Thinking About the Box

Thinking About the Box

While shopping for gifts this holiday season, a funny thing happened to me. It seemed that no matter where I shopped, I came up empty handed for gift boxes. Plenty of gift receipts mind you, but no boxes.

Either the store ran out (and, of course, this always seemed to happen when I was the next in line), or they simply didn't give out boxes. Some stores, however, did provide boxes if you were willing to pay for them.

Needless to say, I was frustrated and concerned about how I was going to wrap my gifts if I didn't have enough boxes.

At times, I thought of gift bags, but unless it's the ideal gift for a bag, a box is really what you need. It's at that moment I found a new appreciation for gift boxes.

An then, of course, all the wile, I could hear the many voices of clients ringing in my ears, "You can never have enough boxes."

Now I became concerned. Am I going to begin collecting boxes, I thought to myself?

I do agree that we all get in a pinch now and then and could really use an extra box or two. And yes, it does always seem that just when you do get rid of something, you need it again. But despite this, there still needs to be a system for our boxes.

So, this is what I came up with to find some middle ground on what boxes need to be saved and which ones can be disposed of:

A Parcel of Space
Parcel boxes that are not all stamped up and written on are worth saving for shipping items or packaging bigger gift items. This holiday, I purchased a mattress cover, pillows, and sheet set for someone and rather than individually wrapping each item, I put them all in a brown box that I had saved and wrapped it all together. I guess you could say, I keep "like with like."

Is it really from Tiffany's?
Clothing boxes are also great to keep from the stores that you regularly shop in. For me, there's something distasteful about putting an item I purchased from a brand name store and wrapping it another store's box. So, unless you are comfortable with that, I would say toss the boxes you know you will never really gift in and keep the others.

Beautiful boxes
Nicer boxes can be difficult to dispose of because they are so beautifully packaged. When it comes to this type of box, you may consider storing some items in there that are dear to your heart, such as jewelery or love notes.

Big ticket boxes
Big ticket items, such as computers, televisions, and stereos come in large boxes but become a necessity if you need to send anything out for warranty repairs. I would say a good year is a smart time limit here, and, in the meantime, rather than leaving them empty, store something in them temporarily.

As with any tip I pass on, I ask that you make sure you take the time to think about the true need and necessity when saving boxes. Make sure you set limitations on your quantity and whenever possible, use the item for multiple tasks.

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