Nightmares and Packaging Tape

Posted on January 29, 2016 by Alex Kava

To this day, the sound of packaging tape makes me break into a sweat and my mouth dry up. I get chills and goosebumps on top of those chills and I begin to think that this might actually be the time that I throw up. Do you know what I’m talking about? The sound of packaging tape? It’s when someone starts pulling away a length of the roll, and it’s that screaming tear of a sound. That rip.

My wrists start to tingle and itch, and my ankles and knees begin to feel swollen and hot. Before it happened I never knew how many places really used packaging tape out in the wide open for everyone to hear. In Target, representatives are taping together pieces of a broken toy to be returned to the manufacturer as defective. They don’t know that it reminds me of the worst day of my life: blackness but sound, outside of the magnificent pounding in my head the first thing I hear is that long, screaming tear; then the heat of the adhesive on my skin as my wrists and ankles are bound, then my knees.

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A washrag over my mouth and then a strip of tape over that too. Going out to eat, some manager is taping off the doorjambs so that someone can paint. Suddenly, I feel like I’m choking on my food, but at the same time I’m remembering how I didn’t eat for so long, only the lint from the rag tickling my throat and the coughing and gagging for hours. I would have never thought that something so simple, such an every-day item, could have changed my life the way it did.

I’m sure so many people who have gone through the same thing agree. I heard once about a woman whose kidnapper drank soda, and to this day she can’t be near the stuff. She can smell it a mile away, she swears. Or the guy who can’t be around dogs, because all day every day he listened to the mongrels barking while he was locked away in the dungeon of a basement. I often wonder when the panic will subside. When the normalcy of life, over an extended period of time, will wear down the intensity and sharpness of the terrible memories, like the way the movement of the ocean against sand wears down the edges of glass. It’s still glass, but it’s sea glass now, foggy and smooth instead of clear and sharp.

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Convenient Ways to Recycle Plastic Shipping Bags

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Alex Kava

Every time something comes in the mail there winds up being a lot of trash left over from the packaging and shipping supplies. Granted, I want what I ordered to be well protected so that it can get from the supplier to me without sustaining any damage, and we all know that the delivery people are not so much concerned with “this side up” and “fragile”.

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Therefore, it stands to reason that what I ordered needs to be carefully and securely wrapped. Even if the delivery people are the most gentle individuals on the planet, the elements of nature are still at work, and freak accidents do not discriminate. So of course I want my order to be protected in plastic shipping bags before it’s put in a box. The question is: what do I do with the plastic shipping bags when its all said and done? The boxes are easy enough. We all have plenty of uses for boxes.

My mother used to never throw away a box. She had amassed an enormous collection under her basement stairs, of all shapes and sizes. Literally. These days I save all boxes to use as kindling for bonfires, or let the kids destroy them. A good box will keep a child occupied for hours, and I will take that every chance I get. But not so with the plastic shipping bags. We certainly can’t allow the kids to play with those.

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And yet, there has to be some way to recycle them. What a waste to just toss them in the trash. Here is a short list of a few different ideas:

  • The adhesive back reclosable bags, the ones which are stuck to the front of the box and hold the packaging slip, I reuse and tape to the front of my own storage boxes. I mark the contents of the box on an index card and put the index card in the clear baggie.
  • The plastic merchandise bags have many uses, and I’m sure those are obvious enough to come up with on your own.
  • I use any and all bubble bags come Christmas time to wrap ornaments and fragile Christmas decorations in.

These are just a couple of ideas, but hopefully I have gotten the ball rolling for you to be able to come up with some of your own. While most plastic shipping bags are designed with a specific purpose in mind, they can still be recycled and put to use around the household.

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Multiple Uses for Bin Liners

Posted on January 14, 2016 by Alex Kava

I decided to start a compost pile. That is your fair warning that this will simultaneously be a post about bins and bin liners and composting, and ultimately how they all tie together. Now, I started composting because I want to start a garden, and I have heard that compost is the way to really make the plants thrive and get the most, and best, produce.

Naturally, I had to do a little research on how it all works. Like every good Westernized individual, I spent a decent amount of time on the internet: Wikipedia, Pinterest, Yahoo Answers… You know the drill. When I felt that I had amassed enough knowledge, I began with the first step. Now, you may think that the first step has to do with actually beginning to acquire compost, but that is not the case. It actually has to do with the proper container, known as a compost bin.

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My neighbor growing up used to throw all of her compost in a spot in her backyard, and a lot of people still do that. Or you can go the route of the bin. My in-laws use a fifty-gallon rainwater barrel, turned on it’s side, suspended between two posts so that you can spin it around. Apparently spinning it around (i.e. keeping the compost moving, which is more or less just introducing air) is what you want to do. At this point I should probably mention that the three things you need to make compost are biodegradable trash, air, and moisture.

