@SSteve I assume you would empty each bag onto the conveyor, then put the bag behind that group, repeat. That way the groceries are grouped as you like. The good old days of sensible bagging seem to be lost around here. Even though I always group the refrigerator items together on the conveyor, they end up distributed through all the bags. The last time I shopped they bagged the raw pork on top of the bakery muffins. If this set included an insulated bag I would go for it, even though most of my trips to the grocery don’t fill more than a bag or two.
@moondrake
If you are shopping in TX and getting plastic bags, they have to arrange the bagging to prevent each bag tearing. Plus most checkers just bag in order of ringing up.
All that is way more important than your food I suppose.
I use my Fuku/o bags and the billion free bags I’ve picked up at trade shows. I live in a city in CA that has had the bag rule for a while. It takes some effort in the beginning to remember to put the bags back in your car, but you eventually get in the habit.
I was using my cloth Menard’s bags at Target a couple of years ago. The elderly crotchety male cashier started lecturing me the whole time about how the cloth shopping bags are filthy and would spread germs to the food because nobody ever washes them. I wanted to tell him to STFU but I bit my lip and refrained.
@Stumpy91 did he mention how you would have to use them over 120 times before they were actually better for the environment than a disposable plastic bag?
@thismyusername interesting.
I actually reuse my plastic bags for cat litter. I never recycle my bags because I know I’ll eventually need them. I switch between reusable and the disposable bags when shopping depending on how many bags I have on hand.
I suppose I could switch to that special self cleaning litter box that hooks up to the drain line… But they’re expensive. I already have a really expensive litter robot that they don’t use anymore.
@RiotDemon Yeah I use them for cat litter as well. Double bagged since they get dropped down a 4 story trash shoot thing in the hall (and don’t explode - I checked).
@narfcake Yes, that one. I have several of the normal-sized canvas totes from Woot, but only two (this one and “Procrastination U”) in the oversized tote with the top zipper. I would buy more if I could find them, as they are great for grocery shopping. Alas. Hard to find.
You can go on ebay and get 1000 shopping bags for about $20.00. (the plastic ones that stores can’t use any more) That should last you awhile. Then you can donate them or reuse them. Look up ‘tshirt bags’.
When plastic shopping bags in my area are outlawed,
Only outlaws will be using the plastic bags.
I’d like to think of biker gangs and rebels riding around using the plastic bags…
@Ignorant Am I the only one who hates those new sideways baskets? On the odd occasion that I go to Whole Foods, my first task is to comb the store for an old basket.
@f00l They smack against my legs.
Edit because that was kind of vague - the hinge being parallel with the hand (and a single hinged handle vs. two that stop acting all hinge-like when held together) makes for a very unstable, unpredictable, smack-against-the-legs sort of carry.
@Ignorant I feel like an idiot. I’ve seen those rolling ones at Lowe’s, so at first I didn’t realize what was wrong. I just thought they were stupidly dragging around more than one.
Find a t-shirt you want to “upcycle”. It doesn’t have to be in perfect condition, but it still needs to be mostly intact. Some minor holes, it’ll be fine. Larger holes or tears, perhaps not.
Poke a hole on the inside in the lower hem. I used a #1 phillips screwdriver here:
Thread a zip-tie through the hole. Longer ones will be easier to work with, but it doesn’t have to be super long. For this 3XL, I used an 8" long, 50# rated one:
Feed the tie through:
Poke the end back out through the first hole and close the tie up:
Flip the sleeves inward and it’s ready to use:
I go this route because this is a reversible modification. Cutting the zip-tie apart will allow this to function as a t-shirt again. Alternatively, if this is to be a tote from here on out, the sleeves can be cut off, though keep the seam for strength. If the neck hole constricts usability, cut it into a boat-neck.
Turn the shirt inside out
Gather the bottom of the shirt tight and put a few zip ties around the gathered material, as tightly as possible
Turn the shirt back to right side out?
Then you wouldn’t have to mess with screwdrivers (non-alcoholic) and threading zip ties.
The larger shirts I can leave as-is; I usually cut the sleeves off the smaller shirts, like the one I use to carry my lunch in. It was a kids shirt I bought for 0.39.
I buy the 10cent plastic bags at Aldi/Lidl I recycled maybe 3 of them in 10 years I have a rather impressive pile of them as I forget to throw a bag of them in the car and often have to buy more.
