20 Clever Ways to Repurpose a Divided Wine Bag

I suppose the fact that we have a zillion of these reusable wine bags lying around says something about our drinking habits, but I'm pretty sure it's hard not to accumulate a bunch of them if you're into cheap wine good deals.

We've gotten most of these bags from our neighborhood grocery stores.  They usually have a deal where if you buy six bottles at once, you get 10% off of all of them and a free bag to tote them all home in.  I suppose that could still be pretty pricey, but when your usual wine comes sold in a box, $3 glass bottles seem like a splurge...

The problem is, if we want to reuse these bags to bring home more wine from the store, that means buying another set of six bottles at once, which would then net us another free bag.  So we never really seem to use the bags for their intended purpose, past that initial purchase.

I've made it my mission to come up with some ways to keep using these fun bags.  A few, like #1, I started using years ago.  Some we've thought up more recently and others I just came up with for this blog post.

--1--

Use the bags to keep all of your random cords organized.  This works especially well for extension cords!

--2--

Take these bags with you to the grocery store, but use them to bring home other glass containers:

 --3--

 Store all of your cleaning supplies in a bag, then you can easily cart it around the house as you work:

--4--

Use it to organize your tools, especially if you don't have a designated workbench area in the garage:

--5--

Use a bag to store baby blankets in:

--6--

Organize your kid's outfits for the week or for traveling.  You can put everything they need into one compartment (shirt, pants, socks, underwear, hair bows, etc) and then they can make their own choice of which one to wear each day.  This is great for empowering them to make their own decisions, but also ensuring they don't wind up wearing something hideous or inappropriate!

--7--

Going on a trip?  Pack your shoes in a bag first, then add it to your suitcase:

--8--

G teaches 6 classes a day, so he can just shove each period's papers in a separate compartment when he drags them all home to grade:

--9--

Heading out the door and wanting to keep everyone's water bottles handy and easy to carry?  Try this:

--10--

I love this one.  G used a bag to creatively "wrap" one of my Christmas presents this year.  I loved how he used a different color for each compartment!  This bag held different "fancy" chocolate bars:

11.   Going on a picnic?  Bring along your ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, and other condiments in one of these bags.

12.  Fill a bag halfway with dirt and plant seeds in the different sections - they'll remain separated and easy to replant once they're seedlings!

13.  Use a bag in your suitcase to hold small items like socks, underwear, and bathing suits.

14.  Heading to the beach?  Bring your bathing suit, sunscreen, hat, a change of clothes and possibly a towel in one of these bags.

15.  Use a bag to keep things like hairspray and other toiletries organized, both at home and while traveling.

16.  Keep a bag in the car to organize all the odds and ends that you can't live without while driving.

17.  Keep toys or items like coloring books in the different sections to create an always-ready "fun bag" for your little ones.

18.  Use a bag to haul various "work junk" back and forth between home and the office.

19.  Have one bag near your home's charging station to keep track of cords, cameras, iPods, and phones.  You could even cut a hole for each cord in the bottom of each compartment to help you do this!

20.  Organize camping gear (especially camp kitchen items) by using one of these bags.

Bonus (because I just thought of it):

21.  Use a bag in the freezer to help organize frozen meats, cheeses, and other ingredients!


Which idea do you like best?  Can you think of any others I should add to the list?  I'd love for you to leave a comment here or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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