Keep Your Home Clean and Recycle Wisely

We saw some huge changes last year.  Most of the world economy took a big dive and our State shutdown most foot traffic-based businesses.  It happened all over the county.  The shutting down of much of the United States Economy and the forced purchasing from online or nowhere has really made an impact on how we shop.  ECommerce is huge now and it really has blown up.  I personally have made over double the purchases I normally do online in a given year and I see that percentage increasing as time goes by.  The fact is though that I am also receiving a crazy amount of boxes in my home each and every week and I am having trouble getting rid of them.  Boxes are all over my home and garage and I want to talk about how I get rid of them and recycle them as best I can.

If you take together every family ordering all of these boxes and not recycling, that really adds up.  Not only will the cost of shipping increase but likely the landfills and sustainability of the industry will be limited unless we as a whole actually make a difference in the amount of cardboard used on a daily basis in this country. Morally I am a fan of recycling and if we all pitch in shipping costs will go down for all of us too!

The home does not need to be filled with trash.  So getting them out is key and doing it wisely is just good.  This is much easier said than done and as of a few years ago, I would have thought this was all a joke.  But a few months ago I looked in my garage and the boxes had piled in the corner to the ceiling because I couldn't get them in the trash each week.  I am not one to tear a box down with my bare hands so I found I could only toss away a few each month into the cans provided for me.  I know that recycling can be hard.  My own town does not allow my trash company to put out more than one can to do it in.  So my goal is to make that work for me and my family.  

After a lot of time I will cut to the chase.  Cutting the boxes down to fit in the can is the only way to actually allow me to get rid of them all each week.  WIth me getting 10 to 15 sets of packaging supplies and boxes in each week I needed to find a good way to eliminate them without hurting myself and especially my hands.  Scissors were just not a good idea and caused blisters and I am not able to tear them down so I ended up with a knife. No, it is not unsafe or over-kill.  It is the best tool for the job.  It is that simple. 

Getting a nice and sharp fixed blade knife was safe and kept me from getting injured.  I always cut away from myself and used gloves.  I kept a sharpener nearby so I could sharpen the blade if it got too dull.  That allowed me to be safer because I was not over-pressuring cuts.  I got all the boxes into the can each week from that point out. Do not fear, just be smart and enjoy.