How to turn your hoodie into a bag (and avoid the 5p charge!)

This week, the UK brought in a 5p charge for any plastic carrier bag you might use to carry your shopping - and as a nation, we didn't handle it all that well.

Reports of arguments with till staff and people stealing baskets (one Tesco store was left with just 16 after 500 of theirs went missing!) exploded in the media. Whilst one half of our brains rationalised the relatively small charge as 'it's only 5p!', the other half started thinking of other clever ways to avoid the charge when you've forgotten your reusables - and this was one of the best we've found.

This genius life hack, as exemplified in this video from Zanussi, shows how a few twists of a sleeve and some simple folding can turn your standard jacket into the perfect receptacle for a handful of cornershop items that you'll inevitably end up picking up when your bag for life is still in the car.

How to turn a hoodie into a bag

Place the items you want to pack into the centre of the flattened hoodie

Fold the bottom of the hoodie up and over the items, and then tuck in the sides

Pull the hood of the jacket over the items and tuck underneath

Gather the arms and twist on either side

Pull the strings at the top of the hoodie to secure

Knot the strings, and pull the arms to the top of the bag

Tie the arms together to form the handles...

... and hey presto! You should now be able to pick up your bag and take it wherever you need. Pretty nifty, don't you think?

Watch the 20-second process in full

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmNsFJQ0T-8

Thought of a better way to beat the bag charge? Or will you be giving this hoodie trick a go? Leave us a comment and let us know your thoughts!