What to Do With All Those Tote Bags

You probably have a bunch of tote bags in your closet at home. These bags come in handy for just about everything, whether it's bringing groceries home from the store, returning overdue books to the library, or packing up for a fun trip to the beach.

What Are Wholesale Tote Bags?

Wholesale tote bags are purchased in bulk, kind of like how you get a bunch of toilet paper or eggs at one time at places like Sam's Club or Costco. Most orders are for over 50 bags, saving you money if you're using them at your store or for a promotional event like a trade show.

How many tote bags do you own?

I see you trying to dodge the question, and it’s precisely the dodging that tells me you need to hear this difficult truth: Tote bags are irresistible and insidious in equal measure. They are quite useful! They hold such promise for an imagined future! So many of them are free! And almost all of them are impossibly filthy.

 There is a reasonable limit to how many tote bags you need in your life, and it’s quite likely that if you’re reading this article, you have a tote bag problem. Does the term “bag of bags” mean anything to you? If you answered yes, please know that you are among friends, and that help is here.

Ann Lightfoot, a professional organizer who has some tough love to offer the tote-stashing set.

“Here is the truest thing about totes,” she said, “and we all know it: All totes are not created equally.” Some totes are shoddily made, the handles aren’t long enough or the size of the tote is simply not useful, which, according to Ms. Lightfoot, makes them “clutter at best and actual garbage at worst.”

Left unmanaged, tote bag collections can take over closets, drawers, and car trunks — really, any space is a potential tote bag dumping ground. Some people, like Noreen McInnis, 33, a product marketer in Oakland, Calif., have made peace with the state of their vast collections of totes. “I recently realized I can ‘wear’ my enamel pins on my tote bags and now feel justified in continuing to hoard both,” Ms. McInnis said.

But others, like Hannah Campbell, 30, a production editor in New York, said their tote bag collecting comes with a negative side effect.

TLPPACKAGING FOR SHOPPING BAGS