Shopping Bag Storage Container

I have those pretty little fabric shopping bags, that I always seem to leave sitting on my kitchen counter or in my car when I actually go shopping.  I think the little bear tends to use them more in his play kitchen than I do in my real life!  

Which means I also end up coming home with paper and plastic shopping bags.  I have learned through the years to re-use these as much as possible.  A brown paper bag works for us as a container for the recyclables before they go out to the can in the garage.  The plastic bags actually make great doggie poop bags, both on walks and for collection in the back yard.

The only problem I have always had with the plastic bags is the mess in storing them.  They always just got balled up and thrown under the sink.  Usually once every few months I would get sick of the mess and throw half of them away, only to repeat the process on a continuous loop.

The other day as I was eating my oatmeal and looking at the now empty container wondering if I could re-purpose it, an idea was born that would hopefully solve the mess of plastic bags - make a storage container for them ding dong!  Seriously, what have I been thinking to not do this years ago?

So here are the easy peasy step by steps:

You'll need a large oatmeal container, a couple sheets of 12x12 scrap paper, double sided tape, and an exacto knife.  Just cut out an opening in the bottom of the container big enough to pull out a bag with ease.  When done the bottom of the container will become the top of your dispenser.  Then cover the side, lid, and bottom of your container with the scrap book paper.  You could glue it, but I just used double sided tape.  Stuff your mess of bags into your container, leaving a bit of space so that the bags are not packed too tight.  Pop the lid on and now you can store your bags in a third of the space!

I love my new container.  Seriously the space under my sink is huge now.  I used to have to keep my stand mixer in the basement, but now that I have those bags under control it fits under the sink!  Yippee!
 
  

   



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