eGreen Methods: Reuse Those Egg Cartons

Aside from giving your egg cartons to the farmers at your local farmer's market, here are so ways that you can reuse your egg cartons so that they avoid the "dumpster graveyard":

• Money Container - Use old egg cartons to store your change for garage and yard sales. Egg cartons are good for this because you can separate all the change and it is easy to get to. At a garage sale I recently tried this and it worked very well. I found that getting change was easier and faster because I knew where the change I needed was.
  
• Golf Ball Storage - An egg carton makes a great place to store extra golf balls. It makes it easy to sort by brand and condition and they are stackable so they can be stored neatly.
  
• Travel Helper - I use them for travel, to hold small items like earrings, necklaces, any emergency item on hand...... threads, etc; weave needle thru the inside top cover so as not to lose it in your suitcase. Hold together with lg. rubber band.
  
• Craft Helping Hand - When working with small round items, I often use an egg carton to old the item while I paint one side, or just as a holder while they dry. It keeps those little round things from rolling away.
• Fire Starters - fill the paper egg cartons with dryer lint, then pore melted wax over the lint. You can tear apart the sections and use for fire starters when you are camping, or in your fire place. I use left over candle pieces for the melted wax.
  
• Charcoal Fire Starter - Similar to the idea above for fire starters... Using a cardboard egg carton, fill each section with melted wax so that it's about 1/3 full. Place a piece of charcoal (one brickette) in the wax. Close the carton and place on a shelf until you're ready to use. To use, remove the top of the carton, and place the bottom half in the grill. Light the carton. Wait a few minutes and then add more charcoal. This will eliminate the need for lighter fluid.
• Plant containers or seed starters
• Poke a few holes in the bottom for drainage. Fill about 3/4 with potting soil and vermiculite. Plant seeds and set in a sunny window.
• Jewelry organizer - Paint or cover with fabric. Store any small pieces of jewelry, rings, earrings, chains, cuff links, etc. For a unique way to store pierced earrings, line the top with foam, cover with fabric, and poke earrings through the foam. Easier than trying to find them in the little cups.
• Desk organizer - Remove the top and place inside a desk drawer to hold small items, like paper clips, rubber bands, push pins, etc. Paint or decorate if you want to place it on a desktop where it will be seen.
• Christmas decoration storage - Line cups with cotton, foam, or tissue paper and store small Christmas tree bulbs and ornaments in each cup.
• Palette - Use the styrofoam kind for water colors or acrylics to hold colors. Detach top of carton and use for mixing colors.
• Craft storage - Is your craft work area a nightmare? Use an egg carton to store all those little pieces you don't want to lose track of while you're working.
• Cheap ice cube trays - Use plastic egg cartons to make extra ice.
• Game / toy storage - Some of those little pieces keep getting lost? Use a carton to store doll shoes, game pieces, dice, etc.

What ways are you reusing your egg cartons?

Courtesy of make-stuff.com