While you are at it, I like the bags they have at Marshalls/T.J. Maxx – the kinda of washable material.
T-shirt totes! I leave the bottom hem intact, though - just an incision on the inside for a zip tie to loop through. The neckstretch Anvils are perfect, as the neckline is already wide enough, so I don’t even need to cut anything else.
@narfcake
Pic?
@narfcake I was thinking about that… But I can’t sacrifice my shirts. I still have shirts from high school that are in decent enough shape to wear. I don’t buy multiples of shirts.
@RiotDemon
If you sew, hit a Salvation Army or garage sale. Get T-shirts for nothing and transform them.
If you might be able to get free ones out of freecycle.
@RiotDemon @f00l
No need to sew at all; all i do is close off the bottom with a zip-tie. Sleeves are still on, just tucked in. If it gets in the way, cut it outside the seam. Neckline is no hindrance (because old Anvil), but if it’s too constrictive, cut it like a boat-neck shirt.
Here’s the zip tie.
Going the no-sew-no-cut way means that theoretically, I can revert it back to a t-shirt later. Most of my bags were made from shirts that would never fit me, though, like the Grumpy Cat shirt that I bought for 39 cents.
@narfcake I have some work t-shirts that I’m about to retire. I think I’ll keep them for bags instead of rags.
@RiotDemon I’ll do a full write up tomorrow morning on this – and by write up, it’ll be mostly pics because it’s really simple.
I own multiple cloth bags that I’ve had for more years than some of you have been alive. O’Reilly used to given them away, and they have book covers of various books (some long gone and forgotten, and some still out there). I’ve got cloth bags from old grocery stores that vanished long ago (Mrs. Gooches, which was acquired by somebody or other, which was in turn acquired by Whole Foods).
I have FOUR “Porting Unix Software” bags (I dunno why), in two glorious colors, with a fine looking lizard. I have a really sturdy one from Central Market in TX (I dunno, but I have it).
Some of the O’Reilly bags date from 1990; I have bags that are older. I prefer cloth bags, so that they can be tossed in the wash now and then. Who cares if the store logo is on them? Turn it inside out if it honestly bothers you. I use a bag that says Windows 98; there’s not much worse than that, right?
@Shrdlu I don’t know why it bothers me. I guess I don’t like paying to advertise for a store I spend money at. The bags my grocery store sells can’t be turned inside out without looking ugly because of the seams.
If I had my way, all my reusable bags would just be plain black or purple, or they’d be covered in skulls or whatever.
@Shrdlu Windows ME (thankfully) was much worse.
@Shrdlu Great, now I have to scour ebay for O’Reilly tote bags.
@RiotDemon Look at Dollar Tree. I’ve never bought one, every time I turn around someone gives me one. One just came with my custom embroidered polos from Queensboro, Walmart gave me two when I made ny first curbside pickup order, and Costco has given me two very nice and sturdy insulated bags which I keep in my trunk for cold stuff.
@RiotDemon
Not free. But Trader Joe’s has really nice bags. Various materials including some good insulated ones.
/image porting unix software book
@Shrdlu Self-starred and all!
@ELUNO Kinda deserves it, no?
@brhfl I gave it one!
@ELUNO Aw, kiddo, it’s well-known that I star my own posts. Then again, I star a whole bunch of others too. :-}
@Shrdlu
Some times I think I should pick up a buncha vintage O’Reilly’s, rip off the covers, and put them on the walls. I love the cover design.
But since I never cracked any but a few, and those very briefly, it might feel like i were to imply I had the knowledge. And I don’t. So I can’t do it.
geez big lots bags are a buck a piece, 4 or 5 of them won’t bankrupt you.
@cranky1950 but how shit are they?
@RiotDemon I use them every week to carry my aldi shit home
@cranky1950 I haven’t been to big lots in a long time. I honestly forgot about it.
@cranky1950 I went there. The bags they carry are the same kind that I’ve torn several handles off of, they have their logo really big, and the bag is too small.
I found some spices I needed though, for cheap, so thanks.
@RiotDemon The ones I have just have a little logo in the bottom right corner.
What about those big Ikea bags?
@ELUNO I have no idea. Ikea is too far to just stop by. I’ve only been there once to eat meatballs and grocery shop for stuff that’s vaguely Scandinavian.
