Making The Printed Page Pop

When you visit some supermarkets or select retailers, you occasionally have the choice of opting for paper shopping bags instead of plastic. While you might be in the habit of using plastic bags, it's worthwhile to consider yourself answer briefly — and then opt for the paper bags. Unlike plastic bags, which many people put straight in the garbage once they unpack their groceries, your paper shopping bags can have a number of practical uses around your home. Here are some various things for which you can use your paper shopping bags.

Covering Children's Textbooks

When your children arrive home from school at the start of each semester, one of the tasks they might need to do is to cover their textbooks with paper. Many schools still have this policy. Your paper shopping bags are the ideal material for this job, as the paper is thick, easy to fold during the covering process and durable enough to protect the books straight through to the end of the school year. You can can arrange the paper when you cover the books so that any lettering on the bags is hidden from view.

Lining Animals' Cages

If you have a shredder, you can cut your paper shopping bags into pieces of the appropriate size and then feed them through the shredder. Once you turn the shredder off and empty it out, you'll have a handful of durable paper shredded strips that you can use for lining the cage of any animals that your family has, such as a rabbit, gerbil, or even birds. Many people use newsprint for this job, but paper shopping bags are ideal because they're more durable. This means that the shreds should last longer. Additionally, because the paper is thicker than newsprint, it will absorb liquids better, resulting in you not having to change the shreds quite as much.

Packing Boxes

Whether you're shipping a potentially fragile item in the mail or you're putting some of your possessions into storage, using your paper shopping bags will prevent you from having to spend money on bubble wrap. You can either use the shredder to make the bags into strips, or else simply crumple the bags up. Either way, you can then put the shredded or crumpled bags around the items that you'll be shipping or storing. This can absorb any impacts that occur and keep the items inside safe from damage.

For more information about paper shopping bags, talk to a professional like The Bag Ladies.