institches33

Still remember Erma Bombeck writing about her mother saving boxes, bags and wrapping paper. Her writing was hilarious and I still miss her.

AlvaStitcher

I keep gift bags if reusuable and not already recycled several times before I got it. Boxes are flattened and put out in recycling. Plastic bags are gathered periodically from a wooden collection box that my husband made for that purpose and then taken back to the grocery store for recycling. I am trying to weed out the unnecessary stuff from cluttering the house. Have gone through one closet in the guest room which has seemed to collect the most stuff. Glad to see it go! LOL

lindaschipper

I saved the boxes my sewing machines came in, and anything related to my quilting frame. Packages mailed to me from online buying are saved also, but only 10 or so at a time as I will reuse them to mail fabric to someone when I sell it. Other than that I take the excess boxes to be recycled.

Jakers1

I recycle plastic bags, and keep good boxes and gift bags. I also recycle tubes from toilet paper rolls and paper towels, as our humane society zoo use them for the animals to chew or hide in.

tranum

The ladies of my old church served food at countless funerals, anniversaries, etc. It was almost always sandwiches and they actually never threw out the twist ties of the bun packages. I mean they had a whole drawer dedicated to twist ties ! Hundreds upon hundreds ! I never saw them reuse even one so I saved a small handful and dumped the rest in the trash and nobody seemed to care.

maviskw

I have boxes that I have been using to collect recyclables that have been around for at least 10 years; maybe 20. They have Duck tape at the top to hold the flaps down, or maybe up. When I go to recycling, they know to dump my boxes out and put the box back into my trunk.

I try not to take a bag at the store if it's only an item or two. I have my own grocery bag. This one has been going for 30 years. I got in 1990. I get a nickle every time I use it! It goes into the wash machine every once in a while.

Friday1961

Yes! To my great dismay! I can make myself recycle ordinary cardboard boxes, but I have a collection of attractive tin boxes and small pretty boxes that have just accumulated, despite my best intentions! A shelf in my home office is full of them.

I also have far too many reusable cloth bags (totes)!

carolynjo

Our grocery store is not supplying bags any longer. I made large denim bags about 30 years ago and they are still going strong. They wash well, and I was careful to finish all the seams, so no raveling. Our checkout boys frequently comment on the bags and I laughingly tell the guys that the bags are older then they are.

SusieQOH

I triple or quadruple the plastic bags for my cats litter with the exception of summer when I use ziplock bags. I don't save boxes as I order them from the post office. I do mostly flat-rate shipping.

carolynjo

We no longer can recycle things; I don't know what we'll do. Guess we'll have to get a "burn barrel" again. I have always tried to avoid having anything to recycle, but I am going to have to get creative when I need to throw stuff away. Sometimes, I have flattened boxes and taped them together and put them out for trash men to pick up. I haven't figured out a solution yet this time, though.