Also the temperature has to be pretty high, which is why a bin is the better option when dealing with food waste. Here is where it gets really interesting, because apparently there is some serious chemistry involved in all of this. It depends on the types of plants you are growing: certain plants respond better to certain amounts of nitrogen and stuff like that, so you can separate your waste in groups based on this.

I got a couple of different bins, and decided to use the compostable bin liners with them so that the bins weren’t getting gross all the time and producing some nasty smells and juices. I put coffee grounds in one of them exclusively for higher nitrogen. I put meat in a separate one because it takes meat longer to break down, and it also requires a higher temperature.

Then I just scrape all of our other food waste into each one so that they can continue to produce evenly. Before too long: voila! The richest, healthiest, blackest homemade dirt you could ever imagine.

 

 

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Even More Hidden Benefits of Stretch Film

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Alex Kava

Consider this scenario: a little boy gets accidentally left home when the rest of his family leaves for vacation, and a couple of lowlifes decide to rob his house because he doesn’t have anyone there to help him or make them stop. Well, it turns out that this kid is incredibly talented in the art of self-preservation, and he completely booby-traps the home with some seriously genius inventions. One of them includes covering a doorway in stretch film, and then smearing the stretch film with glue. So that when Lowlife Number One tries to go through the doorway, which he assumes to be free and clear, he winds up walking right into the invisible wall and getting covered with sticky goo. Add a snowstorm of feathers and there isn’t too much left that the guys can withstand.

Okay, so that’s obviously from Home Alone, but it needs to be mentioned. Because I’m about to get into even more hidden benefits of stretch film, and by benefits I mean pranks. That is, pranks which can be accomplished using stretch film. I already mentioned how a band of young adult renegades (aka teenagers), all employed at the same restaurant, used one of the rolls of stretch film to wrap their manager’s car. It took the poor man about two hours to saw through the stuff using a Swiss army knife and a set of keys. This is not the only amazing prank, although it is definitely the largest and probably the best.

You’ve got the booby-trapped doorway, which doesn’t even need to include the whole glue and feathers situation. It’s good enough watching every great uncle and spoiled cousin flatten against it, their faces sliding all over the surface as they struggle to comprehend what is happening. This particular prank is usually makes up a decent percentage of the material sent to America’s Funniest Home Videos.

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Another one, that I have never attempted and probably never will, and that I don’t even necessarily recommend but that many people swear by, is the one where you cover the toilet in stretch film. You can probably get the basic idea and therefore surmise why I think it goes under the category of “bad calls”. Basically, someone attempts to utilize the facilities and then begins to wonder at the mess growing all over the floor. I could personally laugh off the first two and not this last one, so make sure your mark is a good sport for sure. And, from now on, beware of stretch film!

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Custom Packaging Tape for the Home

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Alex Kava

Do not be misled into thinking that custom packaging tape has no place in your home. In fact, it has many places, and I will prove it to you. You don’t have to be a small business, or a business of any kind, to benefit from some specific types of tape (otherwise known as custom packaging tape). Of course there’s regular, clear packing tape, which is useful for when you actual need to package something.

Custom Packaging Tape

I keep this kind in my glovebox for when I need to mail out a box and don’t want to buy a new, over-priced roll on site every single time. Electrical tape is useful for managing the tangles of cords that usually exist behind entertainment systems and underneath desks. I had a friend who used to use old bread bag ties for her, but that quickly developed into a choking hazard when she began to have kids. She was the one that got me started using the electrical tape. It’s easy to remove if you need to switch something around, and doesn’t leave a sticky residue behind.

Custom Packaging Tape

I even use it to tape cords to the legs of my desk, or onto the wall, and I don’t have to worry about it destroying anything. Perhaps the custom packaging tape that I have become the most fond of is called flatback tape. I don’t know what “flatback” has to do with anything, but this kind of tape is made from brown kraft paper and, I have found, just so happens to be the best thing to label storage containers with . This is because it can withstand extreme temperatures and even humidity very well. I use the attic for storage, or the garage, and neither one of those locations is climate controlled.

Custom Packaging Tape

As a matter of fact, it gets so humid where we live that it isn’t uncommon for surfaces to be damp to the touch. I just put a little strip on each side of the box, mark it with a sharpie, and am confident that the label will still be there the next time I need to drag the box out.

Regular masking tape just slips right off when it gets damp, and duct tape melts and shrinks when it’s too hot. Flatback tape has been the perfect solution, and it can easily be ordered online. The best part is that these are just a few examples of custom packaging tape that can be used in the home.

