Here's a great way to save some money when it comes to gift giving or sending packages. It's especially great if you happen to have access to a paper shredder. You can use up junk mail, old newspapers, and any other old paper to make filler for gift bags or to use when packing boxes to ship. Save money by avoiding the purchase of bag filler and packaging materials.
Another hint is to take newspaper and ball it up and put into the plastic sleeve that the paper is delivered in. I use paper this way when I am packing a box to mail. Using old newspaper this way keeps the box lighter in weight and recycles paper.
What a great idea, never thought to shred it and then put it in. We usually just ball up the newspaper to stop the gifts from sliding around in the box. It's such a great use for flyers and old newspaper. I would never pay money for the styrofoam packing peanuts or plastic bubble wrap. I have even used the comic section of the newspaper to wrap gifts. No need to spend money on wrapping paper when you can be creative. I've made my own wrapping paper by having my kids put their hand prints on plain newsprint.
Ni used to use a lot of typewriting paper and sometimes I just use them to wrap the gifts themselves. I do try to make it personalized though and I did it more just because the gift items were just small gestures of appreciation and not really a holiday gift. Sometimes I even print designs there so it looks better when wrapped. As for filler I also do that but I don't have a shredder so I just use paper that is only slightly used so it doesn't look too bad. Sometimes I reuse old gift wrappers too.
We keep the used paper in our store room particularly the white paper that can still be re-used. Sometimes we use it for buntings when we have a party. That white paper is also good for making small hand-painted posters for decorating the house for parties or gatherings. There are so many other uses for the paper that's why we store white paper and never throw them away.
