Greener Living Tip: Recycle Your Packaging Materials for Holiday Shipping!

Hello again, savvy savers! For this weeks Greener Living Series Post, I wanted to share with you a way that I have found to save on shipping costs for my various online businesses, as well as to keep items out of my local landfill, and that is by recycling, and ultimately reusing my protective shipping materials! As some of you may know, I work from home as a clerical assistant, in the legal field. When not working this position, I devote time to several other online business ventures, including my ETSY Shop, my Amazon and Ebay sellers accounts, and my soon-to-be-restarted Scentsy consultant business.

Often times more than not, I require protective packaging for the various packages I send, and one way I find to underwrite my shipping costs is to reuse the protective materials that come from Amazon, by way of personal purchases and product reviews. I save my protective materials, bubble wrap, pillows, and peanuts, in baskets to use while shipping, and this far this year have saved over $35.00 doing so; previously I would have purchased my bubble wrap at the Dollar Tree, and my other materials annually during back-to-school sales, with coupons at Office Depot. I also save boxes that are not heavily marked or marred during shipping to be reused as well!

Beyond this, I always print out labels to attach to the inside of my packages, letting my customer base know I recycle my packaging materials! I have actually received several emails from customers thanking me for doing so, as they will also be reusing the materials again themselves! As I look at it, I am saving its from landfills, saving on shipping costs, being frugal, and living a greener lifestyle! This is a win-win in my book!

What’s even better, these tips can be used this holiday season, to both keep your shipping materials greener, but also at a lower price point, too!

Here’s to greener living!