If you've experienced moving from one place to another, then you undoubtedly know the usefulness of cardboard boxes. After all, they are the primary means of carrying belongings—from clothes down to books. Cardboard boxes have become the most common sigh during moving that when people see a truck with cardboard boxes on the lawn, their initial thought is automatically, “New people” or “Will be moving out”.

 

It's easy to see why cardboard boxes are the de facto choice when you need to carry things. For one, cardboard boxes are cheap; you can practically get them free. For another, they're also easy to come by. Whenever you buy an appliance, you automatically get a cardboard box. Third, cardboard boxes are light and are very easy to keep; you can just fold them flat and you can put them anywhere. Compare that to wooden boxes that are just heavy and hard to keep, and you can see why most people go for cardboard boxes.

 

There are times, though, when you just have so many of them that you don't know what to do. It seems that getting rid of cardboard boxes aren't as easy as accumulating them. The good news is that there are several ways you can do to get rid of your excess boxes. Some may even earn you some money along the way.

 

Ways To Get Rid of Your Cardboard Boxes Here are a few to get you started.

1. Bring them to a recycling center. With all the rage about environmentalism nowadays, you'd be hard pressed not to find a recycling center near your area. There are recycling centers near most popular store chains such as Wal-Mart or just your local supermarket. Most landfills also have recycling centers as well. The main advantage about recycling your cardboard boxes is, of course, it is environmentally friendly. You will save tons of paper and trees just by recycling several kilograms of cardboard boxes. Not only that, since it takes way more energy to create cardboard boxes from scratch, recycling them from existing ones will also save the country energy and fuel—a very important factor to consider in today's oil crisis. (Create your own recycling program, learn how to make a recycling program) Some recycling centers will also pay you depending on the volume of things you bring for recycling, so the more cardboard boxes you have stacked in your garage or attic, the more money you'll get.
2. Sell them. There are lots of other people out there who have need of your extra cardboard boxes, whether as containers for their extra stuff or as materials for some projects. Selling your extra cardboard boxes is a good way to dispose of them while getting an income on the side. The easiest way to sell them is to set up a garage sale in your area. Just pile up your extra boxes and wait for other people to come and buy them. Depending on the box's condition and size, most go for $15 each. Another good way to sell them is to get online. You can visit a local forum or community and put up an ad about the sale. You can also try putting it on listers such as craigslist. While auctions aren't really the best place to sell cardboard boxes, you can try them, too. Conversely, try searching for people who put up ads buying cardboard boxes. They're your best bet for disposing those extra ones that you have.
3. Make a playhouse out of them for your pets. While you're not getting rid of them per se, making a playhouse out of them could be one way of making use out of your boxes. You can also make some for your neighbors or friends and they'd appreciate it, as well as help you get rid of your extra boxes. (Tips on how to make a puppet playhouse) Just duct tape several of your cardboard boxes together, cut some holes for your pets to climb in and go through, and you'll be keeping them occupied for weeks. They work especially well for cats since they are more inquisitive by nature. Speaking of playhouses, if you're a doll-lover, you can also make doll houses out of them. Cardboard boxes are pretty sturdy and they will make for some find walls and construction materials for a doll's house.
4. Use them for composting. Instead of using a wooden box for composting, you can use cardboard boxes for pretty much the same purpose. The plus side? Since cardboard boxes are biodegradable, they themselves can become fertilizer to add to the compost heap. You can use them as compost containers whenever you need to transfer them (say if you're working in a farm), and just leave them at the preferred composting place to degrade.
5. Use them as kindling. If you have a boiler, you can use your cardboard boxes as fuel and kindling. Since most boxes are large enough, you can cut them into their square sides and feed them to the fire. Cardboards generally last longer than other paper-based fuel so if you're used to using regular paper as kindling, cartons will give you better efficiency. As a plus, you can also use cardboard boxes as holders for your other kindling such as wood. Once you run out of them, you can then proceed to use the box itself as one.
6. Give them out. While you won't get anything except gratitude, try giving out your extra cardboard boxes to neighbors and friends. They may have need of your cardboard boxes and will gladly take it off your hands. Since cardboard boxes are pretty much everywhere these days, you don't have to feel like you're giving something important away.

Cardboard boxes are pretty much very useful, though, so you might want to just keep them for future use. The fact that they can be folded so as not to take up space is also an added plus. With cardboard boxes in stock, moving things will never be a hassle again.