10 Uses For A Tote

10 Ways to Use Your Tote Bag!

I originally made this tote bag to take on holiday to use as a beach bag: an easy clean once it had been filled with sandy, salty, beachwear! Then post-holiday I found I used again...and again... and again..

Which made me think how can a bag so simple to make be so great and versatile?

I was going through a floral phrase with this bag but I also made a funky neon hawaiin print back for a friend and some patterned bags for friends and family who had all sorts of things to do with their totes!

This got me thinking....what exactly do people use their totes for?

1. Shopping Bag- re-use your tote, don't take the plastic bags!

2. Lunch Bag- keep your lunch separate sparing your sandwiches from squishing and your fruit from bruising

3. Work bag- so many people I know have totes to carry excess paperwork/laptop etc in as well as their handbag. A tote is so much less bulky than a huge laptop case!

4. Library/Book Bag- In my university days, and particularly with my dissertation, my tote shipped research, notes, and books from classroom to library to home endlessly.

5. Hanging Storage- I hung this bag up to take a picture... and it clicked.. why not have some pretty bags as hanging storage? 

6. Gift Bag- would you ever buy (or accept!) a papery gift bag from a supermarket again?

7. Gym/ Swim Bag- Perfect for popping those towels in and it doesn't matter if it gets splashed pool-side!

8. Craft Bag- Fellow crafters will understand this! My bags of scrap fabric, spare ribbons, random buttons and jewels are now safely stored in a tote.

9. School Bag- trust me on this one. One month they want Spongebob, next month it is Moshi Monsters, and then it's the premiership football team at the top of the league. That's expensive upkeep when shopping at a department store.. Why not make them a tote? If they lose it, so what. If they get it muddy, so what. If they decide the cartoon character is 'no longer cool', so what -you didn't spend a fortune on it!

10. Nappy Bag- Now this one I have no personal experience of yet... but I can see why it works! A quick bag when popping out to lunch with a friend with spare nappies, wipes, change of clothes- keep one in the car, it's not bulky!