What to Do with Leftover Moving Boxes after You Move Into Your Apartment

Written on behalf of Lafayette Gardens Apartments - Lafayette Louisiana Apartments

You’ve just made a move and have lots of empty cardboard boxes now. The average move into a two-bedroom apartment requires 50 boxes.  What can you do with all those leftover moving boxes?

Here are some suggestions on how you can reuse and/or recycle.

Storage:  There might be some things that are seasonal or some things that you won’t be using all that often.  Keep a few boxes to stow away things in the closet until you are ready to use them.

Emergency Supplies:  In Louisiana, it is a great idea to have a Hurricane Season Emergency Supply box.  Take one or two of your boxes and pack them with the things that you may need for any type of emergency. Keep one box in your home and the other in your vehicle.

Craft Projects:  Boxes make great bases for frames, decorative containers, and surfaces to work on to protect furniture if you are the crafty type.  Look online for ideas of how to transform potential trash into treasures.  Craft and hobby shops are great resources for step-by-step instructions on converting boxes into projects.

Planters:  Cardboard is decomposable, and most boxes can bring you through an entire growing season. Poke holes for drainage and fill with dirt and plants. You can spiff up a plain brown box by stenciling the name of the herbs or flowers it contains on the outside. Or, wrap a piece of raffia, rope, or ribbon and tie in a jaunty bow.  At the end of the growing season, when your box is breaking down, use it as compost.

Kid Projects:  Build forts inside or out with empty boxes.  Lightweight but durable and hours of fun. Fort not your child’s style? Then, build their dream playhouse. Whether castle yellow submarine or hot air balloon, let their imagination (and yours) be the architect of a play dwelling they will remember. Colored chalk can be utilized to draw on open boxes for inside cardboard sidewalk art when it may be raining outside. Roads can easily be drawn on boxes to make tracks for play vehicles that get numerous smiles to the gallon. Have a staircase inside?  Let the kids use boxes to turn those steps into a slide. Make sure you take a turn too.

Costumes:  Halloween isn’t that far away. Hold onto boxes to make great costumes that don’t require wearing masks or make-up or much effort to construct.  Be a pair of dice, turn yourself into a robot, a Rubik’s cube, or a Lego block.  For a truly whimsical costume, be a piece of modern art.

Donate:  Bring empty boxes to missions, food banks, and thrift stores where donations are a staple. These organizations can never have too many containers to use to distribute and to store.

Recycling Bins:  Put three boxes in your laundry room, pantry, or closet and use them to sort plastics, glass, and newspapers.  When full, haul to the nearest recycling center or to the curb if your community offers curbside recycling services pickups.

Moving Companies: National and local moving companies will many times purchase gently used packing containers.

Haven’t made a move but looking to soon?  Visit Lafayette Gardens Apartments, our complex is located at 110 E. Martial Avenue, Lafayette, LA offers great one, two, and three-bedroom floor plans with economical move-in specials.

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