A frugal tip you will read a lot is to use plastic sacks from local stores to line your trash can instead of buying trash bags. This may not be a practical option for your family though. Think about how often you take out the trash-daily or only when full? Is it full when trash day comes or when it smells so bad it has to be taken out? If it is full then I think buying trash bags (on sale and with a coupon of course) is the most practical option for you. If you fill a can quickly you don’t want to spend lots of extra time trekking out the back door with the trash. In my book, time is money.
If the trash bags aren’t full by trash day or you’re being forced to take it out due to smell, you are wasting a lot of money on trash bags. We have an 8 gallon can for the kitchen which fits a Walmart or Target sack nicely. (I’ve found the drugstore and grocery store sacks don’t fit well) We take trash out about 4 times a week- when the sack is full. We only deal with odor when a diaper gets into the kitchen can by mistake (i.e. a helpful big brother) We’ve used regular trash bags before and it would take nearly a week to fill them and the stench was unbearable. I found that we still took the trash out 4 times a week because of the smell. The only difference was the cost of the bag.
We should all think about what we’re putting into our trash. Are you filling your can with empty space? (boxes, cans, large soda bottles) If so place those items next to your trash can or fill them with other trash. Many boxes can easily be broken down to fit better. Filling a trash bag with empty space is wasted time and money. Also consider composting. This doesn’t work for everyone, but it will give you rich soil for gardening and helps you save on the cost of trash bags.
Now what to do with all those other plastic bags that won’t work for the kitchen can. We use them in all the small cans for bathrooms and bedrooms. The cans stay cleaner and I don’t have to bring them all to the outside can for dumping. Just grab the handles and move on to the next room. You can store sacks in the bottom of each can. Small children enjoy putting them on too. Other ideas- lunch sacks, garage sale sacks, dirty clothes for a sleepover sack, sack for a store return, sack for swimsuits on the ride home from the pool/beach, recycle, or plastic sack jewelry (just kidding, but I’m sure someone somewhere is doing this)
Those plastic sacks are very useful, but if you’ve got too many stop getting them at the store. Hello cashiers- a gallon of milk really doesn’t need a bag! Carry a reusable bag whenever possible. It takes a little bit to remember them, but once you get the hang of it you’ll find that using reusable bags will save you trips when unloading the car. They also balance weight much better so they don’t hurt your hands when unloading.
Being frugal is more than just saving money, it’s saving resources of time, materials and energy. Reusing plastic bags or using reusable bags instead is a prime example of being truly frugal.
If there are any other ideas I haven’t mentioned, please share them in the comments.
This was very timely. I was just talking to my Momma on the phone this morning about the uses for plastic sacks, no really, I was. Have you seen the reusable bags made from plastic sacks? They are fabulous and on my project list. http://www.ehow.com/how_7217246_make-purse-recycled-grocery-bags.html
As usual, great ideas.
We break down all our cardboard & take it to the recycling station & since we already have curbside recycling for paper, plastic & cans, we almost never fill a garbage bag with 2x weekly trash pick-up. We do use more than a store sack would hold, though.
We get a paper sack at Braum’s & fill those with our broken-down cardboard. It’s brown & goes in fine with the cardboard recycling.
I don’t know how many people in your family, but 32 gallons (8×4) of garbage a week sounds like a lot! You may be throwing away things you could get more use from, or using disposable things instead of reusable things that cost less per use.
I’m also wondering why your trash smells so bad. My family of 3 throws away 13 gallons a week or less, and we don’t take out the trash until the weekly collection day, and it has very little odor. If we are throwing away something smelly, we seal it in an empty milk carton or other discarded container.
Although we take reusable bags to the store, somehow the plastic shopping bags keep piling up in our house! Every so often we give a big stack to someone who has a dog and uses bags to pick up dog poop.
Hi Becca, we take out 4 Walmart sacks of trash each week, so that’s about 8 gallons total. There are 2 adults a preschooler and a baby, so considering that includes a week’s worth of diapers that’s pretty reasonable for trash. That also explains the smell.
The more you read about us here at Thrifty Texas Penny you’ll find that we’re all about reduce recycle and reuse. We use a total of 3 paper towel rolls and one package of paper napkins a year. I have plastic solo type cups but they get washed and reused. We rarely if ever buy paper plates. I invite you to click on the frugal living tab on the drop down menu and get to know us a little bit more.