I have a bag problem — and I’m not talking designer bags (although I do love a nice purse); I’m talking about a cute canvas bag, great color weekender, lemon-studded pool bag, or super useful “mom bag” problem. Oh, and don’t get me started on the mini Trader Joe’s insulated totes! Swoon. If there’s a cute bag around, I’m way too likely to add it to my collection. 

My problem extends to reusable shopping bags, too. We have a bunch — which doesn’t seem like a bad thing (as long as you keep them clean!) because, unlike most other kinds of bags, you do often use multiple shopping bags at once. However, stashing these shopping bags tends to be tricky. They’re bulky and kind of awkward and they take up an annoying amount of our limited garage storage space. Even when they’re hung on the hooks where I usually keep them, they stick out and look generally messy. I knew there had to be a fix.

When I saw this bag-folding solution on Instagram, I had to give it a try. I’ve seen a similar hack for storing plastic grocery bags, but there’s no way I’m going to do that for the number of those I have! Especially since I can just stuff them into our IKEA plastic bag dispenser. But for our reusable bags, it seemed like the perfect solution. 

Here’s how to fold reusable shopping bags like the video shows:

One thing to note is that the rectangle shouldn’t be smaller than the length of the handles’ loop or the bags won’t stay held together. 

I tried this trick to fold three of my bulkiest reusable shopping bags. I expected there to be somewhat of a learning curve to get the size right and to fit the handles of the bag over the folded bag, but it turned out that just keeping the size of the handles in mind was enough. 

Although the handles were too loose on one of the bags I folded, I found that twisting them once before wrapping them around the bag shortened them enough to make them tight enough to hold the bag closed. And keep it closed! You could also wrap them around the bag multiple times.

Folding the bags into the tiny bundle made them not just more compact, but easier on the eyes, too. Being able to toss these bags into another bag so that I can easily grab a few is such a space-saver. Folding the bags also makes them into a nice tidy package to keep in the trunk, glove box, or even my purse so I actually have them on hand when I shop. Overall, folding the bags has been a huge upgrade in saving space, tidiness, accessibility, and transportability. 

Have you tried this trick to store your reusable shopping bags? Let us know in the comments below!

This post originally appeared on The Kitchn. See it there: The Smartest Thing to Do With All Your Reusable Shopping Bags (It Tripled My Space!)