What To Do with Boxes After Moving to New Apartment
Finally, you have moved into a new apartment, after spending days or weeks, renovating your new apartment. You will miss your old neighborhood, the friends you had made, and will have to integrate yourself into a new society. What does the new place have in store for you? Days had been spent boxing your items into boxes, and now, you are at your new home, wondering what to do with the pile of boxes.
You don't want to toss them into the garbage can because they are still in great condition, and you are an environmentalist, who believes in recycling. You are in luck, we will look at different things you can use your moving boxes for after you have moved into a new apartment. Recycling and reusing are the keywords here.
1. Donate It To The Local Recycling Programs
Different towns and cities have their local recycling centers, where people are allowed to recycle enormous quantities of cardboard to prevent them from being charged more to move the box. Some centers do not pick up the cardboards from your home, hence you may need to move the boxes to the recycling center.
Before you take it to the center, make an inquiry about the restrictions there like the size, amount, and if the boxes may be flattened.
2. Selling Those Used Boxes
Instead of tossing the boxes into the garbage can, you can sell them, if they are still in good condition. It all boils down to what town you reside in because many firms are known to sell and buy used moving boxes.
To find out if they are around you, you can search for them online or ask your local moving company. As a resident of the U.S., BoxCycle is one awesome place where buying and selling used boxes are possible. There, you can see those buyers who may accept drop-offs and may come to pick up the used boxes from you during the time agreed upon. It is free to list the boxes, but when sales are made, commissions are usually charged.
3. Use A Message Board
A Customer Connect Board was created by U-Haul for those moving. There, you can find those, who want used boxes. You can also post a message about selling your used boxes, and other packing supplies. You can decide to give it out for free.
You can also use Craigslist, as there are people placing posts on boxes they want to give away, sell or buy. Another site that can be used is Freecycle.org. There, a list of items that people want to take off your hands is posted there. One website that seems to make selling and giving away of packing supplies like boxes are NextDoor. The website also allows you to meet awesome neighbors and sources for services that may be needed in your home. All you need do is to sign up, get yourself introduced, and become involved.
4. You can ask Your Neighbors
You can ask those around you if they need moving boxes, or better still, ask the manager in your apartment complex, or in one closest to you. Tell them to notify you if anyone is moving out and needs boxes. You can get those boxes new homes by making flyers, and posting them in your neighborhood, to alert those around that you have boxes you want to sell or give out.
5. Try out a Community Organization or Charity.
There may be schools, local libraries, food banks, community centers, and many other organizations around that are in need of moving boxes for different purposes. Some may use the boxes to create food baskets. This usually takes a little time, and some phone calls made, but there is always an organization that may need the boxes.
6. Make Use Of Those Boxes for Storage
Immediately you unpack, those moving boxes can be used as awesome organizers for storage. Once you have found where to place things that you will use regularly, you can sort those things that you may not use regularly into those moving boxes. As you are doing this, ensure that you have them labeled. This will give you more space than you need in your apartment, and make things organized. If those items still remain in the boxes when next you are moving, then you would be planning of donating the contents of those boxes, instead of relocating with them again.
7. You can save those moving boxes for when next you move
If you know that you may move again in the nearest future, you can decide to save up those moving boxes. To do this, look at the boxes, pick those that are sturdy and clean. Try and flatten them, and place them in storage to be used when next you move. Even if you may not end up using the flattened boxes, you may have relatives or friends that may need the boxes soon.
8. Use the Boxes For DIY Projects
You may be an art person, who loves to create things or you may be extremely creative. Those boxes can be used as your working canvas. You can build incredible DIY with a few moving boxes. Flattened boxes can be used to protect surfaces while you paint, or change oil, or do other DIY projects.
9. Compost It
Used moving boxes can be used while you garden, to kneel down and tend to the garden. They can be great as self-recycling compost bins. There are some community garden programs that need cardboard to use to give life to flowers and veggies.
10. Think outside the box
Used moving boxes can be used to create a lot of toys for your kids. It doesn't matter if you are building a cardboard castle or a kid’s fort, what you will need will be a few supplies and wild imagination. You will need duct tape to keep the boxes intact. Used moving boxes are also great to build a maze. Instead of selling those packing boxes, you can use them to create a single-story maze.
All you need is to unfold the bottoms and tops of either large or medium moving boxes, then get them linked together to form a winding tube that is long. You can then string those LED rope lights via the maze's roof to help guide the tyke as it journeys via the tunnel. You can opt for awesome cardboard crafts. You can craft out that ball maze or accessorize your kid's ships and buildings with cardboard or toilet tissue tubes. You can create pinball machines. All you need is to have your imagination run wild.
Toddler toys are great items that can be created from used moving boxes. To do this, you can cut out on the large or medium moving box's sides, geometric shapes. Have the cuts outlined with bright colors to allow your toddlers to easily push balls and many other objects via the hole.
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