Custom bags to store firewood

As it gets colder and colder (even here in temperate Atlanta), our gas and electric bills can quickly soar out of control. Custom bags can help store firewood and encourage you to get a fire roaring in the fireplace... it's free heat!

In my house, when we have the heat on the upstairs is a good ten degrees warmer than the downstairs -- what a waste when we spend most of our time in the living room. Fortunately, we have a beautiful working fireplace downstairs that we plan on using as soon as we obtain some firewood. Firewood sells cheap at the grocery store or on Craigslist, and you can easily store it in custom bags to keep it from making a mess. Tuck the custom bags in a corner or store them in a closet.

Use custom bags to hold onto autumn

As fall starts to fade away, try making some of these newspaper leaves (from "Life With Little Ones") to hold onto the season in your home. Use custom bags to collect old newspapers, and take other custom bags outside to collect freshly fallen leaves of different shapes and sizes.

Place a sheet of newspaper over the leaf and use crayons to rub color onto the newspaper, leaving the texture of the leaf beneath. Then lift the newspaper sheet and cut it out to make a delicate, transparent autumn leaf that you can hang as garland or tape to a window. Then store the supplies in custom bags so you can make more next fall.

Idea and image from villicanamomma.blogspot.com.

Host a crafting party and BYO custom bags

Friday I'm having a crafting party at my house, where attendees are encouraged to bring their own drinks and supplies in custom bags. For my craft, I'll either be hanging hooks for bags (like I blogged about below), making DIY holiday decorations, binding a book as a Christmas present, or decorating a travel mug for a friend. I just realized I have a lot of crafting to do.

I've said it before but I'll say it again: crafting is communal. So custom bags are essential to having an easy way to transport your supplies from house to house. My friend Jamison is knitting Christmas gifts for family this year, and for the past month he's been toting a custom bag with yarn and needles.

Job hunting? Take custom bags.

If you are one of the many, many Americans currently looking for a job, custom bags could come in handy when making your interview rounds. I wouldn't suggest actually bringing custom bags with you on an interview -- you'll need something a bit more professional than that -- but they can be helpful carriers that stay in your car or home. Use custom bags to...

1. carry applications, if you're going around to restaurants and retailers looking for openings.
2. carry a water bottle, snack, sweater/jacket and change of shoes if you are headed to an interview. When I was interviewing for jobs in the summer and fall I would often emerge from them with my stomach growling and my feet hurting.
3. carry a notebook with copies of your resume. You never know when a casual conversation could turn into a networking opportunity.

How to store custom bags

By this point I've collected quite a few custom bags. (I have a habit of forgetting to bring my custom bags to Trader Joe's and purchasing more at the store.) When I was browsing for solutions to storing all these bags I came across a similar question on Apartment Therapy. One commenter recommends purchasing nice hooks -- you can get some really pretty ones at Anthropologie -- and interspersing them on a blank wall. Then use the hooks to display your purses and custom bags. That way you can find them easily when you need them, and you don't have to keep shoving them under the sink.

Use custom bags to help with holiday decorating

I’ve been itching to craft lately, and after I saw the “Holiday Decoration Ideas” entry on apartmenttherapy.com I texted my roommate, “Want to plan a day of holiday crafting next weekend?”

Take custom bags to the craft stores to stock up on supplies, then when you get home sort them in custom bags: one for tinsel, one for ball ornaments, one for lights, one for garland, etc. Apartment Therapy suggests filling clear ornament balls with colorful tinsel and attaching a gift tag at the top… great for name placards at dinner. What other D.I.Y. holiday decorations can custom bags help organize?

Use custom bags to sort old clothing

Yesterday I talked about a used clothing store that offered incentives to its customers to bring their own custom bags. I started thinking about buying and selling used clothing, and remembered how useful custom bags were for recycling your wardrobe.

