Organize & Clean

Plastic Bag Dryers: Buy or DIY?

updated May 8, 2019
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We aren’t in the habit of buying plastic bags, but we do keep a small collection to wash and reuse. Drying the bags usually entails propping them around utensils in the dish rack or over chopsticks in a jar. The thought of purchasing a plastic bag drying contraption for ourselves seems like a waste of money and resources. On the other hand…

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

… if someone was regularly washing a lot of bags and wanted a dedicated, sturdy drying rack, we wouldn’t fault them for buying one of these gadgets. And we have to admit we’re intrigued by fancy-sounding features like the Telescoping Bag Dryer’s “adjustable antenna arms”!

Pictured are a few different ways to dry bags, including solutions you can purchase and those you can make yourself. What’s your preference: buying or DIY-ing? Do you have any other techniques or products to recommend?

1 Countertop Bag Dryer, $20 at Gaiam

2 Telescoping Bag Dryer, $14.95 at Cooking.com

3 Our own DIY bag dryer, made from a jar, chopsticks, and rice to hold them in place

4 From Whole Living, a plastic bag dryer made from a toothbrush holder and chopsticks or wooden dowels

5 Thrifty Knitter’s whimsical DIY bag dryer made from Tinkertoys, a jar, and salt

Related: Five Ways to Reuse Newspaper Delivery Plastic Bags

(Images: Gaiam, Cooking.com, Emily Ho, Whole Living, The Thifty Knitter)