How cheap can she get? Re-using Vacuum Cleaner Bags

A very sad event happened this Saturday afternoon.  After a busy week, Hurricane Jen was flying through the house cleaning everything I could get my hands on.  After vacuuming the upstairs, I dragged my faithful old vacuum cleaner to take care of the back step and stairs.  I plugged in the vacuum cleaner, and nothing happened.  Wiggling the cord caused occasional bursts of engine activity, but after quite a while I came to the conclusion that there was no hope, it had finally bit the dust.  Just so you know, it's several years old, getting very temperamental, and yes, duct tape is involved.  In other words, there is no shame for this machine finally giving up the ghost.  Which meant date night involved shopping for a replacement.  Sigh. 

This led me to reflect on how cheap I really am.  Actually, I prefer the word frugal.  Did you know that you can re-use vacuum cleaner bags?  My friend Laurel told me about this many years ago.  All you have to do is take the vacuum cleaner bag out, have a garbage bag of some sort nearby, and be prepared to sneeze.  Place the bag inside the garbage bag, and start shaking and grabbing and pulling all the blech out of the bag.  It's dusty, it's nasty, and I hate doing it, but it works.  Soon you will have an empty bag, ready to be re-used.  There are limitations to how often you can re-use a vacuum cleaner bag.  They will eventually start to tear or come apart.  Then it's time to break out a new bag.  There, true confessions is now over.  My name is Jen, and I re-use vacuum cleaner bags......