Boxes, boxes, boxes!

[InvisibleTouch]

In the dumpster diving thread I mentioned my curbside catches and trash day treasures, but what I do routinely pull out of dumpsters are cardboard boxes. I remember being baffled and boggled to find there are people who will actually go to a UPS store and pay money for boxes - a commodity that every large store in America throws away by the shipload every single day. (And to add insult to injury, the UPS boxes are wimpy.) While you can prowl the aisles of any grociery store and usually find what you need, the true mother lode of boxes is in the dumpsters behind the strip malls. Often you can even find packing material, styrofoam, and bubble wrap. (Ooooh, bubble wrap! :) ) So, as you wrap and send holiday gifts this year, help yourself to the abundance and save some cardboard from the landfills.....

[JaneDoughnut]

1. I always go to the liquor store for boxes

Find out what days your locals get shipments in, and go in late that day to ask for boxes. The boxes the liquor bottles come in are sturdy, and even come with dividers, so they're great for packing kitchenware.

[phylny]

2. Liquor store boxes are truly preferable to ones from

the grocery store - less roach eggs.

Seriously.

[CitySky]

3. and some have those cool dividers

- perfect for packing glasses, or bottles of hot sauce... :P

[lpbk2713]

4. Around here the liquor stores know their boxes are in demand.

They stack up the empties outside for anyone to take. And they don't sit there for very long before people take what they need.

[Lorien]

6. I wish they all did that!

I just hate all the WASTE that goes on in this country!

[LWolf]

5. Boxes used to be more readily available.

I moved a lot as a kid; almost every year. Whenever we were ready to move, my mom would haunt the back doors of grocery stores and liquor stores, and we never had any trouble with boxes.

These days, the grocery stores in my area don't make boxes available. The last time I had to move, I was able to come up with a total of 5 boxes after driving all over town, to every source I could think of.

A re-using center for boxes would be a good thing; a place to go to get them free or cheaply, and drop them back off when you are done.

[K8-EEE]

7. I Admit It -- I'M A BOX BUYER!

Cuz I live by this nice box store and I figured out years ago that when you buy exactly the right size box, you come out WAY ahead with the shipping, when you scrounge for boxes you nearly always settle on a bigger one than you need, and shipping fees are based on weight & dimension.

So I buy the smallest box and that way you don't have to stuff it with newspaper and stuff either. IF you're not sending something fragile you really don't have to cram it full of padding.

The boxes are usually under $2 and you end up saving way more. Not only that but a lot of places are cutting them flat and stacking them for recycling right away -- I know Costco is making bags out of their old boxes nowadays.

[InvisibleTouch]

8. Box size and shipping costs

It's true that shipping costs are based on weight and size, but there's quite a lot of wiggle room. Domestic priority shipping changes rates with each additional pound, for instance, so that a box weighing 2 lbs 15 oz will cost the same as a box weighing 2 lbs 1 oz. For international shipping, you do have to keep the "letter" rate vs. the "parcel" rate in mind, and that is based on size, not weight - but it's pretty easy to make the cut-off for smallish items. It takes a little more searching to find a perfectly-sized free box sometimes, but I've been pretty successful at matching sizes to contents. Of course it also means I have half a basement full of assorted empty boxes.... :)

[KarenS]

9. ahhhhh ~ boxes !!

I admit ~ I save every box I can!! (I have a closet full of them in the spare bedroom)

I just mailed all the Christmas gifts to my kids/grandkids in 'free' boxes,,,, I can be so cheap sometimes,,,,

[K8-EEE]

10. Box Buyer But Bag Saver

That's not cheap!! But I live in such a small house, no basement, no garage, very little closet space and I hate clutter....no hoarding boxes for me! I do take my own bags to the grocery store and recycle everything though, so I don't feel to guilty for spending a whopping $8 on shipping boxes at Xmas :)

btw once you get used to bringing your own bags to the store it's really easy. I used to always forget to put them back in the car after I unpacked the groceries but now I roll up three of them and (these are canvas bags) put them inside the fourth bag and hang this on the door knob to the front door for the next time I go to the car, it's like second nature now.

And since you can fit more in them than the disposable bags, there's less lugging when you get home! Some stores also give you a little credit (like 5 cents a bag) which is only like 20 cents every time you go shopping but hey....it adds up over time!

[NMDemDist2]

11. i need to get back in that habit n/t

[Lorien]

12. I have to remember to do that

I have the canvas bags, I just have a hard time remembering to bring them in the store with me!

[K8-EEE]

13. It Kinda Took Me Awhile...

Once I got the DoorKnob thing down...and they are always in the car it's easy! I HATE it when I do forget them, because they tend to put 2 items in 20 stupid plastic bags, it really bugs me & they're so much harder to lug in the house.