If you’re like me, you tend to accumulate far too many clothes. This summer when I moved to Georgia from North Carolina I was faced with this problem. I only had a small U-haul, which was definitely not big enough to carry the number of boxes it would have taken to haul all the clothes I never wore anyway. So I used custom bags to organize what I wanted to sell, what I wanted to give away, and what I wanted to keep. I was able to efficiently cut down on my wardrobe by two thirds, and didn’t have to throw anything away.

Recycle your wardrobe with custom bags

A clothing store in my neighborhood called Rag-O-Rama encourages customers to save plastic and Rag-O-Rama's money by supplying their own custom bags. Every time you make a purchase and turn down a Rag-O-Rama bag, the clerk gives you a token which you can then drop into the box representing a charity of your choice. The store will then donate the cost of the bag to that charity. The strategy is brilliant, because whatever brand exposure they are losing by not having their custom bags out on the town they are gaining in word-of-mouth. How refreshing to see a company that puts sustainability in practice rather that giving mere lip service to the trend. Next time I shop at Rag-O-Rama, I'm bringing my own custom bags.

Custom bags to run with

I went for a run this morning, and since it helps me if my exercise has some kind of destination, I decided to run to a local coffee shop to grab a bagel for breakfast. I wasn’t going to have time to eat the bagel there, so I’d have to bring it back with me. This presented a problem. With keys, money, and now bagel, I had too many things to carry. The solution was simple: I needed a custom bag. Cinch packs are custom bags that would have worked perfectly this morning; they are extremely lightweight and use drawstring shoulder straps to stay on your back and out of your way. I didn’t have one, however. Too bad no school or company has tried to win my favor with cinch pack custom bags…

Use custom bags to clean house before going out of town

Going out of town for Thanksgiving? Before you do, think about your future self. After a long trip, nobody likes to come home to a dirty, disorganized house. If you’re like me, and you leave packing till the last minute, you typically come home to a bed overrun with laundry, coat hangers, and bags. Do yourself a favor and use custom bags to pick up around the house before you head out of town. Bring the custom bag around with you and pick up stray items first. Then, go through the bag one item at a time and put the things where they belong. It's easy to get sidetracked when decluttering, and custom bags can help you stay organized.

Custom bags for Thanksgiving travel

What kind of travel will you be doing for Thanksgiving? I’ll be tossing my luggage into my car, praying it doesn’t break down, and hauling myself from Atlanta to Charleston. I’ve got half a loaf of zucchini bread to tide me over until my stepmom’s corn chowder, I’ve downloaded dozens of podcasts, and I checked out The Tipping Point from the library in case my companion is kind enough to take the wheel for an hour or two. One thing I haven’t done is pack. So I’m sure at the last minute when I’m failing to shove everything into my weekend bag, I’ll give up and start tossing items into custom bags. Custom bags are great for carrying food and drinks on car trips, and they fit perfectly on car floorboards. What et cetera items will end up in custom bags during your travel?

Custom bags for recycling

Consider using custom bags to carry your household recycling. At my old apartment I had two giant Ikea custom bags that I used to collect glass bottles, plastic, newspaper… everything. The recycling containers for my complex were a bit of a trek, so I would put off taking out the recycling, and the enormity of these bags allowed me to do that for quite a while. Recycling turned into a once-a-month, half-hour chore. Now I have less space in my new place for recycling, so I use a smaller custom bag next to the trashcan in the hallway outside my kitchen. We have to take it out once a week but it’s worth it to get the musty beer bottle smell out of the house.

Make cornucopias this November with custom bags

To get ready for Thanksgiving, use your custom bags to collect materials to make a decorative cornucopia for your home. Most of us haven’t even thought about cornucopias since grade school, but, thanks to apartmenttherapy.com, I’ve discovered some awesome grown-up cornucopias. Take your custom bags outside to collect pine cones and pine straw to shellac, or take them to your local craft store or farmer's market to stock up on fake pears, pumpkins, dried wheat and potpourri. Using your custom bags to collect natural ingredients that have fallen to the ground will bring your Thanksgiving back to Jamestown days when settlers had to work and collaborate to eat. Your handmade cornucopia will celebrate abundance.

