Now that 2021 has started I am able to look back and see that all of this has not been for anything. We are now a socialist society and I am learning to have to deal with it. I have found that the 2020 Covid 19 pandemic has given me lots of extra time around the house. Being forcibly trapped at home due to basically marshal law has taught me to be scrappy. Cutting out travel time by being forced to work at home has given me a few hours a day to add to my life. This extra time has been put to good use. Well, at least a few days a week I am productive with it. So this year I have been lucky enough to have the time to paint my house. I also know that I hate painting and certainly hate painting houses. Now on the inside, it would have been a fairly simple task, but we are actually painting the exterior of the home. This has caused lots of challenges and luckily I have used all the extra cardboard boxes and shipping supplies from amazon and used them to help with the task. So how have I used them in the past month? Well, I used them to be my trash collectors and also my paint collectors.
This has not been the easiest of tasks, but you use what you have when you have less. The first thing I found from the painting is that shipping supplies are very useful. I have been able to take cardboard boxes and tape to a new level. The first and most useful thing I found is that when I open up paint containers paint always seems to either splatter or get dripped from the can or container when they get put down. So, I first cut them open to make a cover for the ground. By cutting open a large box and spreading it on the ground it covered enough space for me to open the paint can and not have paint splatter out. After I was done pouring the paint I was able to then set it on the cardboard and not have any stains on the ground. It was a great help from making me clean up my garage from paint splatters and also outside. Nothing it worse than paint splatters going all over the yard from the paint cans.
But don’t just use them for one thing. Be crazy and find more things, like another area I was able to use the boxes was as a liner. I was able to cut a bunch of lots of small boxes that were made of heavier cardboard. These pieces I then used as a level liner for specific areas. I found the areas around my windows were really difficult to paint straight. So taking the box and using a paintbrush directly over it I was able to get perfect lines on the windows. It was a great help and saved me lots of money vs going out and buying a specific one.
Never stop being wise with the items you have. You may not be able to purchase them again, or be able to spend money frivilously. So use the boxes that are lying around for the most things that you can.
Packaging Protection 