@RiotDemon Not as cheap as in the store, but…
https://www.amazon.com/Ikea-172-283-40-Frakta-Shopping-Large/dp/B00QNRHM0K/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1478916411&sr=8-5&keywords=frakta
@RiotDemon I hadn’t seen these ones before. They are smaller so maybe more what you are looking for:
https://www.amazon.com/Ikea-Shopping-Purpose-Durable-Material/dp/B00KBYY0GK/ref=pd_sim_79_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00KBYY0GK&pd_rd_r=3WTQFFWS989CDV3EPF8P&pd_rd_w=pBi9s&pd_rd_wg=ps4Um&psc=1&refRID=3WTQFFWS989CDV3EPF8P
@ELUNO 5 bags for $11 isn’t bad. Is that material almost like tarp stuff? I wonder how it would hold up sitting in my car.
-1 point for Ikea straps.
@RiotDemon Yeah, exactly. They are (or at least from what I remember) very durable.
Yeah, I knew you were going to mention the straps, but you can easily sharpie over those!
Yeah, it’s not a bad price, but it’s more than double the price:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/search/?query=frakta
@ELUNO The only bags I’ve found lately are all the same kind for $0.99-1.99 that have these weird tearable straps. It sucks when you dump your groceries everywhere because the handle rips off.
I’ll have to keep these in mind. Thanks!
@RiotDemon I owned one of the bigger ones a long time ago and loaded it constantly with heavy stuff and it never ripped. So unless they have decreased in quality, this shouldn’t be a worry.
You should read some of the Amazon reviews.
@RiotDemon Definitely tarp material. It’s basically the yellow bags they use in-store, but in blue. I have a few in use as laundry bags.
I use Baggus. They have some cute prints, and they’re shaped more like traditional grocery bags. I’ve never liked the tote bag as shopping bag… I find there is no non-awkward way to carry them. Just me, perhaps.
Edit: The ripstop material seems pretty tough, too. I use the small ones and just overstuff the shit out of them and haven’t busted one yet. My grocery store is a 2mi walk.
@brhfl 50lb weight limit. Not bad!
@RiotDemon Definitely haven’t tested it, but that doesn’t surprise me. I really have placed some nasty loads in mine.
I live in CA and just paid for all the bags needed to bring my groceries home. I knew the law passed, just didn’t realize it would be immediate.
@conandlibrarian you’d think they’d give it at least a week or something so stores would use up their supply and people could get some bags.
@conandlibrarian Yep, just like the marijuana law and a couple other, it took immediate effect.
@RiotDemon I have a ton of reusable bags at home, but forgot them. If I knew that I was going to have to buy bags at the store, I would of made the trip home first. The bags they sold were only $.10, and were a little thicker than a normal plastic bag.
@Collin1000 The marijuana law is a little more complex than the plastic bag one. You are allowed to smoke in a private home, but you still cannot legally buy without a marijuana card. It will become legal to purchase 1/1/18. I was a little confused, but being that I work on a college campus, there are a lot of experts around on this law.
@Collin1000 thank god 'cause I’m high as a kite right now
@conandlibrarian My wife and I got the same surprise today getting a few items at Safeway (ten cents a bag too!). Yet we had just been to a different grocery store fifteen minutes earlier, where we bought most of our items, and they bagged as they would any other time.
Just another day in the failed utopia that is California.
@Cheddy
All utopias are failed utopias.
If those experiments are not more horrible that non-utopias, then I guess it’s ok to try.
Shakespeare, The Tempest
Miranda:
O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is!
O brave new world
That has such people in’t!
Prospero:
'Tis new to thee.
I bought some mesh cotton bags on esty… looking now they’re super expensive, but they were like $5 for 5 when I checked way back when
these look solid (if a little pricy) at $10/piece (I might actually go and buy some they hold like 45 pounds omg look at them apples huhuhuhuhuhhhhhh)
oh pfffffffft forget that, these ones work too lol
Wait, do you not have any Fuku/o bags!?
@brhfl never gotten a fuko/u. I’ve only been on the site for two or three, and I missed out.
@RiotDemon Whaaaaat?!?
@RiotDemon I’m keeping my pink one, but due to the aforementioned awkwardness of tote bags, I’d be willing to part with my red ones if you want to advertise a mediocre website while you shop
@ELUNO I’ve only been here 167 days.
