Friday, September 19, 2008

Frugal Living Friday: Shoe Boxes

Welcome to Frugal Living Friday! Each week I will feature a tip that can help us stretch our budget and live more frugally! If you have a tip that you want shared on Frugal Living Friday, let me know and you could become a guest blogger for a day.

I swore up and down growing up that I would not do certain things my parents did. But alas...I was doomed from the start. I am a cheapskate through-and-through. Sigh...yes...I even use empty shoe boxes for many things...organizing, crafts, storage.....should I be embarrassed? I'm not! I am also a firm believer that kids don't need the newest fad or every new toy to have fun. I do buy toys for my kids, but I think it is also good to let them use their imagination. Shoe boxes are perfect for this!

I try every way I can to make something extra or leftover work for a need that I have. My parents used old shoe boxes for organizing, and so do I. Here are a few ideas I have used empty shoe boxes for:

  • organizing socks, undies, etc in dresser drawers. This works especially well with the kids,and when they help put their clothes away, each item has "a home" to go to.
  • boxes for older receipts in envelopes (I organize these by year)
  • decoupage the box with scrapbook paper and use it for pretty storage
  • each of the kids decorate their own box for their "secret box" where they put special items. I like to use contact paper and stickers for this.
  • organizing small toys, books, and other travel items in the car
  • organizing various supplies in the garage
  • baby doll bed
  • storage for art supplies
Here are some fun crafts for kids to use shoe boxes for:

How to make a fairy house from two shoe boxes

A Guitar from a shoe box

Valentine Box

Bean Bag Toys House

Puppet Theatre

Using extra shoe boxes for all these things is also a great way to reuse and recycle! What have you used empty shoe boxes for?
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3 comments:

April said...

Marne I loved this post...I was thinking about getting drawer organizers for the girls socks and undies but...I didn't even think about shoe boxes. I like boxes...

Marne said...

They are the best! I really like using the kids' empty shoe boxes for their socks and undies...the smaller shoe boxes are the perfect size!

Jackie said...

Thanks for the tips. Also, today I was at Michael's and they have those cute photo/picture boxes that are regularly $5.00 for $1.50. I normally don't buy them, but today I bought two.

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