It’s official.
I have moved past the point where my gut wrenches at the thought of giving up something so USEFUL!!
Because packing and shipping was once my life when I sold on eBay all the time, I know what an awesome feeling it is to already have weightless, cushioney space takers in your cabinet when you need to ship an oddly shaped, breakable item.
This time, though, it was only a thought. A memory. A brief moment when I recalled how I once would have thought two cubic feet of FREE green plastic air was a total jackpot.
Now? The joy comes from popping that stuff and dropping it in the recycling bin.
Yay for two cubic feet of my home filled with actual air!
Y’know, the kind you can breathe and never trip over.
--Nony
I have to fo through my 16 month’s clothes to determine what to sell and what to donate. I’ll listen to podcasts while i do
I do keep some because I do sell on Ebay occassionally, but I keep the amount CONTAINED. If it doesn’t fit, then I don’t need to save anymore packaging!
Yes! Contained! That’s a concept I wish I would have grasped in my eBay days!!
Oh my goodness this is one of the many reasons that I love you! I would totally keep those…except I adore popping them! (I’m a terror to bubble wrap too…haha)
Did you know that by using a straw and a ziploc bag, you can make one of those things? You put a straw in a ziploc bag and zip it closed, leaving the straw sticking out a little. Then you blow into the straw until the bag is fully inflated. Then you quickly take the straw out and zip it closed all the way.
Good tip, Amber! That is a reason not to save those packing items when you can easily make one when and if you need one.
Great idea!!
It can be hard to let go of something that we used to use on a semi-regular basis for a past “hobby”. Great job Nony!!
I give packing material and cardboard boxes to my child’s school’s PTA recycling program. They don’t recycle the bags or other packing material, but they use the packing material when mailing ink cartridges to recyclers. They ship different types of cartridges to different recyclers, so they use a lot of packing material. I give many other still-usable things to a local charity that gives things to low-income people. This church-based charity says they try to use everything and what they cannot use themselves (for their clients or their church) they try to find another charity that can use it. HOWEVER, we Slobs need to be careful not to fall into the trap of saving things because we think we will eventually find someone who can use it. I agree with throwing into the trash things that have no home!
At our house we call those “Pops”. So named by our 6 year old when he was 4. The only time I keep them is for packing, mailing something, or stuffing for a Christmas present. I usually keep less than 10 “bubbles” on-hand tops. I start keeping more around the first of November. Then, whatever is left after Christmas, he gets to Pop. Luke usually asks if he can Pop the Pops. It is now a game the my 2 year old loves as well. My husband will bring them home from work on occasion just for them to Pop.
I couldn’t help but grin as I read this. I have one cabinet shelf packed with bags of air from Amazon orders. I call them packing pillows, which may be why I came up with the idea I use them for now.
In my line of work, sometimes my eyes will start aching, so I’ll put my feet up on a little stool I keep near my desk, tilt my chair back a bit and close my eyes. But I use a line of three packing pillows, after puncturing the middle one, and put the flat one behind my neck. The still inflated ones on either side keep my head from tilting (and that’s a good thing since too much tilting usually results in one unladylike snore that wakes me up and causes my kids to giggle like lunatics).
They also come in handy to place between my lower back and the chair when I’ve been working too long. Yeah, I know. I could just buy little pillows, but they would eventually need to be washed. This way, when they start to deflate, I can just throw them away and grab a few more. I don’t keep ALL of the ones I get, but enough so I can desk doze whenever I want. 🙂
oh my. How timely! I felt so good this weekend when, while cleaning up for company, I threw away about 6 boxes. But I also felt a bit of nagging guilt when I saw I still have twice that many that I’m saving. smh….
Alas I am nOt at that point. I ship heavy things across the country and need that air filled stuff. And I have two big plastic continers of it just to be sure. I still ama work in progeess on this one.
Yes, when you’re doing that, you have to keep that stuff for sure!