@brhfl thanks for the offer! I might take you up on it.
@RiotDemon Whaaaat? That’s just slightly over when I “joined” the forums, but I’ve been visiting meh for a long time now. You always seemed like an “oldie” around here.
@ELUNO I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, haha.
I just kinda jumped right in with one of @mfladd’s introduction threads and everyone was pretty nice and welcoming so I stuck around.
@RiotDemon b at (my username) dot com if you want 'em.
We got one of these repurposed feed bags as a gift last year. It is sturdy and works well.
@sligett I really like these.
@sligett nice repurposing. My feed bags when I used to have a horse were like my dog food bags. Almost like a wax covered paper, I suppose.
I buy nice ones at the holidays and use them to ‘wrap’ gifts for family. that way they get two gifts in one. My favorites are Envirosax. they are not cheap but they last forever.
Sometimes I will do tote bags instead, like you might take into a small store that have an image the recipient will like. My daughter lives in San Jose and they have had a bag ban for many years, so she collects a few each year and when needed can throw out ones that are worn out.
If you live in a hot climate like I do, i recommend spending a bit more for the nice ones for meat and frozen food. If you want to go all out, Chico bags has produce sets.
Unrepentant Hippy
/youtube hippy
@Cerridwyn I like the shape of the Envirosax and the Chico bags. Thanks.
If meh can get their hands on some “ChicoBags” I would buy a metric crap ton of them.
They are lightweight, very sturdy and stuff into their own little attached pouch. They have a carabiner on them so you can attach them to your purse, belt loop, or each other.
They are just the right size for groceries.
https://www.chicobag.com/t-reusable-shopping-bags
@mamawoot I love Chico bags. I learned about them when I went shopping at the Ashland Food Co-op with my birth-mom. I told her how much I loved it and she gave me hers. My wife has a couple with the Cake logo, one of her favorite bands. Before Chico bags I’d always forget to bring bags to the grocery store. Now I always have them with me in my computer bag. Ok, man purse.
These look like fun, $18.69 for the set on ebay. There are lots of choices for $1 each and free shipping. Can’t speak to durability, though.
@moondrake What’s the sense of putting groceries in the bags in the cart? Then they can’t bag the groceries while they’re ringing them up.
@SSteve maybe that’s the groceries bagged up afterwards?
@moondrake I don’t know why I didn’t really think about looking on eBay. I buy lots of stuff there.
@SSteve I assume you would empty each bag onto the conveyor, then put the bag behind that group, repeat. That way the groceries are grouped as you like. The good old days of sensible bagging seem to be lost around here. Even though I always group the refrigerator items together on the conveyor, they end up distributed through all the bags. The last time I shopped they bagged the raw pork on top of the bakery muffins. If this set included an insulated bag I would go for it, even though most of my trips to the grocery don’t fill more than a bag or two.
@moondrake
If you are shopping in TX and getting plastic bags, they have to arrange the bagging to prevent each bag tearing. Plus most checkers just bag in order of ringing up.
All that is way more important than your food I suppose.
I use my Fuku/o bags and the billion free bags I’ve picked up at trade shows. I live in a city in CA that has had the bag rule for a while. It takes some effort in the beginning to remember to put the bags back in your car, but you eventually get in the habit.
I was using my cloth Menard’s bags at Target a couple of years ago. The elderly crotchety male cashier started lecturing me the whole time about how the cloth shopping bags are filthy and would spread germs to the food because nobody ever washes them. I wanted to tell him to STFU but I bit my lip and refrained.
@Stumpy91 did he mention how you would have to use them over 120 times before they were actually better for the environment than a disposable plastic bag?
@thismyusername interesting.
I actually reuse my plastic bags for cat litter. I never recycle my bags because I know I’ll eventually need them. I switch between reusable and the disposable bags when shopping depending on how many bags I have on hand.
I suppose I could switch to that special self cleaning litter box that hooks up to the drain line… But they’re expensive. I already have a really expensive litter robot that they don’t use anymore.
@thismyusername
Am betting @narfcake’s recycled and repurposed t-shirts have a rather low carbon footprint.
I use the hell outta any bags I get.
@f00l Low carbon footprint only because I’m reusing an existing product that was possibly destined to become a rag.
@narfcake
"Reusing an existing product", ingeniously, and it is very durable and works wonderfully for the new assignment.
