We all know how useful cardboard is throughout the year. You use it to store things away. You use it to move items from one house to another. You use it for crafts with the kids. These all seem to be ways that boxes are used “positively” or as they were intended to be used when you first obtained them.
But what about uses you hadn’t thought of? What about uses for cheap moving boxes you have lying around that are a little more on the side of clean up? What about uses that will ultimately destroy your old boxes?
Well, here’s a list of ways you can put your old, tattered boxes to use this winter and not mind them getting destroyed in the process.
Cover a leak in your garage.
Not sure if you’ve ever seen your dad or grandpa do this, but if there’s been an oil spill or leak of some sort in your garage and you don’t have the means to soak it up with a typical clean-up salt or powder, portions of cheap moving boxes do the trick in a pinch. Just rip a slab off and place it on top of whatever liquid is pooled up in your garage. After a few hours, it’ll have soaked it up well enough to discard the cardboard.
Placeholder for firewood in your house.
If you’ve got a fireplace but no indoor wood rack, you’ll eventually get tired of walking out into the cold to grab wood off your porch. Even though you may not want to fork out the cash to go get an indoor wood rack or even build one yourself, placing a strip of cardboard on your floor will protect your flooring from wood even when it’s stacked up and it shifts around.
Kindling.
Speaking of fires, sometimes it’s tough to find the smaller pieces of wood used for kindling, especially if you don’t use firebricks. Cardboard can get the fire going nicely since it burns slower than paper and can serve as your backup kindling whenever you’re out of the necessary pieces to kickstart your flame.
So, the next time you think about tossing your old boxes because they’re ripped, slightly wet, or just falling apart in general, create a stash to use during the winter for these few things. You never know when you may want to use something like this as a means to save some cash and time.
