So, now that your move is over, what should you do with all the wonderful boxes that you have collected? You don’t want to just throw them away, but you certainly don’t want to store them all in your house.

First of all, you may want to hold onto some of those boxes for storage. From holiday decorations to seasonal clothes, we all have things that we don’t need close at hand but we want to keep. These items can be packed away in labeled boxes and stored in the attic or a closet until you decide to pull them out again. If you don’t want the clutter in your home, you can rent a self-storage space where you can keep these things until they’re needed.

If you still have leftover boxes after everything is unpacked in your home or safely in storage, you have plenty of options to choose from. Some of these include:

Let your Kids Play with them

They will have a blast building a cardboard fort, and they can unwind after all the time spent moving.

Sell them

For those with an entrepreneurial spirit, there are several places where you can sell your lightly used boxes.

  • Newspaper & Internet Listings: You can post your boxes for sale in the newspaper classifieds or on websites like craigslist.org or boxcycle.com.
  • Many moving companies and box brokers will buy your lightly used boxes for a percentage of the purchase price. Some will even pick them up at your home.

Give them Away

Much like selling them (without the money), you can get rid of your used boxes by giving them away to others who need them. Here are just a few places you can look to unload your boxes.

  • Friends and family
  • Newspaper/Internet Listings
  • Recycling Centers
  • Give them to charity

Go Green

There are a couple of things you can do with your boxes that could make a difference for the planet starting in your backyard.

  • Composting: An easy way to get into recycling and living greener is by starting your compost pile. Compost is a mixture of decaying matter, which can be used as fertilizer. It is easy to begin composting, all you need is a bin to collect the compost in (trash cans work well for this), and you can start collecting the waste from your yard and kitchen garbage. Instead of throwing them in the trash, you can put newspaper, junk mail, food scraps, and of course your boxes in your compost pile. Cardboard is a great material for composting. Just get the boxes wet, tear them up, and throw them in the bin. It takes a little while for it all to break down, but soon you will have great fertilizer for your home garden.
  • Weed Barriers: Instead of purchasing expensive gardening materials to keep weeds out of your garden, you can easily cut up your boxes and cover them with mulch.