Save Money On Trash Can Liners

Jul 18, 2013: Trash cans are a part and parcel of every household. So are trash can liners. It might pay to pause for a moment and reflect on our annual expenditure on trash bags.

Usually we need trash bags of three different sizes - for our kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms. A roll of trash bags containing 30 replacements often lasts us three months. Since we purchase three rolls of different sizes at an average price varying between $5 to $6 per roll, the quarterly cost of the bags amounts to $15 at the least. That means we have to set aside a minimum of $60 for trash bags annually!

A couple of years ago when we did this exercise, we decided to save our money spent on trash bags by replacing them with empty plastic grocery bags. Being aggressively frugal, we wanted to shamelessly save every dime wherever we could. Extending this frugal philosophy we trimmed our spendings on gas, hair cuts, dining and eating out, energy bills, printer cartridges, and cell phones.

Now we explain how we went about lining our trash cans with grocery bags. Luckily for us, we had invested in small trash cans for our home. So the grocery bags were a perfect fit! If you are planning to replace your trash cans, we would advise you to go for medium sized rectangular models. Most empty grocery bags fit these models pretty well.

After emptying grocery bags, we neatly fold them and store them in a Rubbermaid basket. We also take an extra step and classify the recyclable ones and put them in a separate stack for use elsewhere. Next we separate the big sized shopping bags from the normal sized grocery bags. We use the big shopping bags for our kitchen trash and the smaller ones for our bathrooms and bedrooms.

While using a grocery bag to line a trash it is advisable to make sure that the bag does not have any holes. If it does, then we set it aside in an empty box. On our next grocery trip we carry these holey bags for recycling (most supermarkets recycle plastic bags). To make the plastic grocery bags stick well to the trash cans we often tie the handles into a tight knot.

A caveat that might arise by using smaller trash cans is that we may have to empty them frequently. But we are not complaining since we are getting FREE bags. Not only that, this policy is more environmental friendly since we are trying to reuse the plastic stuff (most of which is not biodegradable) as much as possible before it ends up in land fills.

Also, we can reduce our trash bag usage by boosting our recycling of glass, paper, plastic and aluminum. Another neat trick is to start a compost pile for our vegetable waste.

We know that we shall not be able to retire on our savings by not purchasing trash bags. But our humble efforts to reuse materials before they hit the landfill is our small way of thanking Mother Earth for sustaining us. What's your view about recycling trash bags?

Image Source(s): iStockPhoto

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