Custom bags for your paint project

Use custom bags to cut down on waste during your next paint project. Take custom bags to the paint and craft stores with you, and use them to organize your paint, brushes, rollers, tape and drop cloths. Then, as you’re painting, you can use the custom bags as surfaces on which to set paint cans and brushes. The wet tools won’t stick like they do to newspaper, and when you’re done your bags will look even more unique when they’re splattered with paint. Repainting furniture can save you the money of replacing it and further reduces waste by making your old stuff new again.

Custom bags to hold your magazines

If you’re like me, you have a hard time throwing away magazines, and they end up cluttering your coffee table for months until you finally admit you’re not going to read them. With print media suffering, free magazines and catalogs come to my door in droves now more than ever. So I'm thinking about keeping them in custom bags. That way I can store them in the closet and I’ll still have them to read on a rainy day. Plus, my roommate and I like to decoupage posters and furniture, and magazine pictures are perfect for that. Since my custom bags are nice-looking, I don’t really want to hide them in the closet, though. How could I display my custom bags in the living room?

Custom bags for home décor

Custom bags are a great way to get everything you need for home décor. Ikea, the grand mecca for all things home, doesn’t offer plastic bags for free. You have to bring your own custom bags or pay for the ones they provide. Ikea also encourages do-it-yourself culture by offering materials for kitchen cabinets that you assemble yourself. Their furniture, too, comes with simple assembly instructions and some of the tools that you need. The store allows you to customize your décor by selling fabric by the yard and plain picture frames -- ones that, in my house, hold my own photos and postcards. Custom bags allow you to stock up everything you need to make your house a home.

Custom bags help redeem your holiday shopping

I for one can’t quite muster the energy this year to spend hundreds of dollars at chain stores on junk that my friends and family don’t even want. But the holidays don’t have to be full of crap. What about, this year, committing to spend all or even just half of your holiday shopping budget on local goods? Take custom bags to a local goods fair or the flea market, or to local boutiques that sell hand-crafted goods. Hand-crafted doesn’t have to mean tea cozies and quilts; it can also mean unique, fine, funny and hip jewelry, clothing, furniture and home goods. Or, use custom bags to carry materials for your own crafty talents. A friend of mine in costume design makes commissioned handbags each holiday season. How else can custom bags help you avoid the mall crowds?

Custom bags for bike repair

Tired of spending hundreds of dollars on bike repair? Why not do it yourself? Custom bags can help. Some home items that would be useful to pick up from the store and shove in your custom bag are a bike pump, wrench (for lowering the seat and taking off the wheels), tire patching kit, and of course a helmet and lights for riding at night. Depending on your handlebars, you may also want to get tape to prevent blisters on your hands. Also, buy a spoke truer to keep your wheels in line. Custom bags make home maintenance easier by keeping all your bike stuff in one place. And for heftier repairs, head to a local co-op that provides tools and volunteers.

Produce an indie flick with custom bags

Ever thought about making a movie? Why not go ahead and do it? Give yourself and your friends one week to film a five-minute movie. (Idea taken from Campus MovieFest.) Rent a video camera, microphone and tripod, use the editing software on your home computer, and find music online that you don’t need to buy the rights to. Pack everything in custom bags and go on location. (If your custom bags appear in the film you get extra points.) Publish the finished project to YouTube or submit to contests. A lot of companies will hold contests, so check out those beforehand and maybe you can theme your film after one of them. If you can’t think of anything, pick out a song you like and shoot a music video for it. Then come back here and leave a comment about how custom bags helped you produce an indie flick.

Custom bags win you contests at Trader Joe’s

Last night, as it was pouring here in Atlanta, I headed out to Trader Joe’s to pick up some tomato sauce to make chili. As usual, I forgot my custom bag. Since I often forget custom bags, I have about 10 million Trader Joe’s paper bags waiting in a cabinet at home to be reused for something… anything. So instead of collecting one more I opted to carry my items by hand, piled under my chin, back to my car in the rain -- even refusing the umbrella escort offered to me by an employee. Trader Joe’s let’s you enter weekly contests every time you byob(ag), so I really should get on that. What tricks do you use to help you remember to bring custom bags?

