It’s time to get rid of those empty boxes!
Somehow we all have it. A little pile of boxes sitting somewhere in our house for our laptop, our phone, and various other electronics. I have a pile like this, my mom has a pile like this, why does this exist?
So let’s talk about this little pile of boxes. If you haven’t been told this already, let me tell you now.
Get Rid of Those Empty Boxes!
That’s right, you can get rid of those empty boxes! I’m specifically looking at your electronics boxes that seem to stick around forever. You don’t need them.
Nor do you need the box for your toaster oven, your coffee maker, or any of those million boxes from Amazon. You just don’t need them. Get rid of those empty boxes! Free yourself!
Get Rid of those empty boxes for your electronics!
For whatever reason, conventional wisdom for the last 15 years or so has been that you need to keep the boxes for your phone, your laptop, your tablet, and basically everything else because it helps with the resale value. Maybe 15 years ago that was true, but it doesn’t really hold true anymore.
Sure maybe you will find one or two people who are impressed that you still have the box for it but they aren’t going to pay more for a box that does nothing to improve the device you are selling.
Now I’ll be the first to admit, I have one of these little piles myself. Well, had. In a fit of annoyance I filled up the recycle bin with all of the boxes for laptops, tablets, and various other things I’ve collected over the years.
I gained a huge chunk of space back in my closet from doing this. I also discovered in the process that I had 4 pairs of wired headphones, 3 charging bricks, 4 lightning cables, 2 lightning to 3.5 adapters, and an extender for the power cable on my laptop. So make sure you check those boxes before you chuck them!
The 30 Day Limit
I do still have one of these piles of boxes for things, but it’s not like before. I subscribe to the 30 day limit. This means that I keep boxes for about 30 days. If for whatever reason I don’t like the item and still need to return it in the original packaging, I’ll know within 30 days.
After that, the boxes are gone. This is just a routine cleanup for me that I continually do whenever something new comes into the house, which thankfully isn’t that often anymore.
No Really, Get Rid of those Empty Boxes for your MacBook!
Now I can hear someone in the back over there saying “But it’s for my MacBook! Someone will pay more for it because I’ve got the box!”
No. No they won’t. Your MacBook, IPhone, iPad, or whatever other device you are trying to sell is only worth what people are willing to buy it for and having the box won’t increase the value (especially if you’ve covered it in stickers, but that is a different topic).
I call these ones out specifically because this is a myth that tends to swirl around in the Apple user base far more than other brands. This is a voice of experience.
Even if people are willing to pay more for it, how much more do you think that is? Think of the space in your home as having a cost associated with it. Is the space that those boxes are taking up in your home worth the potential extra cost of storing them?
They have a mental cost because you know they are there causing clutter. They have a physical space cost. Especially laptops and tablets, those are decent size boxes.
What could you put in that space instead? Maybe nothing and you just have a more open home? Maybe freeing up that storage space allows you to put something you really want to see out in the open instead?
So today, I hereby give you permission. Go recycle those boxes! Free up space in your home! Because at the end of the day, it’s just a pile of cardboard that is taking up space.