Comments on: The Cheap Garbage Bag Dilemma

By: Carl

Carl — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 13:00:59 +0000

You all should be ashamed of yourselves. You should look for the products which are made in the usa. If we do not do this, the only money we will have to live on will be the few measly cents we saved while selling our own country down the river. We all need to show the companies who make their products elsewhere that we will not support their abandonment of our great country.

By: deRuiter

deRuiter — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 10:41:11 +0000

Know anyone with horses, chickens or any farm animals? They throw out empty 50 pound sacks from the food which are immensely strong, clean and perfect for the heaviest trash. I collect every horse food bag and cracked corn bag, and shake them “one more time” to get the last bits of food out for the barnyard chickens. Then these sturdy bags are used for trash. They’re amazingly strong, cost nothing, and get a second use. It’s great for the environment because we never have to buy trash bags and it saves money. Small trash containers in the house are lined with plastic bags from the store, knotted when full and tossed into the big animal feed bags. When you recycle kitchen waste (chickens or the compost heap), recycle aluminum, metal, glass and paper, buy a lot of major items used from yard and estate sales, there isn’t all that much trash anyway. I’m with the reader who takes everything salable to the scrap yard every few months, it’s nice to get that bit of cash for not putting things in the landfill. I pick up any aluminum beverage can when walking, hiking, in arking lots, and sell them to the scrapper. All that bending to pick up cans keeps me from having to pay for a gym membership. Always look for the free option, before you buy anything!

By: Cheap Texan

Cheap Texan — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 03:46:13 +0000

I’m sure many have already said it, but I compost and recycle (plastic, paper, and glass). I may have one bag of trash a week. I use the Target brand tie bags and have never had a problem.

I will say that we have a recycling bin that our city picks up same day as trash, but they don’t take glass. I just have a rubbermaid bin for glass that I take when it’s full (just time it with another errand in that area).

Really, I would be shocked if you don’t recycle and/or compost!! Especially with all your Prius preaching (not that it’s a bad thing)!

By: Elk

Elk — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:31:14 +0000

My family has only used store bought garbage bags for dire situations such as cleaning up after removing the carpet for renovation. For daily use, we use 8-17 inch bins for every room in the house and line them with grocery bags. For the kitchen, we line the grocery bag with newspaper as well to help soak up the mess. The pros: The trash has to be taken out more often so no lingering 2 days+ worth of smell around the house, it’s free, and there’s more recycling because we’re less inclined to place throw a bottle into the trash because it’s more convenient.

By: KC

KC — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 15:53:36 +0000

I have never bought a trash bag. I guess I’m more of a minimalist than most people. I make almost everything from scratch and buy things in the larger containers. I resue or recycle almost everything. Then use maybe 1 grocery bag for garbage once a week. I cannot believe you couldn’t make do with a simple trash bag or grocery bags. Sounds like you’re doing it wrong.

By: Maureen Thomson

Maureen Thomson — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 15:00:54 +0000

I hear ya! In my years of practicing a fairly frugal lifestyle, I’ve learned there are some things that aren’t worth the “savings”. In addition to trash bags, I’ve learned my lesson in buying generic “Scotch” tape and “Band aids” in particular.

By: DeadSurvivor

DeadSurvivor — Sat, 29 May 2010 17:53:25 +0000

Cheap Bags don’t seem to be a problem here. Granted they break more easily than expensive brands, cheap bags have been no issue in my household.

Also, on smaller cans, grocery bags are free (as opposed to purchasing garbage bags for small bathroom/bedroom type trashcans.

By: johnny

johnny — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 00:39:20 +0000

what i have discovered in buying such things as the cheap brand of trash bags (ruffies 30gal super heavy duty ) is that they were a complete waste to me. They dont even fit in a 30 gal trash can, but only aprox 3/4 of the way down, when i tried to fit the bag over the rim of the can it ripped down the side, so it sems they would be better advertized as ruffies, 20 gal trash bags,not very supper heavy duty…so now I will use them as kitchen bags, utilize only half their capacity, and also have to go buy a whole new box of more expensive bags for mt 30 gal can. Then to top matters off, i go to the company website to complain, and the remark/comment form only allows you 500 characters which i did not find useful in adequately conveying the full extent of my annoyance.

By: Cotton Shower Curtain

Cotton Shower Curtain — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:06:21 +0000

This is really interesting take on the concept. I never thought of it that way. I came across this site recently which I think will be of great use http://www.buygreensavvy.com. Have a look!

By: Mary

Mary — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:39:18 +0000

I’ve agreed with you for years. I bought the generic bags long long ago & they always broke & I ended up putting several bags together to make one…no savings there. I buy the Glad drawstring bags, they’re nice & strong & one does the trick.