What NOT to do with custom bags

I was waiting in line at the smoothie stand in the mall last Saturday and heard a kerfuffle coming near me. I turned around and ten feet away were two men running towards me in a brawl. One of them pinned the other against a large decorative trashcan and held him there while the man shouted that he couldn’t breathe and “didn’t do nothing wrong.” I just stood there staring like one of those bystanders you hear about on Dateline who fails to help someone being attacked. A couple of dozen other people did the same thing. Finally the apprehender muscled the man into Bloomingdales while a saleslady came out and collected his custom bags. Apparently he had been using his custom bags to pilfer items from Bloomingdales. Let this be a lesson to you: shoplifting with custom bags will only get you thrown against a trashcan.

Custom bags at the drive-in

Custom bags are great for a creative cheap date. Is there a drive-in movie theater in your area? Drive-ins are a great way to enjoy movies on the cheap, especially if you pay by the carload. And most drive-ins will let you pack your own snacks. Use custom bags to pack picnic blankets, homemade popcorn, sodas, potato chips, and even beer. If you can, drive a truck or SUV and take a carful of friends. Then set up seats in the back of the truck and enjoy outdoor movie-watching at its finest. Custom bags ensure you have all the gear you need.

Let the custom bags cook dinner tonight

It’s not hard to come up with a fairly quick dinner for the family, a date, friends or just yourself on a Friday night, when you have custom bags to help. Head to your favorite market and pick up the following items:

Tortillas
tofu or chicken
red and green bell peppers
onions
carrots
cheese (pepper jack or cheddar and mozzarella)
tomato
2 avocadoes
tortilla chips
bottle of wine or other beverage

After you get home with your custom bags, marinate the meat, onions, peppers and carrots in olive oil and spices and combine the avocadoes, tomato and onion to make a guacamole snack. What else is in your custom bags? A movie or record to put on while you’re sizzling the fajitas?

Take your custom bags to the record store

Today marks the 68th birthday of Art Garfunkel of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel. Whether you like folk music or not, take your custom bags to the record store in celebration. Tell the employee what kind of music you like and ask for a recommendation. Spend some time browsing the used section for hidden gems. If you are cultivating a vinyl collection, or want to, custom bags are a good size for LPs and keep them protected. Many record stores have players and headphones where you can try out a CD before buying it. If you typically buy your music in mp3 format online, just try taking your custom bags to an independent music store; you may surprise yourself.

Custom bags help you go car-free

Why is it such a sacrifice to travel without your car? One of the reasons is that we keep tons of stuff in our cars -- coffee cups, bags, sweaters and a change of shoes. We depend on that storage space to keep the things we’ll need throughout the day. Custom bags, however, can help with that, as they are roomy enough to fit a packed meal, water bottle, bike lock, change of clothes and outerwear in case it gets cold later. This Sunday, commemorate the 36th anniversary of the first Car Free Sunday with your own car-free day. Take custom bags on your weekly errands, and walk, bike or bus to the stores. Tote your stuff in custom bags to meet friends for a sunny afternoon outing, and enjoy not having to find parking.

Use your custom bags to extend Halloween

Didn’t get enough Halloween this year? Use your custom bags to stock up on items that deny the holiday’s end. Npr.org has an article by Benjamin Percy (“Devilishly Good Books Terrify… And Delight,” 10/30/09) that recommends Ghost Story by Peter Straub, Wisconsin Death Trap by Michael Lesy, and The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. Maybe you spent the weeks of October planning your costume or Halloween party, or maybe you just didn’t realize October 31st was coming until it was too late; either way, there is good news for you: Horror stories exist year-round. So grab your custom bags and head to your local library or used bookstore to stock up on inexpensive fright. Many bookstores even sell their own custom bags.