Like.
/giphy applause
@RiotDemon Yeah I use them for cat litter as well. Double bagged since they get dropped down a 4 story trash shoot thing in the hall (and don’t explode - I checked).
My favorites are the canvas ones I got from Woot many moons ago. Very sturdy, roomy, and get a surprised look from fellow shoppers. Like this one:
@rockblossom Those are the standard totes that are sold from time to time on shirt.woot. The design is @fishbiscuit’s College of Apathy.
@narfcake Yes, that one. I have several of the normal-sized canvas totes from Woot, but only two (this one and “Procrastination U”) in the oversized tote with the top zipper. I would buy more if I could find them, as they are great for grocery shopping. Alas. Hard to find.
BIG COTTON WINS AGAIN!
I use these.
I get fresh clean bags each time.
I reuse, recycle or donate them to a charity auction nearby.
@daveinwarsh I use those when I scoop the cat litter box. If they ever banned them here I’d be in trouble.
You can go on ebay and get 1000 shopping bags for about $20.00. (the plastic ones that stores can’t use any more) That should last you awhile. Then you can donate them or reuse them. Look up ‘tshirt bags’.
When plastic shopping bags in my area are outlawed,
Only outlaws will be using the plastic bags.
I’d like to think of biker gangs and rebels riding around using the plastic bags…
@daveinwarsh
Just take the basket home with you.
@Ignorant Am I the only one who hates those new sideways baskets? On the odd occasion that I go to Whole Foods, my first task is to comb the store for an old basket.
@brhfl the old baskets are more comfortable to wear over my arm. The only place I’ve been to, that I’ve seen that new kind, is target.
@RiotDemon you are using the target ones wrong.
@Ignorant Those Target shoppers are making Walmart shoppers look normal.
@RiotDemon I, too, had only seen them at Target. But then the Foggy Bottom Whole Foods got them and all I could think was ‘nooo, it’s spreading…’
@brhfl
I want that trend to spread. What’s wrong with it other than cultural taste?
@f00l They smack against my legs.
Edit because that was kind of vague - the hinge being parallel with the hand (and a single hinged handle vs. two that stop acting all hinge-like when held together) makes for a very unstable, unpredictable, smack-against-the-legs sort of carry.
@Ignorant I feel like an idiot. I’ve seen those rolling ones at Lowe’s, so at first I didn’t realize what was wrong. I just thought they were stupidly dragging around more than one.
@brhfl
Sounds like s case of bad ergonomics.
No-sew t-shirt tote:
Find a t-shirt you want to “upcycle”. It doesn’t have to be in perfect condition, but it still needs to be mostly intact. Some minor holes, it’ll be fine. Larger holes or tears, perhaps not.
Poke a hole on the inside in the lower hem. I used a #1 phillips screwdriver here:
Thread a zip-tie through the hole. Longer ones will be easier to work with, but it doesn’t have to be super long. For this 3XL, I used an 8" long, 50# rated one:
Feed the tie through:
Poke the end back out through the first hole and close the tie up:
Flip the sleeves inward and it’s ready to use:
I go this route because this is a reversible modification. Cutting the zip-tie apart will allow this to function as a t-shirt again. Alternatively, if this is to be a tote from here on out, the sleeves can be cut off, though keep the seam for strength. If the neck hole constricts usability, cut it into a boat-neck.
@narfcake
Could you just
Turn the shirt inside out
Gather the bottom of the shirt tight and put a few zip ties around the gathered material, as tightly as possible
Turn the shirt back to right side out?
Then you wouldn’t have to mess with screwdrivers (non-alcoholic) and threading zip ties.
Also reversible.
/giphy "rather be drunk"
@f00l It’ll work, though it bunches up unevenly that way.
@narfcake how do you carry them? Use the sleeve holes for handles?
@j8048188 Yep.
The larger shirts I can leave as-is; I usually cut the sleeves off the smaller shirts, like the one I use to carry my lunch in. It was a kids shirt I bought for 0.39.
/image paws jaws
Is this the worst meh ever? I mean why buy a bag when you can use a Target hand basket cart.
I buy the 10cent plastic bags at Aldi/Lidl I recycled maybe 3 of them in 10 years I have a rather impressive pile of them as I forget to throw a bag of them in the car and often have to buy more.