Most people have literally hundreds, if not thousands, of plastic bags in the home. These tips show just how useful they can be.

Plastic shopping bags are called “single-use” bags. But in actuality, they don’t have to be for just one single use at all. In fact, you can reuse them in ways that you never even imagined. Just take a look at the 20 diverse uses below:

1. Stuff them into shoes

If you want your shoes to retain their form, then just stuff them with plastic bags between wearing them.

2. Make an outdoor pillow

It takes very little time to make an outdoor pillow with a dishtowel, a lot of plastic bags and some staples. Here’s how.

3. Protect fragile items when moving

If you have to move home or transport glassware/crockery from one place to another, then plastic bags are your friends. Just wrap the bags around the items and place plastic bags between the items.

4. Line paint cans/ trays with them

When paint touches the wrong surface, it can be a nightmare. But not if that surface is a plastic shopping bag. Line away!

5. Line kitty litter trays

If you have a plastic bag that covers all of a kitty litter tray, then cleaning up after your cat is much easier!

6. Protect casts in the shower

It can be hard to shower and bathe when you’re wearing a cast. But if you cover the cast in plastic bags, then it’s much easier!

7. Wrap your wing mirrors with them

If you know that a storm is coming, you can cover your wing mirrors with plastic bags so that you don’t have to clean them afterward.

8. Keep a stock of them in the car

You never know when you’ll need a bag while you’re driving. It could be to wrap up trash. It could be to hand to a carsick passenger. Or it could be for many other reasons.

9. Safely discard cooking oil

Instead of dumping oil down the sink, you should pour it into a bag, tie the bag up tightly and then add the bag to the trash.

10. Stop paint rollers from drying out

If you need to take a break from painting, you should wrap up your rollers in plastic bags, and they won’t dry out.

11. Fill in gaps in the home

If you have a gap in the walls around, say, a pipe, then you can temporarily insulate it with plastic bags.

12. Stop bugs from getting to growing fruit

Instead of spraying fruit with pesticides, you can protect it by covering it with plastic bags.

13. Seal up paint cans

There’s an easy way to ensure that paint doesn’t dry out. Just place a plastic bag between the can and the lid.

14. DIY pastry bag

If you want to apply icing onto a cake, all you need is to fill a plastic bag with icing and make a small snip in a corner. Make sure the bag’s clean first.

15. Separate shoes from the rest of your clothes when traveling

If you don’t want the smell of your shoes to spread to other clothes that you’re packing, then tie the shoes up in some plastic bags.

16. Use as a super-cheap phone protector

If you’re going to the beach, then you can wrap your phone in a plastic bag. It’ll be protected from sand/saltwater!

17. Make a kite from the bags

If you want to entertain your kids on the cheap, then you can make a kite out of two plastic bags. Here’s the guide (if you want your kids to build it with you, be sure that they know about how dangerous plastic bags can be in the wrong circumstances.)

18. Create a rug

If for obvious reasons you find yourself spending a lot of time at home right now, then you can get really creative with the bags you’ve gathered over the years. You can even make a rug from them!

19. Make a big reusable bag

Yes, they’re already bags, but wouldn’t they be better if they were stronger and larger, like this bag?

20. Wrap seasonal clothes in them

If it’s time to put away winter wear or summer wear, then you should wrap them up in plastic bags as an extra layer of protection.

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Source: Green Diary, One Crazy House, Huffington Post,