What to do with all the boxes!

I wrote this post four years ago, but forgot to post it. I’ve added a few more uses that we have found over the years since then.

Recently moved? Here are 5 uses for those extra boxes!

We moved a month ago and as we unpack the boxes, our house is not getting much emptier because we still have boxes everywhere! At our previous home, we were allowed to pay for extra recycling pick up service. We had two recycling carts that were picked up every two weeks so we never had a problem with extra recyclables. However, at this new house, we are only allowed one recycling cart which is still picked up every other week. Fun fact: we can pay for as many trash carts as we want...yeah, doesn't make any sense to me either. So...now we have to be more creative with our recyclables because it just hurts too much to throw it all away! I HATE being wasteful! Anyway, if any of you also need extra ideas on what to do with all those extra boxes, keep reading!

1) This one is the easiest option! Think about how much you would have appreciated a pile of boxes for free when you were packing like mad! Thankfully, I had friends who had just moved and passed boxes on to me! Gather up any of your boxes that aren't super damaged and can still be used for someone else's move. If you know anyone moving, offer it to them! If not, take a picture and post them on your favorite neighborhood or classified site. For our area, we use Nextdoor, Offer Up, Varage Sale, and Letgo. I also use Craigslist, but I've gotten spoiled to the ease of use of the apps so I tend to post on the other sites first. Post your big stack of boxes with any extra packing supplies for free and I bet you'll have them gone in no time!

2) If you have kids, nieces, nephews, or even close friends with kids, I'm sure they would love to play pretend with some of your larger boxes! My kids were fighting over who could build a house out of which boxes. I quickly nipped the squabbling in the bud, but I love feeding their imaginations!!

Now, for me, the hard ones are the ones that just aren't going to be a good use for anything. Here are the ideas I came up with, feel free to share any you have thought of in the comment section!

3) We have a cat who loves scratching those card board box scratching posts. I bought him a regular one for the new house, but he refuses to use it! So we decided to take a smaller box and cut up all the usless boxes to put inside it. All the larger scraps that were left over we put in our recycling cart and the tiny scraps went in the trash.

4) Another option is to just go crazy and rip or cut up all the excess boxes you have so they take up less space in the recycling cart.

5) Lastly, if it is an option in your home or area, you could burn them. We moved from an area where we couldn't do any open burning to an area where we can on certain days. But in the previous house, we did have a wood burning fire place so we could cut them up and burn them there. We even had times in the winter where the power would go out but we were out of wood. We were grateful to have boxes to burn for heat. As always though, be careful!

Bonus update: In the last few years, our community has changed trash companies and now we can put out stacks of boxes as long as they are flattened and tied up. They will get picked up for recycling along with the regular cart of recyclables. See if this is an option where you live as that is the fastest way to get them out of your house for sure! They also pick up recycling every week which is a huge plus to this new company.

The other thing we use boxes for a lot now is to continuously declutter our house. I always have a box sitting by the door to put things in to take to the thrift store, as well as one for friends and family that have kids similar ages as ours. The easier it is to donate, the more likely we are to do it!

I love the ideas that come from the community on posts like this one, so please, share what you have come up with to keep excess boxes from the landfill.