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Bin Liners for Use in the Home

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Alex Kava

You probably deal with domestic type bin liners on a regular basis. This style is most commonly seen as trash bags. However, a simple definition of the product would describe it something like this: a bag used to line the inside of a container. It turns out that a bin could be just about anything that hold something.

Bin Liners

If you look up “bin liners” on the internet many different options will pop up. You will find that garbage bags are the most common hit, but that there are also compostable bags for compost bins. I think this is a very clever idea. Line the compost bin with a biodegradable liner and all you have to do is throw the bag on the compost pile and not have to worry about a bin covered in muck and ooze, and attracting God knows how many varmints.

Bin Liners

They make ones for larger compost bins that you would keep outside, or they even make ones for a cute little compost bin that can sit on your kitchen counter. Either way, it’s a good idea. I also discovered a nifty little product that lines the bins and shelves in the refrigerator, meant to make fruits and vegetables last longer. This would be a nice thing to utilize. I once picked up a cucumber that looked completely normal and it literally exploded in my hand like a water balloon. It was one the weirdest things that has ever happened to me, and I am not ashamed to admit that I stood there in shock and awe for a good many seconds.

Bin Liners

I doubt that would have happened if I had used fridge bin liners. My cousin also told me how she once ate a peach and when she got down to the pit she watched a spider crawl out from it. How unnerving. To be eating the peach, all the while with the spider chilling in there. That probably wouldn’t have happened with a fridge bin liner (actually, this is called a split pit, and it just happens in nature, but it’s a cool story about fruit and I wanted to tell it while we were on the topic). Whatever the case, we always keep two types of bin liners on hand at home. One type is strictly for lining our garbage can, the other type are heavy-duty for throwing away sharp and heavy things. It’s convenient to have a variety.

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Stretch Film: It’s Time to Stock Up

Posted on December 30, 2015 by Alex Kava

So I think the theme of the week here is going to be its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it slash post apocalypse. It probably has a lot do do with the fact that I recently started watching the Walking Dead again, and I’m feeling a little jumpy. I’ve said before how I’m not much of a “what if” kind of person.

I feel pretty grounded in my life and in my beliefs, but there is just something about watching a zombie show that gets me. The over-active imagination doesn’t need much help when being stimulated by something convincingly real. I then begin to think about what would be a beneficial product to have on hand during such a turn of events, and I have to say that stretch film is definitely one of them.

It might be a bit heavy to try dragging around, but that didn’t stop people from carrying around machine guns back in the day either. In a world where bullets and firepower are going to run out quick fast and in a hurry, it would behoove us to be prepared with alternatives. I’m convinced that stretch film is the answer. For one, I have this vision in my head of industrial strength film wrap wrapped around and around a section of trees, to kind of create an enclosed space, many feet higher than the tallest person.

Has anyone ever tried to puncture through heavy-duty industrial grade stretch film? It’s basically impossible. You would pale at the thought of using a sword, because the blade would probably bounce right off and slice through your neck or arm or something horrible. You could shoot it, sure, but if you are a zombie you wouldn’t know how to operate a gun and most people wouldn’t have a gun anyway.

Certain people would have insane amounts, and the rest would pretty much be grossly unarmed. Seriously, while “passing through” making a stretch film fort is a genius idea. You can light a fire and more or less not have to worry about approaching hoards. You could even use it to spin between tree branches and create a sort of spider web for sleeping in.

Any and all of your supplies could be tightly secured in stretch film, making an easily carried bundle and also protecting everything from dirt, pests, and moisture. Surely you have been convinced. I’m telling you guys, it’s time for us to stock up on some stretch film. Like now.

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Bin Liners: It’s Time to Stock Up

Posted on December 29, 2015 by Alex Kava

If there were a zombie apocalypse, or a nuclear fallout, what items would you want to have on hand? At the top of my list would be bin liners, hands down. I’ll explain in a moment. Talking about this kind of stuff always makes me panic a little and begin to formulate a list of all this stuff I need to have on hand, including a bomb shelter.

I’m generally not a “what if” kind of person, and disaster preparedness is certainly at the bottom of my to-do list, but with all of the uber convincing sci-fi and graphic novels out there it’s become quite easy to imagine some insane realities. Granted, if there was a nuclear fallout all of the bottles of water and cans of baked beans would turn to dust, unless they were in said bomb shelter, which has to meet specifications in order to survive.

And a bomb shelter might lose its merit in a zombie apocalypse unless you are stocked up for like 18 months or something crazy like that and can just wait until they all deteriorate before reemerging and taking back the earth. Anyway, it’s easy to get carried away, but bin liners are a very practical item and that is what I would want to have on hand. It’s easy to find bins, right? Keeping something protected from dirt, pests, and water inside of them is a different story. Cleaning out an old trash bin is easy enough.