Custom bags at the library

In the mood to curl up on the couch with a good book tonight? Grab your custom bags and fill them with books at the public library. Reading is a completely free way to enjoy the evening and improve your mind. Try a P.G. Wodehouse novel like Leave it to Psmith. Wodehouse’s mysteries about the British aristocracy are endlessly funny, smart, and entertaining. Don’t just get stuck in the new releases section of your local library; venture into literature and non-fiction. Set aside some time to browse, custom bags in hand. Ask a librarian what he recommends. Then bon appetit!

Party in a Custom Bag

As you head out to celebrate Halloween this weekend -- whether at a wicked rager or a spooky night of horror films -- pack your party in custom bags. Don’t arrive empty-handed at a large get-together; use one of your custom bags to tote a six-pack of pumpkin beer as an offering so you don’t get tricked. If you’re heading for a quieter event, use some custom bags to stock up on popcorn and apple cider at the grocery store. Toss in a few silent black & white DVDs (last I checked at my video store, copies of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Murnau's Nosferatu were still available) and throw your bag in the back seat or the basket of your bike as you head across the neighborhood. Watch out for black cats along the way.

Custom Bags at the Airport

One place custom bags come in handy is the airport. Since passengers are only allowed one carry-on and one personal item, bags must be large, durable, and easy to carry. Custom bags can hold food, magazines, laptops, books, toiletries -- anything. Busy parents already carry shopping bags for their and their children’s belongings, since they don’t have time to organize a dozen different pockets and flaps. When travelers make it through security, they can toss their wallets or purses into the custom bag in order to comply by the two-bag requirement. Hundreds of thousands of people pass through the world’s busiest airports each day, so imagine the exposure custom bags could bring your logo when they hang from the shoulders of travelers.

Trick or Treat with Custom Bags

Consider passing out custom bags this week as candy carriers for the little people related to your clients or employees. For kids who want to collect as much candy as possible -- meaning all kids -- cute plastic pumpkin baskets don’t cut it. Pillowcases and large grocery bags are where it’s at. The kids don’t care if the bag is Halloween-colored; they just care that it’s large, easy to carry, and won’t fall apart. Custom bags are both durable and inexpensive, so consider marketing your brand to all the front doors of the neighborhood by giving away reusable custom bags with your company’s logo.

Custom Bags for Carrying Crafts

Celebrate the cottage industry by carrying your craft supplies in custom bags. Cottage industries predated, and led to, the process of mass production in the Industrial Revolution. Cottage industries emerged as a way for non-land-owning, uneducated, and unskilled commoners to make a living out of their homes. They combined the processes of carding, spinning and weaving in order to make cloth. They then sold the cloth to people in the community and exported the rest. Use custom bags to harken back to the days before mass production, when clothing was handmade. Support your local artisans by buying local, and appreciate their work by trying your own hand at crafts. Keep wool and other materials in a reusable custom bag, and learn to knit or sew.

Custom Bags to Use and Reuse

Custom bags are basic necessities that help society function efficiently and effectively. Did you know that United States citizens go through approximately 380 billion plastic bags and over ten billion paper bags each year? Those statistics fail to take into account the effects of such high consumption of these products on the state of the environment.

The pollution caused by the production process for plastic infuses the world’s oceans, air, and land. When ingested by animals and marine life, plastic debris often has deadly consequences, as it can clog their intestines and cause them to starve to death. The mere presence of custom bags made from plastic in oceans kills thousands, if not millions, of animals when they get entangled in plastic waste. A common cause of death among animals is choking or drowning due to becoming hopelessly ensnared in plastic litter like custom bags.

Paper bags are another variety of custom bags frequently used in grocery stores and retail establishments, but paper bags are just as responsible as plastic bags when it comes to hurting the planet. The millions of trees required to produce our current surplus of paper custom bags are a high price to pay for a luxury like paper. Trees give living beings the oxygen we need to survive, not to mention their abilities to reduce harmful pollutants in the air, house countless species of wildlife, and prevent erosion.

With the affordability and durability of reusable custom bags, there is no reason for society’s continued reliance on paper and plastic bags. By investing in eco-friendly custom bags now, we will be doing our part to help protect the Earth’s environment so that our descendants can enjoy it for many generations to come.