Hi Meals and Movers! My name is Allie and I am the face behind Live Laugh Eat, a blog where I share my love for baking, healthy eating, food photography, and everything in between. Before I begin, I just want to say congrats to Janetha and Marshall on tying the knot!!
The topic of today’s post is actually something unrelated to food and fitness….you know, to keep things exciting while Janetha is vacationing (without us!!). I hope you’ll still find it interesting and useful though. Let’s get started shall we?
I graduated from college just 2 months ago, which left me with 1) no money and 2) a boatload of T-shirts.
You see, my school tuition cost more than my life. Luckily we got free things like T-shirts to make up for it. Earning back our tuition in T-shirts actually became the thing to do, if you will :)
Like Janetha, I am in the process of moving and I recently filled 2 trash bags with T-shirts, most of which were still brand new! I’ll probably donate most of them to charity but there are some T-shirts that are special to me that I just can’t part with. You know, the Backstreet Boys concert t-shirt you got when you were 12 or the shirt from your first 5K race? Gotta keep those fo-evah!
So…I found a way to make t-shirts useful.
Green Reusable T-shirt Bags
You can use these bags for grocery shopping, storing shoes in your suitcase, moving, and even to hold your dirty laundry. After all, you can just wash the bag with a load of laundry!
Materials:
- 1 T-shirt
- scissors
- sewing machine (optional)
Directions:
1) Cut a scoop slightly larger than the collar of your T-shirt. You want the scoop to be slightly larger than the collar because this is the opening of your bag.
2) Then cut off the sleeves. Again, you want to cut holes slightly larger than the actual sleeve openings because these will serve as the handles of your bag.
3) Next turn the shirt inside out and sew up the bottom. Our sewing machine is 5000 years old and no longer works so I figured out an alternative way to seal up the bottom.
**If your sewing machine works, by all means, sew!
Instead, I cut the bottom into narrow strips (about 3” from the bottom of the shirt) and tied the strips together in knots.
4) When you’ve finished tying knots across the bottom, turn your bag inside out again and TA-DA you’ve got a reusable bag!
What are you waiting for? Go find a T-shirt you hate (or love!) and recycle it!
Qs~
- What is one item in your house that you have recycled into something useful?
- How do you live a greener lifestyle?
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{ 31 comments }
This is a genius idea!!
1. I wash out all my used glass jars (tomato sauce, peanut butter, etc) and use them to store bulk goods like nuts, grains and seeds. I love the look of things in glass jars!
2. My husband and I share a car and we *try* to remember to bring our own bags to the store when we do groceries. I am beginning to eat less and less meat which I know has a massive impact.
Great post!
that is a super fantastic great idea. i absolutely love love love it!!!! doing this asap.
1. i use tupper ware as pots for my plants and herbs.
2. i use green bags. i recycle tupper ware from take out like crazy. at work, i put almost all my trash in the shredder so they can take it to get recycled.
Wow that is so cool! :) Definitely worth a try.
I do several things to make things reusable for me or for others, or to be “greener” in general:
1. Donate old clothes
2. Use a water filter + reusable bottle instead of buying bottled water
3. Unplug appliances not in use to save energy
4. Walk/commute to work
Oh my gosh, what a GREAT idea!! I have sooo many t-shirts that I just can’t part with, so this is perfect for me. Thanks!! :)
What a cool idea!! I’m planning on making a couple of my t-shirts into pillow covers :-) And I live a greener lifestyle by using reusable bags, refraining from using plastic utensils when I can, and not buying bottled water!
This is really smart! Like others, I donate clothes and use reusable bags for groceries, and use BPA-free washable bottles for water. Always looking for other good ideas like this one!
OH MY GOD that is so easy i love this!
SO AWESOME!! Great way to still use/appreciate shirts that have a lil sentimental value but you never wear, I love it!! Thanks x million! :)
omg, I love this idea. I have tons of t-shirts from college. This is great. I can’t wait to do this. Thanks!
Great idea!!! :) I have tons of t-shirts and this is a great idea to reuse some of them.
1. I reuse glass jars to store things like that….
2. I buy from the bulk bins. This cuts down on waste that is created from packaging. I also started bringing a thermos to work instead of using their styrofoam cups. :( It’s sad to see how much waste a business can make.
Great post! I did a similar bag with my students this year but lined the shirts with duct tape first and then sealed the bag with staples. I now realize how unnecessary this was! If I do a similar project with my class this year, I’m using your method.
Ali- GENIUS! I’m totally doing this! Love that I don’t need a sewing machine!
Wow. Great idea! I have a slight reusable bag obsession and certain abundance of college T-Shirts. This is perfect!
Ingenious, Allie!! Simply ingenious!:)
What a great idea!! I love this! I can’t wait to try it out for myself. :-) Thanks Allie.
That’s such a neat idea! It will put a bunch of my old, ugly t-shirts to good use!
What a great idea!
We try to live a greener lifestyle in every way possible- reusing things, using green products!
xo
Kris
Such a cool idea! I have never ever seen this.
That is such a cool idea — even though it briefly reminded me of those purses made out of old jeans (where you cut off the legs/crotch of the jeans, sew up the bottom and sew on an arm strap) — please tell me you know what I’m talking about.
J and I resuse bags until they are basically torn to shreds, and I have nice cloth bags for groceries too. We try and reuse everything, buy used and sell/donate old things.
What a fantastic idea! We should consider being green. I’ll try making some and give it to friends. Thanks for sharing! If you wont mind I’d love to guide Foodista readers to your post. Just add the foodista widget to the end of this post so it will appear in the Foodista pages and it’s all set, Thanks!
That’s a brilliant idea! I own only two reusable shopping bags, so I’m going to try this! :D
Oh my gosh I have so many random T-shirts I need to do this! This was great.
Seriously Allie you are so impressive! That’s such a great idea. And I hear you on having an insane amount of t-shirts. I definitely have some that should turn into bags :)
Very impressive, if only I had the patience to make one of these.
So smart! my kids are searching through their dressers right now for t-shirts!
well aren’t you just the darn cutest, allie! what a great idea!! i save old cottage cheese containers and jars to store things in! I also bring my own bags to the grocery store :)
i wanna see the bag inside-out!
pics please!!!!!
This is genius! And I am NOT just saying that because Allie is my real life friend:)
this is SUCH a cute idea! I can’t wait to try it!
LOVE THIS! I cannot wait to gome home and try it! So cute!!
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