By: JT

JT — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 03:48:02 +0000

I also add another vote for the Costco Kirkland store brand of garbage bag – they are relatively cheap and (at least for me) they do the job very well.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:49:00 +0000

We also use the force-flex bags.

But I wanted to comment to those who keep saying “recycle, recycle!” – I don’t know about Trent, but having grown up in a small town in the midwest (Missouri), I know that finding places to recycle can be IMPOSSIBLE. And I mean that literally – we lived 1.5 hours from Kansas City and 4 hours from St. Louis, and STILL TO THIS DAY, the only recycling that anyplace in the area will take is soda cans (and the like). Now, obviously, since it was a small town area (with LOTS of farming), people did PERSONALLY reuse containers, but as far as actually getting rid of containers, it’s near impossible. Like I said, I don’t know about the area Trent lives in, but before yelling “recycle”, let’s please keep in mind that some areas in this country just don’t have the resources to DO anything like that. Hence debates on trash bags.

Like I said, we use Force Flex, we don’t generate MUCH trash, but we LOVE the Force Flex because a lot of containers have hard or pointy edges. You might get a hole in the FF, but you won’t get an all-over-the-carpet-as-you-run-for-the-door mess. Definitely an improvement over the cheapies!

By: Matt aka Your Friendly Neighborhood Cheapskate

Matt aka Your Friendly Neighborhood Cheapskate — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:19:53 +0000

I personally launched a two-pronged attack against high garbage bags prices many years ago

1. I am a recycling fool.
2. I use Costco trash bags. However, I don’t pay retail for them. Instead, I wait till Costco has a coupon for them and I load up. They’re usually for $3 off/box, so the savings add up!

By: Shymom

Shymom — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:49:19 +0000

We are very similar to Angie in post #64. We try to generate very little garbage and generally our can is only 1/3 full. (family of 4 with a 12 year old and a 16 year old.) We recycle and compost everything that we can. The inside cans are lined with what few plastic shopping bags come into the house. Those are treated like gold and we reuse them as much as possible. ie dumping out the trash and keeping the bag. I haven’t bought garbage bags in years. Honestly, I don’t see the need for the routine use of them HERE.
We have the luxury of having our garbage and recycling (and yard waste) picked up at the curb. If we had to transport garbage ourselves, or were unable to compost, we would surely be using garbage bags.

By: Abbie

Abbie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:50:00 +0000

We use WalMart brand bags all the time, and have no issues with them.

By: angie

angie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:21:15 +0000

The last time I bought trash bags was years and years ago. At that time I didn’t recycle very much.

Now we use plastic grocery bags as liners in our small trash cans. We reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost, so we generate less than 20 gallons of trash a week. If I had to buy bags, I’d look for some that have recycled plastic content, to close the loop.

Even though I almost always remember to take reusable bags with me to the grocery store, the plastic bags still accumulate.

By: Dale

Dale — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:45:55 +0000

Been married 3 years. Just after marriage, we bought a box of Member’s Mark (Sam’s Club) and never had a single problem with household garbage (we tried to use them outside once in a pinch, an that didn’t work so well with all the pointy sticks). They lasted more than 2 years. By that time, we had switched to Costco and bought their Kirkland bags (bless them they have drawstrings) and performance has been just as good, and a little more convenient.

By: An Emergency Fund

An Emergency Fund — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:33:53 +0000

I agree. There are things out there that you can buy a cheaper alternative that will be quality, but garbage bags are not one of them. We love the garbage bags that we buy. They’ve never let us down.

We too tried to buy cheap bags before, and they were so thin. I think they may have had twist ties in the box too.

By: Amazonite

Amazonite — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:33:12 +0000

Great points here by a number of posters. I’ve also found that the bargain brand of garbage bags are a huge waste of money — we also recycle and don’t generate a major volume of trash, but what we do have needs to stay in the bag. I use Glad cinch sak kitchen bags — the forceflex ones are great but a bit too expensive for me.

Another related point — I use the zipper top food storage bags. My mother buys the dollar store brand because they’re “so much cheaper”… yes, but out of a box of twenty bags, I’ve found 7 or 8 of them to be slit right beneath the seal. Not much of a deal if you have to throw them out right off the bat.

By: John

John — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:03:01 +0000

Your philosophy is very annoying, and you’re not incredibly smart. Your time cost/savings analysis is flawed. If you aren’t earning, then you aren’t earning. If by doing something you are only earning a few dollars an hour, or saving a few dollars, when you ordinarily wouldn’t be earning anything, then you are still making/saving money.