I was sick of my Bags for Life drawer cluttering my home – my hack has changed the game, I’ve got so much space now
DO you have a drawer or cupboard full of a Bag for Life collection that causes you stress?
Well it turns out there is a way to fold and organise them so they only take up a tiny amount of room.
Instagram user Claire, who posts under @sisterpledgecleans, uploaded a video showing her very easy method which could transform your home.
She wrote: “Tired of bulky bags for life cluttering up your space?
“Here’s a quick and easy way to fold them neatly.”
You first need to lie the bag flat on a surface with the handles poking out.
Next, fold one side completely into the middle by doing two small folds.
Then, you need to fold the other side into the middle twice again, but make you overlap the first fold so they are on top of each other.
Then you should do three folds from the bottom up.
Finally you need to loop the handles over your small package to secure it in place.
Claire added: “Store them in a zip-up freezer carrier bag, and toss them in the car boot for your next shop.
“Once you’ve done a few, it becomes second nature.
“The hardest part? Remembering to put them back in the boot!”
Her video has been liked over 83,000 times, and people were hugely impressed.
One said: “Love this.”
A second wrote: “I definitely need to do this.”
However, a third said: “Aint nobody has got time for that.”
If your cupboard is starting to overflow, a different cleaning whizz on Instagram shared her impressive solution to storing plastic bags neatly.
Influencer Mrs D’s Cleaning Reviews, who has 31,500 followers, said you should “keep them organised by folding them neatly into a triangle.”
The Chorley-based Instagram user showed her fans how she then stores the bags neatly in a basket to free up space in her home.
Mrs D said: “It just looks so much neater tucked away in a basket just like this.”
Tips for keeping organised during the summer holidays
IF you aren't sure how to keep organised during the summer holidays, then you've come to the right place.
Senior Fabulous Writer, Sarah Bull, has shared her top tips…
FOOD: One thing I find difficult is keeping on top of my kids’ constant requests for snacks.
Despite the fact they have one break time at school and then lunch, their demands for food during school holidays seem to be 24/7.
To make things easier, I’ve decided to bring in snack baskets for them.
They each have a certain amount of food (the same so that there’s no arguments) and once it’s gone, it’s gone.
Not only does it make my life easier, it teaches them that they have to spread things out – and to maybe see if the ‘hunger signals’ are actually ones of hunger or thirst.
ACTIVITIES: It can be hard to keep your kids entertained – and six weeks can feel like an awfully long time.
One thing to take advantage of is having an outside space. If you have a garden, you can put bikes or scooters in there, or even a trampoline.
It keeps them entertained and also makes sure they’re doing some kind of physical activity every day.
If you don’t have the space for a climbing frame or added activities, why not give the kids a bucket of chalk and get them to draw on the paving slabs?
Or another one I did was to give the kids a ‘magic solution’ I needed painted on the wall (it was just water and washing up liquid) to protect it. They spent a good hour doing that!
CLOTHES: One thing I’ve used from when my daughter, now six, started school is to use clothing drawers for her and my son, who’s 10.
On a Sunday, I put all of their clothes, underwear, socks etc in the corresponding drawer for the week.
Usually it’s uniform, but I still use the drawers during the holiday too.
It just makes things easier, more organised and less stressful – for all of us.
In order to turn a scrunched up 10p bag into a triangle, you need to first flatten it out on a table and push all of the air out.
She instructed how you fold the left and the right side into the middle in thirds, before folding the bottom up into threes.
Mrs D demonstrated: “You fold it over once, and then fold it over again.
“Then you are going to make a triangle by folding it in half, from corner to corner, and then you are going to fold it again, just like so.
“With the handles, you can secure it. All you are going to do is fold those handles over the top of the triangle, so you end up with a little triangle bag.
“That’s neat as can be.”
She then pops the little compact triangle in the white basket along with her others – and many social media users were seriously impressed.
Mrs D isn’t the only person to be a fan of the trick, with Jeremy Vine’s wife Rachel posting a similar tutorial.
I paid £245 for my neighbour to water my plants while I was on holiday – I was shocked at what I came back to