Without a bin liner you probably wouldn’t want to risk storing your stuff in there. Bin liners could also make amazing ponchos. They could be used to collect water. They could be used to line the roof of a shelter. They could be draped over a frame and used to make a little mini green house. Zombies don’t eat vegetables, so as long as you have secured the perimeter of your garden you shouldn’t have to worry about the produce getting ransacked- unless we’re talking about marauders, but that’s a whole different topic.

Which I guess still applies to bin liners because they could be used to wrap your stash of weaponry before you bury them, and then when you find yourself at war with human beings who are rotten at heart (and not just entirely) you can be assured that your arsenal is safe and ready to go. Bin liners: it’s time to stock up.

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Shipping Bags, Shopping Bags, and More

Posted on December 24, 2015 by Alex Kava

Until I started writing mini-articles about packaging and shipping supplies, I had no idea the different types of products that are out there, and the vast amount of products under those main categories. I mean, it can get really interesting and I’m not saying that because I’m paid to. It turns out that packaging and shipping supplies are also good items to use when organizing your home, or for your business, or even just to have on hand for everyday use.

Consider shipping bags. Shipping bags are also packaging bags, mailing bags, reclosable bags, poly bags, foam pouches, shrink bags, thank you bags, merchandise bags… I can really go on and on. And I think I will. Shipping bags can also be sandwich bags, trash bags, dunnage bags, static shielding bags, coffee bags, cellophane bags, bags with an adhesive backing … Am I done yet? No, I’m not! Newspaper bags, doorknob bags, garment bags, bread bags, bubble bags, paper bags, dunnage bags, packing list envelopes, bin liners, ice bags… Did I mention shipping bags yet? You see, all of these bags can be used to facilitate the packaging and shipping process. Obviously you aren’t going to package or ship coffee beans just in a cardboard box, or even in leftover bag you got from the last time you went shopping at Wal Mart. Coffee bags are what you will want to use when dealing with coffee.

You would never think that a website like PackagingSupplies.com would be able to supply just about any and all of your organizing needs for your small business. As you have just seen, you don’t have to be in the business of shipping products to become a patron of this company. You simply just need to have a business. You may be looking under ‘shipping bags’, but this is where you will find all manner of merchandise bags, and you don’t have to be planning on sending them off in the mail to benefit from them. Did I mention the wholesale prices?

At PackagingSupplies.com, not only are the supplies worth attracting your business, the prices should too. Just the other day I went online to buy some shipping bags, and I wound up also buying some trash bags (forgot those at Costco), and I bought some sandwich baggies (because I forgot those at the grocery store). And you know what? I might just keep buying them from PackagingSupplies.com…

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The Spirit of Shipping Boxes

Posted on December 23, 2015 by Alex Kava

Consider this scenario. It is the holiday season and, unfortunately, I found myself having to mail off an item that I was returning to Amazon. Of course if it was not a time sensitive item I would have waited a good two or three weeks until after the New Year, but such was not the case this time around. You can’t win ‘em all…

The part that really sucked was that I had to take my two toddlers with me. That’s right, my three-year-old and two-year-old (who was also sick, by the way), in line, at the post office, during the holiday season. This is truly the stuff of nightmares, people. Thankfully, I found the Spirit of Christmas smiled down upon me during this visit. But that is not the point of the story, although the Spirit of Christmas is always nice to give a nod to. The point of this story is shipping boxes. And what better place to have a story about shipping boxes than the United States Postal Service? It’s chock full of them! While the three of us were making our way into the building, we saw that the man walking ahead of us was holding a very beautifully wrapped Christmas present, complete with a green bow in the top left hand corner.
Shipping Boxes

It was your standard size clothing gift box, and he was obviously on the hunt for something to send it in. My son didn’t notice him searching through the shipping boxes, he was more interested in the actual gift. He looked at me with shining eyes, “A present, Mommy!” And then his dimple began showing, and his little jack-o-lantern teeth started gleaming: “Can I have that?” Thankfully he asked, and did not assume, and was able to laugh off his naivety. This man began going through some seriously huge boxes, and my eyes kept lighting on a choice that would have been much more logical.

I was hoping to send him a message through the airwaves, but the Spirit of Christmas was apparently too distracted with keeping my daughter from blowing her nose into my shoulder and my son from digging in the trash bin. When it comes to shipping boxes, the right size really is a crucial part of the decision making process.

Thankfully, at PackagingSupplies.com there are over one thousand sizes to choose from, in a variety of different styles. Wanna know the clincher of this whole scenario? Apparently the envelope I was trying to send off was not overweight afterall and only needed one stamp. Gimme a break…

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