Recycling Cardboard Can Save You Money

Transform this Undervalued Material into Useful Items for Your Home

Mar 22, 2009

Of all the crafting materials available, cardboard is probably the most undervalued. But think of it as a cheap (even free) resource and you'll soon change your mind.

So why not save some money and feel good about the fact that you're saving a few trees as well? Dive in a dumpster, pluck out some cardboard, and get crafty!

Personal Stationary

Cardboard boxes can be cut up into any size and transformed into covers for scrapbooks, photo albums or homemade journals. You can leave the covers as is or paint or glue pictures cut from magazines to cover the printed side.

Cereal boxes and package inserts can also be transformed into personalized bookmarks. Cut out the required size and, using a hole puncher, punch a hole in the top of the bookmark. String your favourite coloured wool or thread through the hole and tie it to create a tassel.

Clock Works

Turn a favourite cereal (or any food produce) box into a fun and amusing clock. With a little help from you're your little ones will have this clock up and running in no time. Just punch a hole in the front of an empty cereal box and follow the instructions on a clock craft package to insert the clock.

Organized Storage

Cardboard shoeboxes are convenient storage containers and gift boxes. Leave as is or cover with leftover gift wrap, wallpaper, comic pages from newspapers.

Cardboard coffee cans or ice cream containers can be covered with wallpaper or gift wrap scraps and makes a pretty desk accessory for pencils, crayons, etc.

Recover a Lamp Shade

Thinner card can be used to recover your tired old lampshades. Use the old lampshade as a template and then cover the new one with leftover wallpaper or fabric that matches your room décor.

Make a Magazine Holder

Store your magazines in holders made from empty detergent boxes. Remove the top, then cut the box at an angle, from the top of one side to the bottom third of the other. Cover the holders with gift wrap or wallpaper scraps of self-adhesive contact paper.

Make Place Mats

Cut several 12 x 18-inch pieces of cardboard and cover them with colorful self-adhesive contact or shelf paper or other decoration to create instant (well, almost) place mats for your table.

Poster and Artwork Holder

A clean liquor carton with its dividers intact is a great place to store rolled-up posters, drawings on paper, and canvases. Just insert the items upright between the partitions.

Organize Your Workshop

A sectioned wine or liquor carton is a great place to store all those bits and pieces you have a hard time corraling elsewhere: dowels, moldings, weather stripping, and metal rods.

Protect Work Surfaces

To keep work surfaces from being damaged, flatten a large box or cut a large flat piece from a box and use it to protect your countertop, work-bench, table, or desk from ink, paint, glue, or nicks from knives and scissors. Just replace it when it becomes messed up.

The copyright of the article Recycling Cardboard Can Save You Money in Green/Simple Living is owned by Stefanie Gabrych Fraser. Permission to republish Recycling Cardboard Can Save You Money in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.