To keep your plastic grocery store bags organized, make this storage tube out of PVC pipe. Here’s how:

  1. Cut a piece of 4” diameter PVC drain pipe 2’ long.
  2. Cut a 6” long by 2” wide rounded slot in one end of the pipe.
  3. Screw a 4” PVC end cap to the wall with a drywall screw.
  4. Insert the slotted end of the pipe in the cap with the slot facing away from the wall.
  5. Attach the top of the pipe to the wall with a drywall screw.
  6. Fill the pipe with plastic bags.
  7. Pull the bags out the slot in the bottom of the tube as needed.

Watch the video above to find out more.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Joe Truini: Paper or plastic is not much of an option any longer, so you usually end up with dozens of plastic grocery bags that you need to recycle or reuse. But storing them neatly is always a challenge. Here’s one idea.

Start with a piece of four-inch plastic sewer pipe, and use a jigsaw to cut a rounded slot on one end. This is about six inches high and two to two and a half inches wide. Then take an end cap, and screw it to the wall. This is about three feet of the ground with a single 1 5/8 inch drywall screw. Then all you need to do is set the pipe in the end cap, and fasten it to the wall again with a single screw.

You’re going to drive it, I drilled a hole in the back of the pipe. I’m just going to attach it right to the wall. Line it up, you want to get it pretty straight, and drive in the screw. There you go.

And now, you can take the bags and stuff them in the pipe. This pipe is about two feet long. And it will hold a surprising number of bags. You could probably fit four or five dozen bags in there. So, you just stuff them in. And then when you need to use one, you just pull it out. It works almost like a tissue dispenser.

And when you come in, empty out your groceries just stuff it back in, and they’re ready when you are.


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Editorial Contributors
avatar for Joe Truini

Joe Truini

Radio Show Co-Host

Joe Truini is a contractor, author, and the host of “Simple Solutions” on Today’s Homeowner TV and the weekly Today’s Homeowner radio show. He has worked on both large commercial projects and residential remodeling, and has written for national publications such as This Old House and Popular Mechanics. He has also written eight books, including three best-selling shed-building books. Joe lives in Connecticut with his family and enjoys hiking, traveling, and baseball in his spare time.

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