Super Easy Tips - tip #2 Vegie bags

One of our household goals for this year is to reduce the amount of rubbish that goes into our bins. We're actually quite good at not putting much into the regular bin, but our recycle bin is usually totally full by the time the council comes to collect it. And while recycling is good, having less rubbish in the first place is even better.



One small, easy thing I did recently was to make some vegie bags for taking to the supermarket. We use 'green' bags for our normal groceries, but then you always get stuck with the little plastic bags for fruit and veg. So I made a variety of these little drawstring bags in voile (which I got from Reverse Garbage - cheap cheap!) to use instead. The voile is see-through, so it's easy when going through the checkout.




Can you see our little mushrooms in there?

Super Easy Tips - tip #1 Soapy Bag

I've decided to start a series of 'Super Easy Tips' posts for the readers who love easy, quick things to make that are also useful. That's everyone, right?

Sometimes it's just a really simple thing, that you never thought of before, that is used over and over again.

Today's Super Easy Tip: a Soapy Bag

I don't know about you, but in our household we always end up with a bunch of small, leftover soapy bits that are impossible to wash yourself with. Until recently we were throwing these out - what a waste! So I decided to make a little soapy bag that can hold all the leftover soapy bits and that you can still use to wash yourself. Yay! This will take you all of 15 mins to make.



First, cut yourself a rectangular bit of fabric, about 20cm x 15cm. Choose a light, natural fabric - a piece of cotton will do fine. I overlocked the ends to avoid fraying, but this was probably being over-cautious.



Then, fold your fabric so that the two short ends meet, and the fabric is right-sides-together. Stitch the two side seams. You want to make a little drawstring bag, so fold the top hem over and stitch it down, leaving a gap of about 2cm so that you can thread your string. Then just attach your string (or ribbon, or whatever you've got) to a safety pin to thread it through the tunnel and tie together. And there you have it! A soapy bag.




Now you can put your leftover little soapy bits inside, and once you have a few in there it is easy to use the bag to wash with - the soapy suds come through the fabric and you haven't wasted all that leftover soap.

Hang it in your shower for easy use.



*please don't judge the cleanliness of my shower. Ok, so maybe I spend more time stitchin' than cleaning. Don't you?*