Frugal Friday: Homemade Shopping Bags

(This tip will be familiar to those who have been following my personal blog for years. "Rags to Bags" was originally posted in August 2009; the following post is exactly as it was written in 2009.)

Despite all the random things I seem to try, this project surprised even me. It's a little out of character for me.

I took three of David's old T-shirts (with his permission), cut off the sleeves, cut the collar wider, then sewed up the bottoms of the shirts closed.

TAH-DAH! Reusable shopping bags!
(Re-use before you recycle!)

Of course, since Dave wears size XL, these are XL shopping bags, great for carrying 24-count packs of toilet paper and a dozen loaves of French bread. A size "Medium" is probably the best size for my shopping.

I stamped these shirts with the word "green." When the buzzword falls out of favor, then I will cut up a blue shirt and stamp it with the word "blue", and no one will be the wiser. ;)

I cut the neck on this yellow shirt a lot deeper than I would prefer because I couldn't bear to cut through the beloved phrase printed on the shirt. I then sewed the phrase onto the finished bag.

So as not to waste, you can use the sleeves to deck out your little elves.

I DID take the bags with me on my next shopping trip and -- heck yes-- I used them (to the confusion and inconvenience of my cashier) but --heck yeah-- I did it and --heck yeah-- I'll do it again. I found a surprise benefit to using these new old bags: They are really comfy to sling on my shoulder. I carried the groceries inside my house with comfort and ease.

Had I a group of tree-hugging, organic-shopping fashionistas for friends, I'd totally be cool. If only I hadn't stamped these bags with the paint made from dolphins...